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UNODC's regional project titled "Prevention of transmission of HIV among Drug Users in SAARC Countries" (RAS/H13) is in the process of scaling up its activities in the countries of South Asia, as was envisaged for the Phase II of the project.
Organizing country level monitoring and evaluation (M&E) workshops was a key recommendation of the project's Phase-1. During the Project Steering Committee Meeting and regional level M&E meeting, which was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 15-16 November 2007, it was decided that 'Progress-Reflection' exercises be included during the country level workshops to ensure an all inclusive and participatory M&E approach.
As a follow-up to the regional M&E meeting, the project organised country-level workshops, in Maldives (17-18 Nov) and Sri Lanka (20-21 Nov), aimed at capturing the progress of the project in-country by using the county level workplans and logframe. Along with the feedback from the M&E experts and the AusAID supported Technical Advisory Group (TAG) at both the country workshops respectively; progress of the project was captured using the logframe along with reflection exercises. This also enabled discussions among project partners and stakeholders from the government, UN, civil society partners, technical experts and collaborating networks in both countries.
National level M&E Workshop in Maldives
A national level Monitoring and Evaluation workshop was conducted for two days at the National Narcotics Control Bureau on 17th and 18th of November 2008. Key objectives of the workshop were to finalize the country level work plan and M&E framework and to prepare the country progress report. This was done along with the participants, which included representatives from the NGO partners, Department of Public Health, National Narcotics Control Bureau, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Ministry of Home Affairs, Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, and WHO. The project is planning to bringout an all inclusive progress report, highlighting the reflections of the progress.
National level M&E Workshop , Launch of the RSRA Findings and a Video Documentation in Sri Lanka
National Dangerous Drug Control Board office at Colombo was the site for the National Level Monitoring and Evaluation workshop, conducted on 20th and 21st Nov 2008. Participants included representatives from the National Dangerous Drug Control Board, NGO partners, National STD and AIDS Control Programme, UNAIDS and WHO. Specific achievements of the workshop included, finalization of the project H-13 country work plan and the country progress report, including the reflection exercise on the progress of the project.
In addition, the project team used the opportunity to share with the audience and the media the draft findings of the Rapid Situation & Response Assessment (RSRA) conducted across eight distinct sites in Sri Lanka. The purpose of sharing the draft RSRA findings was to include feedbacks of the implementing agencies that would feed in Sri Lanka's RSRA report.
A 14-minute video depicting the overall impact of projects interventions in Sri Lanka was also launched on the occasion. The video captured the impact/scope of the project's work, as was perceived by project stakeholders like UNAIDS, National STD and AIDS Control Programme and importantly, the communities where the project interventions were being rolled-out.
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