News

As a part of CAHR project, TS Hub Kiev coordinated development of the publication Setting the scene: assessing and planning with harm reduction partners. This report summarises the results of site assessments on HIV and drug use in China, India, Indonesia, Kenya and Malaysia. The assessments were conducted by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and their teams of experts in four technical areas:     • HIV prevention services for people who inject drugs     • HIV and drug-related policy and environment     • organisational development issues     • monitoring and evaluation of interventions.     The publication can be accessed at the Alliance web-site

Developing Peer Driven Intervention (PDI) to prevent HIV among injecting drug users in China     TS Hub Kiev provides technical support to AIDS Care China on development of Peer Driven Intervention. This specially designed outreach model helps to target the most-hard to reach groups of people who use drugs and employs peer education concept to raise clients' awareness about the risks and harms of drug use.     Two representatives from AIDS Care China participated in PDI workshop that took place in Malaysia in December 2012. This helped them to gain knowledge about the PDI model and receive a package of programme documentation. On 25-29 March, 2013 Lu Liu and Qiu Feng (AIDS Care China) together with Pavlo Smyrnov and Oksana Matiiash (TS Hub Kiev) delivered a workshop for 14 representatives from partner organisations of AIDS Care China. Project managers and counsellors who participated in the workshop not only learnt about the model and received skills enabling them to provide services to clients, but also contributed to the adaptation of the intervention to the local contest.     Peer Driven Intervention will be implemented in four sites: Ruili, Xindu, Jiuni and Jiegao. PDI projects are expected to establish a link between underserved active injecting drug users and harm reduction services available in local sites. Clients will be offered an access to needle exchange programs and HIV/HCV testing. Additionally, they will receive education and skills in overdose prevention and Naloxone administration. On a wider scale, PDI projects are expected to increase a number of IDUs enrolled for MMT treatment. Data received through PDI will also inform harm reduction programs in China about existing risks and drug using practices. One of the advantages of the model is that it helps to receive data from those IDUs who visit services for the first time and to learn why they have not contacted services providers before. Understanding the obstacles in accessing services can help harm reduction practitioners to improve them and make services more accessible to people who use drugs.

Partners’ Feedback on the Technical Support Provided by Regional Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (TS Hub Kiev) as a part of CAHR project in 2012

The new publication “Reaching drug users: a toolkit for outreach services” has been developed in the frameworks of CAHR project. Publication development process has been coordinated by Regional Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This guide provides tips on how to do outreach work among communities of people who use drugs, in particular among injecting drug users. It includes suggestions on how to optimise the number of clients served by each outreach worker, in order to ensure cost effectiveness. The publication can be downloaded using the following link http://www.aidsalliance.org/publicationsdetails.aspx?id=90629

On December 17-22, 2012 TS Hub Kiev together with Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC) organised a training “Peer Driven Intervention (PDI) to prevent HIV among injecting drug users”. The training is the first step on the way to development of PDI in Malaysia which will be implementing as a part of CAHR project in 2013.     The aim of the training facilitated by Pavlo Smyrnov and Oksana Matiyash (TS Hub Kiev) was to adopt PDI model in order to address HIV epidemic in Malaysia. Its main focus was on bringing the model to a local context, educating relevant staff and development of all documents and tools required for the field work. As a result of the training a list of practical recommendations was elaborated to support and sustain the model implementation in Malaysia. Peer driven intervention will help to increase the coverage of active drug users and in particular female drug users, who are not reached by prevention activities so far.     PDI is an outreach model, developed for reaching and educating drug users from hidden communities to prevent HIV and reduce risks associated with drug use. It helps to reach existing peer networks, rather than individuals. This model was developed and piloted by Robert S. Broadhead and his colleagues in the USA, China, Vietnam, Russia and Ukraine.     The participants learnt about requirements for PDI site, discussed HIV prevention services which will be offered to their new clients recruited by the PDI model. Some sessions were devoted to practical skills development such as clients’ screening and delivering education sessions to people who use drugs.

