This week, I'm in Washington, DC to meet with other PEPFAR Coordinators from around the world. This will be the first time I've meet with and exchanged experiences with other coordinators in other countries. The coordinators will also be meeting with the staff from the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC), which is the PEPFAR secretariat.
The purpose is to allow coordinators to exchange ideas about how best to support the PEPFAR programs in each country. We’ll be talking about how to improve communications, reporting, the annual Country Operational Planning process (COP). It’s always a delicate balance -- we want to plan, monitor and report accurately on programs supported with PEPFAR funds, without it being too much of a burden. One thing I’ve been spending a lot of time on since arriving in Botswana is trying to improve our processes in these areas -- to make our planning more strategic and better aligned with the Government of Botswana’s national plans; to have our project monitoring be more effective at spotting and removing barriers to implementation; and to have our reporting be an opportunity to evaluate our programs with partners and government, to make sure we’re all on the right path.
This week I look forward to hearing how other countries have tackled these challenges. As our budgets get tighter, unfortunately the challenges of HIV and AIDS remain in Botswana. By improve our planning, monitoring and reporting processes, it will help us be more effective -- both in terms of cost, and also in terms of impact on addressing the HIV epidemic, in support of the Botswana national strategies.
As I hear things this week, I’ll post them here to share with you all. I’ll also look forward to sharing these experiences in person, when I get back next week.
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