HACC Cambodia

Vision and mission

Vision

All people in Cambodia live in an HIV/AIDS resilient society where there is a strong network to support the continuum of HIV/AIDS prevention, care/support, treatment and impact alleviation.

Mission

HIV/AIDS Coordinating Committee (HACC) is a strong HIV/AIDS NGOs network with the capacity to build strategic partnership with all players for an efficient, effective and sustainable response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and its impact in Cambodia. The overall goal of HACC is to contribute to the three national strategic goals

Leadership

HACC is governed by voluntary Steering Committee elected from and by the NGO members.

Rationale

A key conclusion of the 2007 Consensus Workshop on HIV Estimates and Projections is that prevalence in the general population has declined and will stabilize if interventions are sustained. The main risk of a second-wave of HIV infection occurring in Cambodia (i.e. significantly increased HIV incidence) is from female sex workers (SW), their clients and sweethearts. Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) and Drug Users (DU) may also be potentially significant contributors to any second-wave of HIV infections. Populations that may be especially vulnerable to HIV infection are female partners of high-risk males, mobile populations and urban and out-of-school youth.

Firstly, it cannot be assumed that incidence will remain low. Changes in the structure of the commercial sex industry and the difficulty of sustaining prevention programs in brothels where there is a high turnover of sex workers, along with the possibility of significant epidemics among MSM and drug users, mean that sustaining and improving prevention efforts to maintain the reduction in HIV incidence will need to attract high priority. Secondly, the maturing of the Cambodian epidemic means that there are a growing number of people with HIV in need of treatment. Delivering on the commitment to provide long-term Universal Access to anti-retroviral therapy and associated care and support will need to be a continuing high priority. Thirdly, the high AIDS mortality rate has resulted in many orphans and widows. Finally, people with HIV, especially those with advanced stage HIV, have high social and economic support needs.

Key constraints and threats to the effectiveness of the response are; financial contribution from Government is very limited just over 10% of annual HIV expenditures, resulting in dependence on donors and funding from USAID, US CDC and the Global Fund (more than 80% of total financial resources); the lack of an effective resource tracking system; organizational capacity and technical skills in some ministries and some NGOs are weak due to lack of strategic information, effective coordination, implementation of law, policies and guideline and the quality of many programs needs strengthening.

The key opportunities that need to be addressed are scaling up of prevention programs for at-risk groups. Developing organizational and technical capacity in key ministries and NGOs/CBOs; rational and effective use of technical support to address capacity gaps in priority areas to ensure improved and efficient absorption of resources; development of resource tracking systems, priority setting and alignment of resource allocation to priorities; an emphasis on quality improvement for all program areas; improving governance and coordination; and better use of strategic information.

Capacity building of civil society organization in response to HIV/AIDS it seems increased in term of program management, institutional development, financial management, Monitoring and Evaluation and procurement. Anyhow, due to annual information rate, high staff turnover for good environment and better pay, some civil society organizations are still facing difficulty in maintaining a good staff, lack of capacity in mobilizing the resources, challenging with the organizational development and the lack of strategic information in order to move organization to the right track and also alight with the national strategic plan.

In other words, based on the assessment of civil society participation in the national response organized by HACC found that the level of participation from the civil society is in level 2 of influence, it means the participation of civil society is still needed to be improved, especially in the level of law and policy development. The voice of civil society organization, particularly the voice from the community people is needed to be addressed and solved based on the priority needs of those populations for sustainable response.

The main reason of this project is to build the capacity of civil society organization in the national response by providing a platform for the CSO to share and learn from each other all best practices and using the strategic information to incorporate with their project or program in alight with the national program. There are two innovative approaches within this project such as six main technical working group established, the use of mass media for HIV prevention and sufficient use of research findings to inform the development of mass media, tailoring to local evidence on patterns of behavior and related believed through high-technology HIV/AIDS Campaign and actively strategic information sharing among HACC members and relevant stakeholders through e-forums, website, key correspondent team and other electronic sharing.

Relevant experiences

Since 1993, HACC has been played an important role in facilitating, coordinating and sharing experiences, best practices and information as strategic information among civil society organizations in response to HIV/AIDS in Cambodia. HACC has shared this information via meetings, workshops, printed materials, email and websites. Such information includes strategic plans, policy, laws, guidelines, standard Operation Manual, research, funding, and job opportunities, at international, regional, national and sub-national levels. In addition, HACC also coordinates with civil society organizations in the process of development of a national strategic plan, implementation of the plan and joined in reviewing the national response to HIV/AIDS on Universal Access and the UNGASS report.

As part of the national HIV/AIDS awareness program, HACC in the position of coordinating and mobilizing the resource from civil society organizations, private sector and development partners in organizing the campaign, those included HIV/AIDS awareness campaign in Valentine's Day, Candlelight Memorial Day, Water Festival Day and World AIDS Day with approximately over US $40,000 used for each event. In term of advocacy, HACC plays as a bridge to coordinate the voice and concerned from civil society organizations to discuss with government or relevant institutions for addressing and solving. HACC hosts events such as round table discussion, press conferences, TV and radio talk shows, fora, face to face meeting for the benefit of civil society organizations and vulnerable populations.

How HACC works

HACC provides opportunities for networking among members and other civil society networks to encourage policy change and protection for people living with HIV/AIDS and in the development of prevention measures. The organisation works closely to make change with Government, international donors and the UN. Specifically it works by:

The main policy focus for HACC and other members working in the area of an HIV/AIDS epidemic, is the issue of youth as a most at risk people (MARP), along with Orphan Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs), Injecting Drug User/Drug Users (IDU/DU), and Entertaining Workers (EW), and Prisoners, which were defined as those who are practicing high risk behaviour. In the National Strategic Plan III (NSPIII) 2011–2015, HACC played an important role in coordinating and facilitating the participation of civil societies in the process of planning and the launching of the NSPIII 2011–2015., Water Festival Day and World AIDS Day in coordination with the National Aids Authority.

Roles

Networking: HACC provides networking opportunities for members, networks representing community interests, government, international donors and United Nations agencies via its meetings, technical working groups and information sharing channels.

Coordination: HACC coordinates civil society responses to HIV and AIDS at national and provincial levels to ensure all CSO stakeholders can have meaningful input into major national reports, strategies and review processes.

Information sharing: HACC promotes communication and the sharing of information among members and stakeholders in Cambodia and internationally via its website, e-news alert, civil society directories, reports and meetings. ADVOCACY: HACC advocates for the full involvement of civil society in determining policy, setting national targets, developing plans and monitoring progress in relation to HIV and AIDS.

Representation: HACC represents NGOs responding to HIV and AIDS at national and international forums where they have received a mandate from their members to do so.

Awareness raising: HACC works to raise public and government awareness of HIV/AIDS issues and gaps in the response via lobbying, regular media appearances and by staging awareness raising campaigns during major national festivals such as Water Festival.