Feedback - Draft Code of Good Practice for NGOs responding to
HIV/AIDS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Colleagues
My name is Peter Burgess, and I am working on the Afrifund Data-
base initiative to improve management information used for de-
velopment analysis.
I have not had the chance to read the draft of the code of prac-
tice word for word, end to end, but what seems to be missing
based on a quick review is strong language about the cost asso-
ciated with the various programmatic activities. The draft Code
and documents are available at:
http://www.ifrc.org/what/health/hivaids/code/
As a former corporate CFO, and also with some 20 years of devel-
opment consultancy experience, I remain shocked at the almost
total lack of effective management information among the organi-
zations of the official development assistance community includ-
ing the NGOs. Nobody seems to be compiling cost information in a
systematic manner so that outcomes can be related to cost, yet
there is a dramatic shortage of resources. It would seem reason-
able to have the essential management information that would
help allocate resources to those interventions that deliver the
most for the least.
I am also aware that a lot of people who are able to engage in
useful HIV-AIDS work are local people who may have limited edu-
cation. The process to sign on to the code of practice should
facilitate informal organizations becoming involved with the im-
plementation of effective programs, rather than being a not so
subtle way of excluding these groups.
In fact, it is quite likely, if we had some decent cost analysis
of HIV-AIDS progammatic interventions, that the high profile in-
ternational NGOs would get replaced by the small, informal, ef-
fective and low cost local NGOs. From the point of view of the
high cost international NGOs this would be a bad outcome, but
from the point of view of the people infected and affected di-
rectly by the crisis, this would be progress.
I think the proposed code of practice without the cost element
is an additional piece of bureaucracy with rather limited man-
agement value. If, on the other hand, the cost element is in-
cluded, then it can be of enormous value and could be the cata-
lyst for significant improvement in the effectiveness of re-
source use in the HIV-AIDS crisis.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the draft.
Sincerely,
Peter Burgess
in New York
Tel: +1-212 772 6918
mailto:peterb@afrifund.com
http://www.afrifund.com/wiki/index.pcgi?page=AfrifundDatabase
http://www.afrifund.com/wiki/index.pcgi?page=DDIssueAIDS