Institutional Review of the Malawi National AIDS Commission
For DFID
Agulhas reviewed the institutional arrangements of the National AIDS Commission in Malawi in the light of its core role of co-ordinating the national response to HIV/AIDS. The assignment analysed the institutional context for NAC, its governance, internal management systems performance and constraints.
The NAC’s task of co-ordinating the national response to HIV/AIDS is great. It requires the ability to both develop and guide policy and implementation across a range of governmental and non-governmental actors. The NAC is the multisectoral co-ordinator and its partners in the public, private and non-governmental arenas are the programme implementers. This applies in particular to the Ministry of Health as the “first among equals” having the role of leading the health response to HIV/AIDS. International learning indicates the importance of having sufficient central capacity in a NAC to liaise with, monitor and support partners’ implementation, across all sectors.
Donors are seeking to support the National HIV/AIDS policy through a common funding framework and have adopted key elements of a Sector Wide Approach (SWAP). NAC has achieved a great deal, arguably more than most comparable organisations would do in the timeframe. This was in spite of the challenges it faced during inception,
Areas of Expertise