Grant Amount: US$ 29,786

Keywords: HEALTH, HIV/AIDS, INTERNET, CAPACITY BUILDING, INDIA

Geographic coverage: India

Objectives

The objective of this project is to develop an Online Resource Centre (ORC) on HIV/AIDS with e-Training programmes, e-Forums and e-Support.

Research context

India accounts for 60 percent of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Asia, with an estimated 5.1 million people infected in 2004. A nationwide needs assessment survey conducted by SAATHII indicate that while over 1,200 agencies are attempting to respond to the crisis, delivering quality services has been impeded by a lack of information and communications technology (ICT) capacity building programmes, lack of digital forums for networking, sharing of knowledge and best practices, and inadequate access to relevant electronic resources. In this project SAATHII aims to develop an ORC on HIV/AIDS in India. The centre provides HIV/AIDS e-Training programmes, interactive e-Forums and e-Support tailored to different organization’s needs. The project intends to assess these programmes using both quantitative and qualitative analyses, the results of which will constitute core determinants of an enhanced response to the fight against HIV/AIDS in India.

Target beneficiaries

The project focuses on four categories of stakeholders involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS in India: non-profit HIV/AIDS service-provider organizations in rural and semi-urban areas who have access to the Internet; physicians, counsellors and social workers involved in offering prevention; treatment, care and support services; and HIV/AIDS positive people, and members of the public seeking current information on HIV/AIDS related issues ranging from prevention to treatment to policy.

Outputs

An integrated ORC for HIV/AIDS in India consisting of:

• Training modules with interactive components delivered via dedicated web pages on the http://www.saathii.org website;
• An e-Forum for general use beyond the project period, that will be consolidated into Frequently Asked Questions and Best Practices documents for wider dissemination on the website; 
• Research papers and reports based on analyses of the e-Training, e-Forum and e-Support components, comparisons with offline training and support programmes, and quantitative and qualitative analyses of the capacity building of programme participants; and
• A model of capacity building through ICTs that can be tested and adapted to other resource-constrained environments.

Research results and outcomes

All the specific objectives proposed by SAATHII (e-Training, e-Forums and e-Support) have the common goal of facilitating knowledge transfer, information and exchange. After exploring various methods of implementation, it was decided that all these objectives could be addressed by development of a comprehensive information and communications management system that would host the ORC.

The ORC system took four months to develop and involved a close collaboration between SAATHII and Janastu, a non-profit Information Technology agency in Bangalore. The ORC provides a simple web interface to collect data combined with a directory and database structure to collate context specific data. The ORC is a cost-effective and highly flexible software built from Pantoto, an online community model that uses free and open source technologies such as Java, MySQL and WebMacro.

Modules for e-Training have been designed using ICT-based instruction to reach a large number of geographically-dispersed HIV/AIDS organizations. A total of 15 modules were proposed, each intended to reach about 50 participants at a time. Three of these modules will be piloted during the project period. The modules cover topics in prevention and treatment that are relevant to service providers. These include Biostatistics and Research Methods, Monitoring and Evaluation, and HIV and Nutrition. The project has already launched the online training programme in Biostatistics and Research Methods. The course has enrolled 80 students from 11 states in India, and uses a combination of lecture notes, online chat sessions and a mailing list for discussion of scientific articles.

The project designed e-Forums to facilitate and enhance collaboration, information exchange and sharing of best practices, and strengthen technical capacity among stakeholders in India through electronic bulletin-board forums. The e-Forums have been structured to the needs of communities of practice covering such areas as anti-retroviral therapy, counselling, nutrition, infected-affected-vulnerable children, prevention and home-based care.

The project is in the process of developing e-Support to provide focused support services and referrals to organizations with specific resource needs. The assessment of needs is determined during the course of field visits and through the e-Trainings and e-Forums. Twelve organizations will be selected to receive e-Support during the project period.

The project has also launched an e-Library that hosts a growing collection (currently over 360) of India-related HIV/AIDS articles, toolkits and best practices documentation, covering science, policy, education, training, media coverage and case studies. The interactive nature of this library allows users to share their own documents and reports in addition to retrieving materials. Additionally, the e-Library contains sub-databases of conferences, training workshops, grants and job vacancy announcements.

The components and services available under this project have been publicized on the SAATHII listserve (with membership of 2,800), through a print brochure describing the ORC and its components, and through site visits by researchers and staff from non-governmental organizations. SAATHII’s experience with development of the ORC has been shared at an ICT panel organized by UNAIDS-India at the India HIV/AIDS conference held in Chennai in 2005. Additionally, an abstract ICT for HIV/AIDS Capacity Building has been accepted by the International AIDS conference to be held in Toronto in August 2006.

Project Duration

Start Date: March 2005
End Date: September 2006
Total Duration: 19 Months

Contact information

Dr. L. Ramakrishnan, Country Director (Programmes and Research)
Solidarity and Action Against the HIV Infection in India (SAATHI)
78 Pushpa Nagar Main Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai 600034, India
Telephone: +91 44 2817 3948
Fax: +91 44 2817 3947
Email: saathii.orc@gmail.com, l_ramakrishnan2003@yahoo.com
 
Websites

http://www.saathii.org
http://www.saathii.org/orc