Evaluation of the capacity and performance of the Zambia National AIDS Network under the Joint Financing Arrangement (2004-2007): charting the way forward

The Project

In line with donor commitments and principles of the Paris Declaration for Improving Aid Effectiveness*, the Royal Netherlands Embassy and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs entered into a Joint Financing Agreement (JFA) with the Zambia Aids Network (ZNAN) in 1994, covering the period 2004-2007. During this period, the JFA provided ZNAN with approximately USD $ 4,600,000 to implement its capacity-building and sub-granting programmes as well as strengthening coordination and collaboration among Zambian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in their efforts to prevent and control HIV.

*Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Paris Declaration for Improving Aid Effectiveness. March 2005.

Interesting Findings

The evaluation intended to assess the successes and challenges of the JFA support to ZNAN during the evaluation period (2004-2007), including an assessment of ZNAN's managerial and organisational set-up, the functioning of the sub-funding arrangements and the effectiveness of the advocacy and networking role.

• The evaluation concludes that ZNAN has recorded significant success in its work during the agreement period. The JFA support has contributed to the strengthening of ZNAN's governance structure and its institutional capacity to support NGOs and CSOs in their efforts to mobilise resources for HIV interventions.
• By providing capacity building in the areas of proposal writing, financial management, and monitoring and evaluation, ZNAN has enabled a wider spectrum of organisations to access JFA funding as well as other sources of funding.
• While the quality of the capacity-building support provided, has been consistently good, it has not been provided sufficiently due to an ever-increasing demand among the NGOs and CSOs.
• ZNAN is currently also meeting its objectives as a network organisation. However, without an investment in expanding the capacity of the ZNAN secretariat, it will prove challenging to meet future demands for information sharing and networking.