Online distance learning course on development of information materials for people who use drugs    Online distance learning course for representatives of CAHR partner organisations from China, Kenya, India, Indonesia and Malaysia started in the end of November, 2012.    The main objectives of the course are:    • to develop participants' understanding of the importance and significance of information work on HIV/AIDS     • to make participants familiar with information, education and communication (IEC) development process, methods and tools     • to ensure quality IEC materials development in the framework of CAHR.    This interactive course will help to exchange experience and knowledge in information, education and communication (IEC) materials development among representatives of organisations from five countries. Participants are expected to take an active part in the discussions through social media, Skype and e-mails, do individual and group assignments  and practice in developing own information materials.    If you are interested in joining the group of participants, or want to know more about this course, please contact Marina Braga (Regional Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia) braga@aidsalliance.org.ua

A workshop on study design, data generation and interviewing     Prior to the launch of operational studies that will be implementing by CAHR partner organisations in 2013, a workshop on study design, data generation and interviewing was organised for research teams from China, Kenya, India, Indonesia and Malaysia by TS Hub Kiev and Rumah Cemara. The workshop that took place on 16-19 November, 2012 in Bali, Indonesia was facilitated by Professor Tim Rhodes (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and Doctor Alisa Pedrana (Burnet Institute).     Participants of the workshop had different experience in conducting qualitative studies. The group was very diverse as for the background and previous experience. There were project managers, representatives from research institutions and field workers. For those who did not have any research experience before, it was “an eye opening workshop” (as stated in the evaluation forms), participants from research institutions learnt how interventions targeting people who use drugs can benefit from qualitative studies. The future research teams from five countries had a chance to work together on their studies, discuss them in details and receive a feedback from their colleagues and facilitators. Participants found the workshop very useful, saw its practical implication and highly evaluated the work of the facilitators.

The first training for trainers for CAHR partner organizations from 4 countries     The training of trainers on Outreach Counselling under the behaviour change communication frameworks was the first one to get together people involved in CAHR project from Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Kenya. The training, facilitated by specialists from TS Hub Kiev Liudmyla Shulga and Maryna Braga took place in Bali, Indonesia on November 5-9, 2012.     The aim of the training was to improve and develop training skills of participants and knowledge on behaviour change communication and counselling in outreach to ensure their capacity to conduct further training of outreach workers and implement harm reduction programmes.     As a result of this training there are teams of trainers in four countries able to conduct trainings on Outreach counseling under the behavior change communication frameworks. All the teams received a package of documents which included presentations, handouts and materials of the sessions, developed by participants during the training. All these materials can be used when developing the trainings in the countries.     Participants were actively involved in all exercises, group work and ice-breakers. The biggest interest rose the sessions where participants could exchange their experience and share practical examples from their countries. All participants without an exception took an active part in developing their sessions and facilitating their parts. For some of the participants it was the first training conducted in English, but they successfully managed to facilitate their sessions.     Participants found sessions useful in their future work and almost all mentioned they are going to do the same training in their own country. Most of participants highly evaluated the sessions they were conducting themselves, because they found this experience particularly useful.     From the evaluation forms on what they liked most about the training:     “Training approach used by trainers. Never before trainers allocated separate session to provide feedback to each participants’ performance and I personally feel this useful as I practise skills learnt from the training. More than enough opportunity was given for practice as well.”     “I will adapt this process to do in the same way to improve outreach workers’ performance in my place.”     “The games were very good and needed for sessions. The role plays gave the participants a chance to internalize the skills in counselling.”     “During the process, our team’s knowledge and skills got practices, and moreover, through going through the documentary we understood what’s to be improved further.”

In September – October 2012, the Kiev Hub specialists participated in the review and re-planning (R&R) visits to CAHR partner organisations in China, Malaysia and Indonesia. One of the aims of the visits was to assist the national partners in consolidating the programme results so far and defining the programme priorities as well as to develop specific action plans for the next phase of CAHR. Among the other things the colleagues have worked on innovative approaches that can be implemented by partner organisations in the countries in 2013 in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of harm reduction programming. The R&R schedules also included specific pieces of technical support related to priority technical subjects. Thus during the R&R visit to Indonesia, a specialist from the Kiev Hub conducted a mini-training for Rumah Cemara staff on peer education approach to work with prisoners which can make the education programme implementing by Indonesian organisations more interactive and engaging. Together with this a description of peer education approach on work with prisoners was translated and shared with Rumah Cemara and other organisations through CAHR web-site.

