Charting sustainable roadmap for AIDS in Sri Lanka

Genesis was contracted by UNAIDS to lead a transition readiness assessment (TRA) in Sri Lanka and develop an implementable sustainability roadmap to mitigate for transition risks and vulnerabilities.

The main purpose of the assignment was to highlight transition risks and vulnerabilities, which, if not addressed, will result in disruption of service delivery, support services and erosion of gains made to date. Transition in this context refers to a transition of activities, largely funded by external funders, to government and supported by domestic funding.

Work included an initial scoping visit by the team in February 2020. The team consulted with the Government of Sri Lanka, National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP), civil society organisations, partners and others.

Given the unexpected impacts of COVID-19, the team adopted virtual methods to conduct key informant interviews and engage with other stakeholders, including electronic surveys developed for mobile devices to seek responses from a range of targeted stakeholder groups, including members of key populations.

The assignment concluded with three virtual workshops to seek input and refine the roadmap of actions. Genesis managed the assignment and coordinated a team of multidisciplinary experts.

The team developed a comprehensive TRA report for the Sri Lanka HIV programme together with a roadmap of mitigating actions. Country ownership of the report is high, and the recommendations were accepted and supported by stakeholders.

The assignment identified transition risks associated with representative governance and leadership, implementing effective services for key populations using community-led interventions and the funding, coordination and capacity of CSOs in Sri Lanka.

The TRA provided new insights to the NSACP programme planners that will assist them to manage the HIV funding and systems related transitions. Stakeholders used the report to inform the next Global Fund (GF) funding application and initiated processes to further unpack and refine actions for inclusion in the next application.

With GF funding, the successful implementation of these activities will support a more sustainable response and impact positively on health outcomes over the medium term. Community-led interventions will be strengthened and sustained through predictable domestic funding to increase coverage of HIV-related services to key populations.