FHI - FHI Project Nurtures Local Consulting Talent

JULY 2007 — The FHI Resource Center of the China HIV/AIDS Roadmap Tactical Support Project (CHARTS) is developing a team of qualified Chinese monitoring and evaluation (M&E) consultants to support ongoing implementation of China's national M&E framework.

Leading professors from Anhui and Beijing University, FHI/China Senior M&E Officer Ming Zhongqiang, and a select group of provincial consultants form part of the China M&E Working Group, along with advisors from UNAIDS, WHO, and the US Centers for Disease Control. These experts also emphasize the day-to-day systems requirements needed to operationalize the framework locally. FHI Senior HIV/AIDS Advisor David Dobrowolski and Program Officer Dai Min are supporting the development of the Chinese provincial teams.

Activities that form part of ongoing FHI support to CHARTS include participatory workshops and curriculum development, as well as consultant training in M&E and program management.

Consultants from FHI and the Chinese State Council AIDS Working Committee Office designed a workshop for drafting the country's M&E action plan. The resulting draft protocol will be a key deliverable for the project, since CHARTS is a cost-sharing platform for harmonizing ongoing multidonor work in China. CHARTS thus integrates international with national inputs (regardless of funding source) at the highest levels of the Chinese government and for provincial replication.

A Growing Network of Provincial Consultants
To build additional momentum, FHI sponsored the second annual meeting of the CHARTS Provincial Consultants Network (PCN) in April 2007. This network is slated to grow from 19 to 50 consultants in 2007. The Chinese experts will work on improving their skills and planning their individual contributions in China's varied provinces. Meanwhile, the CHARTS PCN is adapting international standards to assure the quality of participating consultants within this wide-ranging geographic context.

CHARTS is expanding from 8 to 12 provinces in 2007 under the new HIV/AIDS Program of the UK Department for International Development, emphasizing the trend in China for more "home-grown" technical assistance.

FHI will work with the PCN to assist in network coordination, develop additional consultant training materials, share success stories, and post tools on the website of the China HIV/AIDS Information Network or CHAIN. CHAIN, within the China Association for STI/HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control, is an FHI/China CHARTS partner.

CHARTS priorities for 2007 include policies to reduce the vulnerability to HIV of migrant workers in China, who now number over 140 million. Another priority is the development of forums that increase the participation of civil society in the HIV/AIDS response at provincial levels and below.