27 September 2012 ICF “International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine” announces the selection of the three MSM/HIV NGOs with specific and solid experience of Package of services implementation within the AIDSTAR-Two project in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.     In 2010 and 2011, AIDSTAR Two supported the development of a Core Package of Services for Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) in the E&E Region.

The package of services was widely vetted in collaboration with governments,local HIV non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nascent MSM community based organizations (CBOs), and international agencies operating in these countries. Stakeholders proposed a number of recommendations for furthering the work; one of these recommendations was to provide capacity-building support to MSM/HIV NGOs in order to enhance their capacity to deliver the package of services and then serve as models of best practice within the region.     The three selected NGOs will receive dedicated capacity-building support from AIDSTAR-Two and Alliance Ukraine. Technical support will aim to help the NGOs review their current services with respect to the package of services, identify one or more additional/enhanced services which the NGOs would like to provide (either directly or through effective referral networks), and develop and implement a costed plan with specific objectives, action steps, and benchmarks/indicators for expanded or strengthened services over the following seven months. The Alliance Ukraine technical support will help the NGOs collect baseline data and select targets for appropriate service delivery indicators. AIDSTAR-Two and Alliance Ukraine will ensure that the technical assistance provided is consistent with PEPFAR’s MSM program guidelines. AIDSTAR-Two’s technical assistance to the selected NGOs will be consistent and synergistic with other capacity building efforts for MSM in the region, avoiding duplication and collaborating where appropriate.     If you are interested in participation fill in the application form and send it to Rabinova@aidsalliance.org.ua    Attached you’ll find recommendations and application form.

Recently, Marina Braga, International Technical Support Manager of TS Hub Kiev, has been invited by CARHAP to facilitate the working meeting for representatives of governmental as well as non-governmental organizations of Kyrgyz Republic providing services for people injecting drugs. The meeting took place in Karakol (Issyk-Kul) on 27-28 August 2012.     The participants of the working meeting had a good opportunity to get acquainted with the best practices of harm reduction programmes and to learn from Ukrainian and international experience. They also discussed the plan consolidating the efforts of NGOs, governmental organisations and vulnerable communities in improving harm reduction program implementation in Kyrgyzstan.     After the working meeting three-day training for trainers was organized. The aim of it was to increase the capacity of local trainers for further scale up of Harm Reduction trainings in the country.

If you are attending The International AIDS 2012 Conference come to see us
• Learn more about activities of the Regional Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (TS Hub Kiev).
• Meet our staff and consultants to discuss opportunities for collaboration.
• Register for upcoming events.
• Participate in the survey assessing technical support needs and get a token from Ukraine.

Have a nice journey to the USA and see you there.

The team of TS Hub Kiev.

TS Hub Kiev continues the process of strengthening monitoring and evaluation system of CAHR partners. In June 2012 together with KANCO Olga Varetska and Pavlo Smyrnov (Alliance Ukraine) trained local partners in Kenya on the principles of monitoring and evaluation and SyeEx2 database use. The training for M&E officers, project managers and outreach workers of KANCO partner organisations delivering HIV prevention projects among PID took place on June 20-22, 2012 in Mombasa, Coastal Kenya.
    By the end of the training the participants had been acquainted with general M&E principles, data collection and reporting requirements for CAHR and obtained practical skills on SyrEx2 database use for clients’ tracking. The participants received information on key requirements to service-related data collection (implementation of unique identifier code, data tracking at the point of service delivery, further data aggregation and analysis, etc.) for efficient use of SyrEx2 database and received examples of data recording and reporting formats that are compatible with SyrEx2. The practical sessions gave participants an opportunity to try themselves in data entering and reports generation and ask questions at the time they occurred.
    The overall opinion on the training was positive, participants considered the aim and objectives to be achieved. They mentioned the practical experience and acquaintance with the database as the most useful part of the training giving them an opportunity to present accurate information on the project progress. Participants also suggested having more exercising and conducting a refresher course in the future.
    The facilitators indicated that “the participants were highly motivated, since they had been experiencing a need in a service provision data tracking instrument for a while at the moment of the training delivery”. The next step planned by TS Hub shortly after the training will be adaptation of SyrEx2 database according to the needs of Kenyan partners.

