Global Monitoring and Evaluation Team (GAMET)

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Context

The World Bank is a committed partner in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The Global HIV/AIDS Program (GHAP) was set up in 2002 to strengthen institutional capacity across the World Bank to respond to the epidemic, provide specialized technical expertise and knowledge, and support cross-cutting and multi-sectoral engagement. GHAP also hosts the Global HIV/AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Team (GAMET).

GAMET’s Role

The central mission of GAMET is to improve the quality of HIV/AIDS monitoring and evaluation and build national capacity to support the achievement of the third “One” - one country-led and country-owned monitoring and evaluation system (M&E). GAMET works closely with UNAIDS and other global partners.

GAMET helps strengthen national M&E capacity through an international team of M&E specialists, based primarily in developing countries. They provide rapid, intensive, flexible, practical and expert hands-on M&E support to more than 35 countries. About half of these countries now have M&E frameworks and operational M&E plans, but less than one third have M&E systems that are regularly reporting on key performance indicators.

GAMET and partners strive to harmonize their M&E support to national AIDS responses, to use available resources efficiently. As a key partner of UNAIDS, GAMET aligns itself with efforts of the international community to improve data collection, data flows and data utilization, and to generate and disseminate knowledge and good practices. GAMET seeks to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation efforts of other UN agencies, bilateral donors, and the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria.

Another important role of GAMET is to support the M&E activities of World Bank projects, enhancing country capacity to implement, monitor and measure progress of the national AIDS response, and use the information for program improvement and learning.

Active Countries

GAMET and partners provide support to national AIDS authorities in all regions including:

Regional Programs

Four regional projects provide support across countries, facilitating cross-fertilization of ideas about what work best in monitoring HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment actions along the Abidjan-Lagos transport corridor (Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo); scaling up countries’ capacity to implement treatment acceleration programs (Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique); how to best manage the epidemic across four countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan Uzbekistan and Tajikistan) or support interventions for mobile groups, including refugees and internally displaced persons (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda).

Results

GAMET has five areas of work: (1) support the development of national M&E frameworks, operational plans and budgets; (2) improve data use for programming and decision-making; (3) improve evidence-based results information; (4) renewing national and international partnerships; and (5) generate and disseminate knowledge. GAMET and partners strive to achieve concrete and practical results on the ground. For instance:

• Burkina Faso, Malawi and Nigeria are in the process of updating their M&E Plans to reflect new national HIV/AIDS strategies.
• Eritrea, Indonesia, Jamaica and Kenya have developed M&E frameworks though a highly consultative process with stakeholders.
• Angola, Gambia, Guyana and the Republic of Congo have M&E costed Operational Plans agreed with stakeholders.
• Jamaica, Rwanda, Swaziland and Zambia have M&E systems that can manage data and report on results.
• Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar have strongly decentralized M&E models to reflect national focus on decentralization of the national HIV/AIDS response.

Lessons and Opportunities

• National leadership and country champions –supported by M&E capacity– are central to strengthening national data generation and management, and utilization of strategic information for decision-making and learning.
• Partnerships among donors support the government by (a) decreasing the burden of reporting, (b) leveraging resources and rationalizing technical support, and at times (c) pooling financial and other resources in support of national priorities.
• Partnerships among key national agencies and civil society actors and between these and the national AIDS authority around M&E are gaining in importance as the national HIV/AIDS response in many countries is scaling up and becoming more decentralized.
• Advocacy about the critical importance of good quality, comprehensive information continues to be a pivotal role for GAMET, UNAIDS and other partners as they support an enabling environment where AIDS information is valued as an indispensable tool for policymakers to track progress towards national goals in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.