Mid-Term Evaluation Report on The HomeAIDS Project for AIDS Prevention and Capacity Building in the Local Community

Background

HomeAIDS (HA) is and HIV/AIDS consultation and service centre, situated in Kun Ming, the capital of Yunnan Province. Yunnan is among the provinces with the highest HIV prevalence in China. About 75% of the HIV infections in Yunnan province were caused by injecting drug use. Migrants are another vulnerable group, and a large percentage of the population in the communities where HA operates is migrant.

Purpose/objective

The aims of the study are to 1) evaluate and summarize the project experience and lessons learnt in the past two years, 2) assess the human capacity development in the programme, and 3) suggest the way forward for the project in the remaining term, and suggest possible strategies for sustainability beyond 2008.

Methodology

The evaluation team used an evidence-based and consultative approach. The specific methods include:
• A review of available service data, such as the project's website, the original project proposal, annual reports and publications.
• Interviews with HA staff and Salvation Army officials.
• Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with a variety of stakeholders.
• Field visits to the communities.
• Self-assessment of AIDS competence by the HA staff and relevant stakeholders.

Key findings

• HA was originally set up as an information and resource centre for HIV/AIDS. This centre had achieved remarkable outputs through a variety of means of providing information to individuals, communities and organizations.
• HA only has three full-time staff. However, a large pool of volunteers, both college students and ex-drug users, which supplements the momentum and impact of HA programmes.
• Through a wide variety of activities, HA manages to reach hard-to reach groups such as drug users and the migrant population. The activities include:
o Publicity programmes to introduce HA and HIV knowledge
o Film shows with educational messages on HIV
o Seminars and workshops for HIV prevention and education
o Community theatre, where peer counsellors and volunteers share the true life experience of how to stay away from drugs and how they combat the various difficulties in life
o Community forums, in which all residents are gathered, to share their life experience on how to improve on the local communities
• The evaluation team notes that the present HA community service model has evolved over time and can successfully target the high-risk group in a community setting in a non-discriminating way.

Recommendations

Building on the established competence of the organization and the strengths of the staff, it is suggested that the HA should continue to instil more innovations on its current profile. Two particular areas are suggested:
• Instilling innovations to serve the hard-to reach population, especially the drug user groups and migrants. HA has pioneered a successful model on how to reach these groups, with a remarkable penetration and a broad interface. The volunteer system helps maintaining the scale of impact. HA should build on these factors for further development.
• HA has up to now been single-soured from overseas charity funding. With the maturity of the organization and demonstrated effectiveness of projects, additional innovative strategies should be sought for income-generation.

In addition, the evaluators recommend that it is instrumental to seek external expertise to render technical support to the team, especially when new initiatives are expected.