Starting from June 5 till June 8 International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine (Alliance Ukraine) and Regional Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (TS Hub Kiev) hosted Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA) from Lebanon. 5 representatives from MENAHRA studied experience of the Alliance Ukraine in the implementation of the programme funded by the Global Fund. The study tour visit consisted of group meetings with the Alliance Ukraine and TS Hub staff, individual consultations and field visits. There were individual meetings with specialists in different areas such as programme coordination and technical support, monitoring and evaluation, finance management and donor reporting, knowledge sharing and networking, procurement regulations, procedures and mechanisms. People taking part in the study tour visit had an opportunity to visit organisations in Kiev and to see the pharmacy project providing services to people who inject drugs (PID), substitution therapy programme and also the community centre for PID. The programme of the visit has been created based on the needs and interests of the visiting organisation. During the visit representatives from MENAHRA learnt about the structure of services providing to vulnerable populations in Ukraine, Alliance Ukraine activities and experience of being the principal recipient of the programme funded by the Global Fund. The feedback on the visit was very positive. Participants enjoyed all components of the programme, individual meetings with experts in different areas and a field visit, especially to the community centre where they could communicate with service providers and their clients.

What did you find the most useful about the visit? “The individual sessions on technical support as well as the regional TS HUB. In addition, the meeting with the senior management team and the site visits were very interesting and useful.” “The organization: agenda, flexibility, timing; the diversity of the subjects that cover on our needs; the TS: knowledge sharing; meeting with the Executive Director.” They also expressed the wish to have longer individual meetings and to ask additional questions that arose later during the visit. What would you make differently? “I would have liked to have more time with the M&E team on the last day to tackle any new questions that came up, but the M&E team was kind enough to provide contact information in case any follow-up questions need answering.” In the end of the study tour visit representatives from Lebanon shared their ideas on possible cooperation with the Alliance Ukraine and TS Hub Kiev. How do you see our future collaboration? “I’m very optimistic; I think we have many common interests in the field of HIV as long as in the field of Harm Reduction.” “Future collaboration may be through the provision of technical support on certain areas and issues that MENAHRA needs to develop such as operational research and M&E database.”

10.05.2012 ICF “International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine”/”HIV/AIDS Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia” announces recruitment to fill the posts of regional consultants to work with MARPs (IDUs, MSM, SW) in Eastern European countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Belarus, Moldova Russian Federation). Recruitment is announced due to implementation of the EU-funded Project “Broader Introduction of Effective HIV Prevention Strategies Targeting Populations at Most Risk in the ENPI-East Region”
Description of the project specifics and objectives and TOR for regional consultancy can be found on the web-site of “HIV/AIDS Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia” in section “To be a Consultant”.
Deadline for applications: 6 pm, May 23, 2012. In case of your interest, please feel free to apply by sending your CV and Cover Letter to Dovbakh@aidsalliance.org.ua with copy to khmel@aidsalliance.org.ua .

