Online Forum on the Community-Level HIV/AIDS Program Information Reporting Toolkit

Non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, grass-root support groups and volunteers are providing needed services directly to HIV/AIDS affected individuals, households and communities to prevent and mitigate the impact of the disease. These services include care and support for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), behavior change communication and promotion, and provision of home-based care to people and families living with HIV/AIDS. In some contexts these services and service providers are linked to health facilities, but much work is done directly in communities and is not linked to health facility based information systems.

Communities are doing commendable work under very difficult circumstances and there is an urgent need to support them, build local capacity, strengthen information systems for community-level activities and improve the quality of community-level information. MEASURE Evaluation developed the Community-Level HIV/AIDS Program Information Reporting Toolkit (CLPIR Toolkit) to address these needs.

The CLPIR Toolkit is intended for users at the national, sub-national and community levels and contains modules to assess existing community-level information system(s), harmonize national reporting requirements for community-level programs and strengthen the capacity of community-level programs and service providers to collect, report and use information.

Call for Participation

The Toolkit is currently being field tested in several countries. We would like to extend the field test to the Routine Health Information Network (RHINO) community through this on-line forum to get input from a wide range of professionals with expertise in the area of routine health information systems.

• Apply your knowledge and expertise to help community-level HIV/AIDS activities improve their information systems. Provide your input on the tools and resources contained in the Toolkit.
• Share your thoughts and experiences on approaches to strengthen community-level information and learn from the experiences of others.
• Join the forum!

Schedule

The forum will take place over a course of a week from January 26, 2009 through January 30, 2009.

How to participate?

If you would like to participate in the forum, email Matthew Parker at mparker@jsi.com. The title of the email should read "Participate in RHINO On-line Forum." In the email please include your name, organization and title. Once you have registered, you will get further information about the forum, a copy of the CLPIR Toolkit, information about the forum moderators, and illustrative questions that will guide the discussion. This information will also be posted on the RHINO website. 

Mark your calendars and register today! Registration closes on January 9, 2009.