Strong Community Governance Systems Required in Tanzania HIV/AIDS Response

Over 170 participants representing people living with HIV/AIDS, local communities, governmental and non-governmental institutions, private sector, and development partners met in Arusha, Tanzania October 1-5, to discuss ways to improve the governance of district and community HIV/AIDS responses.

The meeting was opened by Tanzania’s Minister for Regional Administration and Local Government Hon. Mizengo Pinda, who hailed the World Bank for its support towards improving local governance in Tanzania.

Pinda challenged the communities to be more vigilant in managing HIV/AIDS funds.

World Bank Africa Region Vice President Obiageli Ezekwesili addresses participants at the HIV/AIDS workshop.

The program was organized by WBI, sponsored by the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS), the World Bank’s Aids Campaign Team for Africa (ACTAfrica), the Global Fund to fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and other development partners.

The World Bank’s Vice-President for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili, on a three-day working trip to Tanzania, participated in the meeting, which she said was innovative and timely. Ezekwesili told participants that capacity enhancement was required at all levels in order to “generate grassroots demand for better accountability, transparency and increased awareness within an improved policy and regulatory frameworks.”

She also said the challenge remained in applying governance indicators in the field of HIV/AIDS.

“Recent work in the area of governance has demonstrated that district and community initiatives around accountability, transparency, and information flow can have a considerable impact on improving the delivery of key services. However, to date, the tools developed in the area of governance at the local level have been inadequately applied to the HIV/AIDS environment.”

The meeting concluded that increasing funding for the emergency response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic had to be supplemented with effective and efficient use of those funds in order to ensure results and impact on the ground. Participants agreed that the communities and local governments had to improve their information flows and transparency and accountability mechanisms to ensure that funds designated for HIV/AIDS reach the intended beneficiaries.

The World Bank’s ACTAfrica Manager Elizabeth Laura Lule presents at the HIV/AIDS workshop

“Better monitoring and evaluation will enhance the capacity to help local stakeholders measure the impact of these efforts and track results being achieved,” Ezekwesili said. “Therefore, building strong systems at community levels is a sine-qua-non for any efforts at tackling HIV/AIDS in a sustainable manner.”

Although much has been achieved in curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, the prevalence rate remains high with seven percent of adults (15-49) infected with HIV.

Tanzania ’s President, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, who has declared HIV/AIDS a national disaster, in July launched a nation-wide HIV testing campaign in Dar es Salaam, where he and his wife, Salma Kikwete, took the test, to demonstrate the importance of knowing one’s sero status.

However, Tanzania is still a long way in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Despite a rapid increase in donor funds in the last few years, much more needs to be done to attain universal access to HIV/AIDS interventions. Weak national systems, poor coordination and inadequate capacities at community level have led to a serious implementation gap of HIV/AIDS interventions.

The program in Arusha, which consisted of five modules, aimed at bridging these gaps by understanding the link between governance and HIV/AIDS, and agreeing on tools that will lead to improvement in information flows, transparency, and accountability in HIV/AIDS responses. The participants also designed questionnaires for data collection, which will help them to monitor and assess the impact of their interventions.

According to the World Bank Institute’s Senior Public Sector Specialist, Maria Gonzalez de Asis, who manages the Capacity Enhancement Program, the meeting in Arusha was successful and she hoped the agreed actions would create the desired impact.

“The meeting for local decision makers in Tanzania has created a high level awareness about the importance of good governance in the HIV/AIDS and the importance of working with the communities for an evidence-based response that focuses on results, Gonzalez de Asis said. “It also facilitated learning and exchange of knowledge between the represented districts and different levels of government.”

The World Bank’s ACTAfrica manager, Elizabeth Laura Lule, who made a presentation to the workshop, emphasized that communities are the custodians of behavior change and that generating grassroots demand for better governance and accountability is key to using funds effectively and curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the long run.