Boosting HIV response

PANCAP launches Social Contracting Toolkit

WITH the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and missed 90-90-90 targets set by UNAIDS, the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) is accelerating its work by ensuring that testing and prevention services are continued and sustained.

PANCAP along with key partners are therefore working to promote social contracting in the region, a process by which government funds are used to support non-governmental entities, such as civil society organisations (CSOs), to provide services.

“It involves a legally binding agreement between government and CSOs, where the government agrees to pay CSOs for service delivery and CSOs agree to provide specific deliverables,” PANCAP Director, Dr. Rosmond Adams, explained during a recent virtual event to launch the Social Contracting Toolkit.

“Social contracting mechanisms serve as an avenue to reach critical HIV services provided by CSOs that key populations can be sustained. In some of our countries government will support CSOs, in other cases CSOs mobilise their own resources from external donors. And in some cases, there is the mixed approach where CSOs mobilise their resources and do get some level of support from government.”

He told stakeholders that PANCAP’s approach to social contracting is to ensure that national programmes are sustained, and that countries are making the

relevant investments to respond to the HIV epidemic.

However, he said the Partnership recognises that there will not be an ideal time to put social contracting in place.

“And we cannot wait for this time because this time will not come. The reality is we have to start, and we have to put things in place now,” Dr. Adams stressed, adding that the toolkit comes at a perfect time when CSOs are going the extra mile to ensure that the disruptions and the impact of COVID-19 on the lives and livelihood of people living with HIV and key populations are minimised.

Executive Director of Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVC), Ivan Cruickshank, stated that he endorsed the toolkit, and welcomed the

attention placed on the need for more partnerships between governments and CSOs.   

“Civil society is the heart and the backbone of the Region’s HIV response,” he expressed.

“They reach the most vulnerable who are in urgent need of access to health. Governments need to recognise the tremendous value that CSOs bring to the response and work with them to reach those most affected by HIV. I applaud this PANCAP initiative and hope that governments and CSOs seize the opportunity to use the toolkit to build strategic alliances that will benefit the most vulnerable.”

Consultant responsible for the toolkit, Veronica Cenac, highlighted that it contains guidance to countries and recommends a four-stage process for the implementation of social contracting in the Caribbean – securing the Political Will of Government and CSOs; Readiness Assessment – Analysis of Legal and Regulatory Framework; Implementation Process; and a Roadmap for sustainability.

She further indicated that effective rollout of social contracting will require planning, ongoing advocacy, and collaboration between government and CSOs as they build partnerships to deliver HIV services. (TL)

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