Scaling-Up HIV/AIDS Interventions Through Expanded Partnerships (STEPS) In Malawi

This paper examines the progress of the STEPS initiative in Malawi. It is part of a series produced by the World Bank in association with the International Food Policy Research Institute, that assesses the factors that facilitate Community-Driven Development (CDD) programmes related to scaling-up HIV/AIDS interventions. With respect to Malawi, this paper addresses the STEPS initiative and its progress as a capacity building and community mobilisation force amongst local HIV/AIDS committees within Malawi.

The document provides a brief history of Malawi’s socio-economic situation as well as a synopsis of recent attempts by international bodies to curb the affects of the epidemic and introduce new prevention strategies. It proceeds to outline the STEPS initiative, evaluating its first and second phases of intervention that began in 1995. In this evaluation, the paper discusses factors that affect the scaling-up process, including the catalysts, institutional arrangements, and organisational capacities. In addition, it discusses the threats, including the magnitude of the epidemic, the severe food-crisis, weak district-level AIDS committees and the threat of political interference, within the overall context of poverty and underdevelopment.

The author concludes that scaling up multi-sectoral, community-driven responses to HIV/AIDS is possible, even in resource-poor settings. "The success of STEPS, however, will require maintaining a motivated and well-trained staff, focusing on partnerships between established community organizations, government ministries and donors, and sustained efforts to provide capacity building workshops for community and village AIDS committees."

Due to technical reasons beyond the control of Soul Beat Africa, some PDFs may not open in some browsers. We suggest that you contact the organisation directly, or try another browser.