Sharing knowledge and learning across the world
27 May 2008
Alliance India and its partners have hosted two successful learning exchanges, with Alliance staff and partners from Myanmar, and from Ukraine and Zambia.
Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) programming was the focus for the Myanmar visitors. Alliance India has many years experience of community based OVC programmes.
The trip provided a great opportunity to share experiences in the different operating environments of the two countries.
“This exchange has been useful in many ways,” said Nang Mo Kham from Alliance Myanmar. “It broadens understanding on issues specific to orphans and vulnerable children and gives us some direction for our future OVC programming.
“Through this visit we have identified areas for capacity building and the need to have specific tools developed for the local context.”
Issues shared through discussions and field trips included, developing targeted interventions for children, such as community fostering, education and capacity building for children, psychosocial support to children through art and child support groups.
Visitors from the Ukraine and Zambia spent their trip exploring the issues of transitioning from being an Alliance country office to becoming a linking organisation.
They visited Alliance for AIDS Action in Andhra Pradesh, formerly an Alliance country office, which in April this year became a linking organisation. They discussed the lessons learned from the different experiences of the transition process.
In particular, participants shared their knowledge about selecting and building an independent board of trustees, including the formation of a constitution and bylaws for an independent organisation and the impact of the transition on the management and administration of the organisation.
“We were inspired by the field visits and follow up discussions. We have now very concrete ideas about what can and should be applied in Ukraine from the new knowledge received during our visit,” said Paola Pavlenko from Alliance Ukraine.
In 2007 the Alliance committed itself to knowledge sharing between partner organisations through face to face visits and virtual exchanges to increase cross-country learning and speed up effective HIV responses. These two visits are the first of seven that will take place in 2008.