A technical support visit to AntiAIDS Association (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic) took place on 2 – 6 April, 2012. The visit has been conducted by Slava Kushakov and Dmytro Bielon. Experts from Ukraine held meetings with the Secretariat of AntiAIDS Association, headed by Executive Director Chinara Bakirova. Meetings with other representatives from local and international representatives and stakeholders (UNDP Implementation Unit of the Global Fund Grants in Kyrgyz Republic, Local Fund Agent and others) took place as a part of the visit as well. The main aim of this visit was to analyse the capacity assessment report of AntiAIDS Association and suggest technical support activities needed to strengthen the capacity of the organisation to implement the project funded by the Global Fund in Kyrgyz Republic. Besides, an attention of Ukrainian experts was paid to the development of programmatic, administrative and financial spheres of AntiAIDS Association as one of implementing partners of the project funded by the Global Fund. The key point of the visit was the participation of representatives of Ukraine in general meeting of AntiAIDS Association founders, where they had possibility to highlight the preliminary results of the visit, to share their project implementation experience and to provide the answers to the questions.
	In February-March 2012 TS Hub Kiev delivered technical assistance to International HIV/AIDS Alliance in India to introduce SyrEx software and adapt in for the country. On 1-2 March, 2012 in the frameworks of CAHR programme, experts from Ukraine Maria Samko and Vasyl Borschov introduced SyrEx software to 12 representatives from partner organisations of the Alliance India. The two-days training organised by International HIV/AIDS Alliance in India that took place New Dehli was interactive and practical. Participants were trying to fill in the actual reporting forms with the list of indicators used in CAHR Project trying out all functions and reports available in SyrEx. The overall feedback on the training was very positive and participants were looking forward to start using SyrEx in their daily work. One of the participants reflected in the evaluation form: "The workshop was easy and flexible. The practice sessions of the SyrEx software were the most useful ones. The participatory methods had been very helpful. Practicals were good and helped in learning. The software will be helpful in report collection and data management."
The workshop "Employment of active drug users in harm reduction projects" organised by KANCO took place on February 21-24, 2012 in Nairobi, Kenya and was facilitated by Konstantin Lezhentsev, TS Hub Kiev in the frameworks of CAHR programme. Involvement of people who use drugs in harm reduction programmes is the key principle of effecting HIV prevention intervention among vulnerable population. The workshop that gathered outreach workers, outreach teams' supervisors and project coordinators raised important issues related to the employment of people who use drugs in harm reduction projects. Such as advantages and disadvantages of drug users' employment, monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of their work, development of organisational policy towards drug users' employment and effective human resource management. Specific focus was made on describing Ukrainian and international experience of organisations that employ people who use drugs as their staff members. The key output of the workshop was the positive change in the attitude of participants towards employment of active drug users in harm reduction programmes. Participants also had an opportunity to discuss the structure and contents of the future publication on employment of active drug users in harm reduction projects that may serve as guidelines for practitioners working in the area of HIV prevention among people who use drugs.

From 9th to 13th of January 2012, Alliance Regional Technical Support Hub Kiev (TS Hub Kiev) provided technical support on Monitoring and Evaluation to Indonesian CAHR partner Rumah Cemara. During the visit the experts from Ukraine assessed monitoring and evaluation systems of Rumah Cemara and partner organisations implementing harm reduction projects in Indonesia. The aim of the visit was to identify what improvements can be made in monitoring and evaluation system and provide further recommendations. Recommendations provided by consultants included suggestions on improvement of clients' registration system and Rumah Cemara received examples of clients' registration forms. Electronic database (SyrEx) has been presented to the organisation. And after having heard advantages and disadvantages of SyrEx database colleagues from Indonesia expressed their interest to adopt the database for organisations in their country. Adaptation action points have been discussed during the visit and TS Hub Kiev will start an adaptation process in the nearest future.

On 21-25 November 2011 a Training of trainers "Harm Reduction and outreach among injecting and non-injecting drug users" took place in Nairobi, Kenya. Facilitated by Julia Zhitkova and Oksana Kosenko, the training was aimed to improve training skills of participants and raise their skills and knowledge on Harm Reduction and outreach. A team of 22 future trainers from different parts of Kenya consisting of outreach workers, outreach supervisors, addiction counsellors and managers from non-governmental organizations providing outreach services to vulnerable population received skills and knowledge that will build their capacity to conduct further trainings of outreach workers on a local level. Training participants were very motivated to learn from Ukrainian experts and they demonstrated a great creativity in preparing their own sessions. Despite the fact that participatory learning approach was new to most of participants, they practised in developing their sessions using different participatory methods such as group work, brainstorming, ice-breakers, energisers and others which they are going to employ in their training practice.

