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Upper West Region Technical Support Unit Conducts Institutional Capacity Assessment of Implementing Partners

Upper West Region Technical Support Unit Conducts Institutional Capacity Assessment of Implementing Partners


The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) is mandated by law to provide leadership, policy direction and coordination of the national HIV and AIDS response by an Act of Parliament, Act 938 of 2016. As a best practice, the GAC periodically develops National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plans (NSP) that guide its work. In operationalizing the the NSP, the Commission expends public funds and resources from its Development Partners and intends to apply some of the funds to eligible sub-projects for implementation.
    
As part of the processes to engage Implementing Partners (IPs) for the sub-projects, a Call for Expression of Interest (EOI) was advertised in the media which attracted applications from various Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). Each application received was subjected to a thorough evaluation by an Independent Review and Appraisal Committee (IRAC). In the end, 62 organisations were selected, having passed the initial screening criterion.

It is from this background that the Ghana AIDS Commission Technical Support Unit for the Upper West Region undertook an Institutional Capacity Assessment of the five (5) Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) who qualified from the region. The  exercise set out to establish whether or not the CSOs currently satisfy the criteria for selection to implement GAC sub-projects in the region. The outcome of this exercise would present the GAC with the required information for informed decision making grounded on the available data.

Specifically, the objectives of the assessment were;
1.    To conduct due diligence on the legality of the organizations by verifying their registration certificate and other governance structures
2.    To establish the existence of key staff for the project and their competencies in project management especially in relation to HIV and AIDS programmes.
3.    To establish the technical and financial capacities of the newly selected IPs
4.    To know the physical location for the operations of the organisations and establish the suitability of each organisation’s office for the project

In the UWR, a Pre – Implementation Meeting (PIM) of the regional task team led by Mr Dramani Yakubu, Regional Technical Coordinator for the Ghana AIDS Commission took place at the TSU office in Wa on 4th May, 2020. At the meeting, the modalities for the assessment including; a schedule for the exercise, notification of the CSOs of the exercise, compliance with the COVID-19 protocols issued by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, and assigned roles and responsibilities were discussed and agreed on.

The field work was done from 6th – 12 May, 2020 and the report compiled within 5 days after the field work. A structured assessment tool (Organisational Capacity Assessment Questionnaire) used by Ghana AIDS Commission in previous assessment was adopted for this exercise. The questionnaire assesses the CSOs on six (6) main domains including; Governance and Leadership, Management Practice, Monitoring and Evaluation, Programme Development, External Relations and Networking, and Infrastructure & Physical Resources.
The questionnaire has two main parts. The first part collects information from responses as well as observations by the assessment team. The second part of the tool (Organisation Capacity Assessment Analytical Framework) uses information supplied by the CSOs and the assessment teams observations to score each organisation on the six domains of assessment. The CSOs were then ranked based on their scores.

 

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The Ghana AIDS Commission is a supra-ministerial and multi-sectoral body established under the Chairmanship of H. E. the President of the Republic of Ghana by Act 2016, Act 938 of Parliament. The objective of the Commission is to formulate policy on the HIV and AIDS epidemic and...

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