Self-Coordinating Entities (SCEs)

These are clusters of HIV/AIDS stakeholders that have something in common. It was conceived that members of these clusters would collectively contribute to the management and coordination of the response if they had opportunities for dialogue to address concerns, share experiences and identify gaps and then share these with other stakeholders through the Partnership Committee and Partnership Forum.

SCEs have generic terms of reference but individual SCEs can develop these further to accommodate issues unique to the constituency. Membership to most SCEs can be easily established and readily accessed while for others especially those that attract individuals e.g. the SCE of Young People are still developing mechanisms of identifying and reaching all membership. Some SCEs have conducted mapping exercises to establish their membership. The coordination activities of most SCEs are facilitated through the Partnership Fund.

During the 2005 Joint AIDS Annual Review (JAR) exercise, a parallel exercise to assess the performance of SCEs was conducted through SCE self-assessments. A synthesis report was compiled that highlights both opportunities and challenges for strengthening the Partnership coordination mechanism. Individual SCE reports were also compiled and will facilitate processes for strengthening SCEs at national level and their establishment at decentralized levels

Basing on identified need, the Partnership family has developed to include SCEs in the following 12 areas:

1. National (local) Civil Society Organizations
2. International Civil Society Organizations
3. Faith-based Organizations
4. Private Sector
5. Young People
6. Media, Arts and Culture
7. AIDS Development Partners
8. People Living with HIV/AIDS
9. Government Line Ministries
10. Research and Academia
11. The Parliament
12. Decentralized response

1. National Civil Society Organizations

This captures all indigenous organizations operating at national district and community levels. These ones mainly develop and implement programmes with financial support from various local and external sources including government. Most often, these CSOs' approaches and priorities are influenced by the funding organizations as they compliment government work at various levels. While some were established to address HIV/AIDS issues specifically others are addressing other social, economic and political concerns in addition to HIV/AIDS. The establishment of the Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organizations (UNASO) in the 1990s had already initiated collective approaches from these CSOs. National CSOs are represented by UNASO on the Partnership Committee. The SCE self-assessment report indicates that the SCEs is fairly well established.

2. International Civil Society Organizations

These were established as a unique cluster from local CSOs due to the fact that they are in most cases funding organizations and at the same time implementers. Their approaches and priorities are usually informed by the policies and principles of the international parent organizations. Most of these address general social, economic and political issues generally including HIV/AIDS. The self-assessment exercise revealed challenges of continuity in membership due turnover of HIV/AIDS focal officers in the respective organizations

3. Faith-based Organizations (FBOs)

Generically these would be grouped under Civil Society Organizations. Stakeholders in Uganda from this background however requested for this status due to the uniqueness of their approaches. HIV/AIDS coordination issues in the religious sector are also enhanced by the activities of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) though some religious stakeholders are yet to be captured. FBOs develop and implement HIV/AIDS programmes as influenced by the parent religious foundations. The assessment revealed that the SCE is fairly established though largely at national level

4. The Private Sector

This captures membership from both the formal business sector and the informal non-public for profit organizations. Membership includes multinational and local business organizations, trade and employee organizations, associations of various business organizations including farmers, cooperative, transport, etc, and government agencies that coordinate the various private sector issues. The diversity of the Private sector group has presented as a challenge to SCE management. Most members of this SCE acknowledge the need for mobilization of resources to support HIV/AIDS efforts and have proposed the establishment of a National AIDS Fund.

5. Young People

This SCE was born out the need to promote young people involvement in the planning and implementation of HIV/AIDS programmes where they are both key stakeholders and service beneficiaries. Young people up to 24 years do not usually participate in policy making, programming and service delivery largely due to the fact most of them are still in the education system that is not structured to promote this kind of arrangement or most have not yet developed adequate skills to enable them participate while those out of school rarely have opportunities for participating in such activities. The SCE is still in its infancy as young people develop ideas on how to involve all young people in the country in the management and coordination of the response.

6. Media, Arts and Culture

This sector bears a lot of influence on information dissemination at various levels. Membership to SCE includes media practitioners, artists and cultural institutions. It is however increasingly apparent that the culture sector is unique and might require special focus within the SCE

AIDS Development Partners

These include the United Nations(UN) and bilateral agencies operating in the country. These provide financial and technical resources to support the response at the various levels. Members from this SCE fund implementation, coordination and management efforts of the response through the Partnership Fund, direct to implementing actors or through government budget support. The SCE occupies a unique position since most members provide support but are not directly involved in implementation. SCE activities are therefore somehow different from those of other SCEs.

People Living with HIV/AIDS

The Partnership is bound to the global principle of Greater Involvement of PHAs ( GIPA ). This SCE therefore targets enhancing PHA participation in policy making, programme development and service delivery at the various levels. The establishment of this SCE led to the formation of a legal entity, the National Forum for People Living with HIV/AIDS Organizations ( NAFOPHANU ) that is constituted of individual PHAs, organizations and networks of organizations. NAFOPHANU is championing meaningful participation of PHAs with the support of the Partnership

Government Line Ministries

Uganda championed the multisectoral approach to HIV/AIDS. Various government ministries have over the years developed and implemented programmes to address the impact of HIV/AIDS on their mandated and vice versa. Technical officials from all ministries come together under this SCE to share experiences from, individual ministries , in policy and standards formulation, resource mobilization and management, sectoral coordination of the response etc.

Research and Academia

Many researchers and research institutions in Uganda have contributed to the body of knowledge on the epidemic and the response. There are however challenges of coordinating focus on common priorities, sharing research findings and resource mobilization for priority research. This SCE was established to bring together these stakeholders to work with Uganda AIDS Commission to chart out a common way forward for HIV/AIDS research in the country