Technical support visit to Kenya took place on November 1-10, 2011 and was conducted by Lyudmila Dmitriieva and Marina Braga (Alliance Ukraine Consultancy) who assisted KANCO, Kenya in conducting capacity needs assessment of local organisations and facilitating the workshop for their partners. The aim of the visit was to prepare organisations to launch Harm Reduction projects. The team from Ukraine together with staff members from KANCO visited organisations in Nairobi, Mombasa, Malindi and Ukunda, met their staff and clients to assess their technical support needs and understand how system and procedures employed by organisations at this moment could be improved to start Harm Reduction projects. During the workshop that took place on November 8-9 in Mombasa, participants received a feedback on capacity needs assessment results. It helped them to understand how to improve an overall management, administration and monitoring in their organisations. Individual sessions with workshop participants gave an opportunity to provide the feedback on project proposals submitted to KANCO and answer the questions on their finalisation. Ms. Dmitriieva presented monitoring and evaluation system used by Ukrainian projects and facilitated a discussion on how M&E system in Kenyan NGOs could be improved based on experience of Ukrainian organisations. Participants were particularly interested in developing a unique clients' coding and introducing SyrEx database that may help organisations to calculate clients' coverage more accurately.

31 October – 04 November 2011 a visit on horizontal experience exchange in the sphere of technical assistance (TA) in Ukraine and its region took place. Alliance Ukraine and Hub hosted their colleagues from Alliance India (Joydeep Sen, Manager: Technical Support Hub, and Shaleen Rakesh, Director: Technical Support India HIV/AIDS Alliance). In the result of this visit the guests had the opportunity to see the functioning of TA system, the development of skills in providing the services, the systems of resource centers, designing of innovative projects, operational research implementation, and the spread of the best practices in Alliance Ukraine. Together with the representatives of Alliance Ukraine the colleagues from Alliance India analyzed not only HUB operational manual in TA, providing its quality, they also discussed the perspectives of collaboration in the international projects on TA to grantees GFTAM, the potential development on USAID means, organization of training exchange between Ukraine and India in the sphere of AIDS-TB, mobilization of WSW communities, STI, sexual and reproductive health services.

On 10-12 October 2011 in Moscow, Russia, the International Forum "Millennium Development Goal 6 in Eastern Europe and Central Asia" took place. Representatives of governments, scientific community and civil society participated in the Forum. Anna Dovbakh was the Regional Technical Support Hub representative. Besides, the Executive Director of International HIV/AIDS Alliance Alvaro Bermejo was present and made a presentation about MARPs in the region. Representatives of the Russian authorities, foreign minister Sergey Lavrov and the President's assistant Arkadiy Dvorkovich, in their speeches highlighted Russia's desire to become one of the main donors of the response to HIV/AIDS epidemic. Also, the decision of the Russian government to allocate 500 millions USD for RUSAID (Russian International Development Agency) creation was sounded. During the session on consolidation of efforts of the public organizations, the next MDG summit was appointed on September 2013. View presentation

Alliance Technical Support Hub together with KANCO, partner organisation from Kenya organised and conducted a workshop to develop a package for HIV prevention services for drug users. The workshop that took place in Nairobi on September 27 – 29 was facilitated by Konstantin Lezhentsev and Marina Braga. 11 participants from local NGOs got acquainted with Harm Reduction principles, methods and approaches of HIV prevention services delivery to drug users and designed a framework for needles and syringes exchange programme that is going to start in December 2011.

20-22 September 2011 in Mauritius, Port – Luis, the 2nd Conference on Harm Reduction: Towards a Client Centred Approach was held. It was organized by CUT (Collectif Urgence Toxida) and gathered NGOs and GOs from the Indian Ocean region and some African countries such as Kenya and Morocco. Experience of Mauritian organisations, which have been implementing Harm reduction programmes starting from 2006, was widely presented there. Alliance Technical Support Hub assisted in organising the visit for representatives from Kenya to attend the Conference and to do a study tour visit.

On 22-24 August 2011, in Irpin, Ukraine, regional consultancy "Community systems strengthening for key affected groups in Central Asia and Eastern Europe region". The meeting was organized by GFATM, EHRN, ECUO and International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine. Regional Technical Support HUB also participated in the organization and supported the event financially. Representatives of IDU, MSM and PLHA communities, whose national organizations are able and planning to apply for GFATM Round 11, were invited to the meeting together with the experts from international and UN agencies. Altogether, consultancy meeting was attended by 48 representatives and experts from 10 countries of the region. The primary objective of this consultancy was providing technical assistance to the participants on including CSS component in the Proposals to GFATM Round 11. Consultation was organized in the form of group work of the representatives of organizations from Eastern Europe and Central Asia countries and the representatives of regional ones. Each team had an expert from international organization (such as UN, WHO, GIZ) or from one of the countries, that have had successful experience of including CSS in the previous GFATM Proposals (Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan). So, the accent was made both on quality preparation of CSS components and on coordination of the community organizations on the national level. On the links below you can find presentations about approaches and methods, used in Ukraine, to mobilize the MSM / LGBT community, and about the process of preparation to apply for GFATM. Allince best practice on community mobilisation Methods and dynamics of mobilization...

A meeting with managers of the Alliance's Technical Support Hubs was conducted in UK on 18-20 July. The main goal of this meeting was to support the Hubs in strategically positioning themselves in relation to the changing Global Fund grants TA landscape.
The objectives of the meeting were:
To review the general civil society Global Fund footprint, grant performance and needs.
To familiarise Hub managers with changes in the Global Fund architecture and changing TA dynamics in relation to the Global Fund.
To identify the Hubs' strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in providing TS to Global Fund grantees.
To understand the key components of a costed TA plan.
To understand the key GF value add from quality standards, coordinate regional marketing processes, access stakeholders, including CCMs and grantees, and develop a marketing and communication strategy for each region.
To ensure that Hub managers are able to articulate the key value add of the Alliance TA offered to support the Global Fund grants.

11-15 July, 2011 in Kyiv, Ukraine, with support of the Hub, took place Regional Workshop on HIV and Drug Use. This workshop brought together government officials, civil society representatives, multilateral agency representatives and US Government (USG) field staff from select countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and provided them with up-to-date and evidence-based information about the best practices, lessons learned, and impact of high-quality HIV prevention and care programming for people who inject drugs in the region. During the workshop, focus was made on sharing tools and knowledge that will help participants advocate for and extend the support of services for people who inject drugs in Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries where epidemiological data indicate the need for these services.

Billy Pick, USAID

Richard Needle, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator

During the presentation "PEPFAR's approach to implementation science"

Leland Zhijun, CDC, China, and Kostyantyn Dumchev, CDC, Ukraine.

July 11, 2011 in Vilnius, Lithuania will be meeting on the Technical Capacity Building management and modalities in the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia with the participation of TS HUB representatives. During this meeting will be discussing country needs, management of assistance, performance evaluation and quality control, type of data basis of consultants.
View presentation

Regional meetings of all stakeholders took place in Belarus, Russia and Moldova from 11 to 20 May 2011. Package of services for prevention, care and support for MSM, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people was discussed.

Regional meetings of all stakeholders took place in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan from 9 to 15 April 2011. Package of services for prevention, care and support for MSM, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people was discussed.

30.11.2010 The report "Men Having Sex with Men in Eastern Europe: Implications of a Hidden Epidemic" was produced by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Regional Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the Alliance-Ukraine in cooperation with Management Sciences for Health (MSH) under the auspices of AIDSTAR-Two, a USAID-funded project, and was released today. According to the report, enhanced action at the country and regional levels in Eastern Europe is urgently needed to address the hidden HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men. For full version of the report in Russian and in English visit http://www.aidstar-two.org/

Meeting under the project "Signs of a Hidden HIV Epidemic: Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) in E&E Countries" was successfully completed 5-7 May, in Yerevan, Armenia.
Participants of the meeting were representatives of USAID, ICF International HIV/AIDS (Secretariat), World Health Organization, UNDP consultant, ICF «International HIV / AIDS in Ukraine» consultants and lenders of local organizations.

28.01.2010 The Alliance Regional Technical Support Hub (Hub) is announcing the competition for local/regional consultants to conduct  Situation and Response Assessment
"Eastern Europe and Central Asia Signs of a Hidden HIV Epidemic: Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) in E&E Countries"

Timeframe for the consultancy: February – April, 2010
Countries of assessment: Albania, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Russia, Belarus, and Moldova.

Please find enclosed detailed Terms of Reference.

11.01.2010  In 2009 Alliance conducted several operational research.
  In 2009 Alliance launched a new type of research – operational research. The main objective of this research - to provide executives and project managers necessary information to improve programme planning, identify ways to resolve problem situations and management decisions. In 2009, together with partner NGOs conducted operational research: "Evaluation of the introduction of gender sensitive approaches to HIV prevention projects and harm reduction among IDUs," "Experimental study of the effectiveness of customer acquisition in MSM projects through the online social networks", "Study of opportunities to improve access of FSW to STI treatment programmes", "Evaluating the effectiveness of HIV prevention programmes in penitentiary institutions" and "Formative research among IDUs who use handicraft stimulant drugs".

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17.12.2009 December 17th - The International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers Press -release

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08.12.2009 Make a child dream come true!
St. Nicolas Day, New Year's Eve and Christmas holidays are almost here. It is the time when all of us are looking for miracles to happen and it is within our power to make those dreams come true for children!
On December 19th, 2009 ICF "International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine" will conduct a charitable event, named "Letter to St. Nicolas", to help HIV-positive children. The event is aimed to support HIV-positive children, who are currently under the "Treatment Clinics for HIV-infected/ AIDS children" center treatment (Ohmatdyt). They have written their wish-letters to St.Nicolas. Collected letters will be spread among our staff, friends and partners to make all wishes some true.
Our goal is to make St. Nicolas Day the real holiday for children with presents and surprises.
Any support and help in the celebration is welcomed!
Thus, organizing the New Year's celebration: "Young Art against AIDS" at the premises of the "Treatment Clinics for HIV-positive/ AIDS children" Alliance plans to collect:
Clothes and footwear
Books and discs
New Year's tree decorations
Baby body-care cosmetics and materials
Handcrafts materials for master classes
Contact: Irina 050 986 78 27, Darya 066 235 85 09

30.11.2009 DEVOTED TO THE WORLD AIDS DAY
Info note dedicated to the World AIDS Day:
Overcoming HIV/AIDS in spite of crisis   
Regional Events Schedules:
Kyiv  
Donetsk  
Odesa  
Dnipropetrovsk  
Cherkassy  
Kherson  
Sevastopol  
Crimea  
Statistics  

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12.11.2009 Info note
"Methadone substitution maintenance therapy will be available all over Ukraine"   

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09.11.2009 Ukraine was worthily represented on the Third Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference  

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26.09.2009 Alliance-Ukraine is participating in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference (EECAAC)
The Third Eastern Europe and Central Asia AIDS Conference (EECAAC) will be held in Moscow on October 28-30/ Conference is the leading regional forum on public health and HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the third EECAAC 2009 conference is to strengthen regional cooperation, and join efforts towards fighting HIV/AIDS and achieving the goal of Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment and care. Alliance-Ukraine staff will make several presenations on the conference as well as posters on actual problems of overcoming of HIV/AIDS epidemics in Ukraine – substitution therapy, prevention among vulnerable groups, overcoming of stigma and discrimination, etc. Also satellite 'Technical Support: Does it really help in HIV/AIDS work?" will be held on October 29 (17.00 – 18.30). Special attention will be dedicated to summarizing of two big programs implemented by Allaince-Ukraine - funded by Round 1 Global Fund Program and SUNRISE.

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29.09.2009 Info note
'Equal opportunities for drug treatment in Ukrainian prison settings' .  

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22.09.2009 Alliance – Ukraine with national partners is celebrating the completing the 1 round programm
On September 22 Alliance-Ukraine hold the Completion conference for 5-year program "Overcoming the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Ukraine" supported by Global Fund in 1 round (January 2003 - March 2009). Representatives of more than 85 national and regional/local community and government organizations as well as international organizations attended the conference. Among successes achieved with the Round 1 grant the ART and SMT treatment were named as well as general success in civil society leadership and building strong and sustainable national commitment for focused prevention and care and support for vulnerable groups. The meeting becomes good start for discussion for the current challenges in national HIV response.

Presentation "Lessons of the 1st Global Fund Grant Programme - Looking forward into the Future". Andriy Klepikov, Alliance Ukraine, 22 September 2009