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NGO Hybridisation as an Outcome of HIV Services Delivery in Global Fund-Supported Programmes in Ukraine

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Abstract

Ukraine has one of the world’s fastest growing HIV rates and was one of the largest recipients of funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GF). Doctoral research recently completed by the author investigates the conduct and practice of international and national nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) as Principal Recipients of GF grants in Ukraine from 2004 to 2012. The study aimed to understand how NGO-based services were implemented in the context of a state-owned health care system. An ethnographic enquiry including 50 participant interviews was conducted in three oblasts in Ukraine, and in its capital, Kyiv, between 2011 and 2013. The paper is based on a doctoral research and presents some of the findings that emerged from the analysis. The author argues that the accent on NGO-run services promoted by GF has rendered the original grass roots, community-based NGOs, to be undermined or replaced by ‘quasi’, hybrid NGOs created by health officials and AIDS centres head doctors. The outcome of such hybridization is a weakened civil society that is dependent on external funding and is unable to genuinely represent their communities.

Résumé

L’Ukraine compte l’un des taux de VIH qui croit le plus rapidement au monde et a été l’un des principaux bénéficiaires du financement du Fonds mondial de lutte contre le sida, la tuberculose et le paludisme (GF). Des recherches doctorales récemment terminées par l’auteur étudient la conduite et la pratique des organisations non gouvernementales internationales et nationales (ONG) comme les principaux bénéficiaires des subventions du Fonds mondial en Ukraine de 2004 à 2012. L’étude visait à comprendre comment les services effectués par les ONG avaient été mis en œuvre dans le cadre d’un système de soins de santé publique. Une enquête ethnographique incluant 50 interviews de participants a été menée dans trois oblasts d’Ukraine et dans sa capitale, Kiev, entre 2011 et 2013. L’article s’inspire d’une recherche doctorale et présente certaines des conclusions issues de l’analyse. L’auteur soutient que l’accent mis sur les services fournis par les ONG promus par le Fonds mondial s’est traduit par la fragilisation et le remplacement des organisations populaires originales et des ONG implantées dans la communauté par des « quasi » ONG hybrides, créées par des responsables de la santé et des médecins en chef de centres de sida. Le résultat de cette hybridation est une société civile affaiblie, tributaire des financements extérieurs et incapable de représenter véritablement ses communautés.

Zusammenfassung

Die Ukraine hat eine der weltweit am schnellsten wachsenden HIV-Raten und gehörte zu den Empfängern der größten Finanzierungshilfen des Globalen Fonds zur Bekämpfung von AIDS, Tuberkulose und Malaria. Der Autor untersuchte in seiner kürzlichen Promotionsarbeit die Handlungsweisen und Praktiken internationaler und nationaler nicht-staatlicher Organisationen als Hauptempfänger von Zuschüssen des Globalen Fonds in der Ukraine über einen Zeitraum von 2004 bis 2012. Ziel der Studie war es, ein Verständnis darüber zu erlangen, wie die Dienstleistungen nicht-staatlicher Organisationen innerhalb eines staatlichen Gesundheitswesens implementiert wurden. Dazuführte man eine ethnographische Befragung von 50 Teilnehmern in drei Oblasten in der Ukraine sowie in der Hauptstadt Kiew zwischen 2011 und 2013 durch. Die Abhandlung beruht auf einer Promotionsarbeit und präsentiert einige der Analyseergebnisse. Der Autor behauptet, dass die Konzentration auf Dienstleistungen, die von nicht-staatlichen Organisationen bereitgestellt und vom Globalen Fonds gefördert werden, dazu geführt hat, dass gewissermaßen hybride nicht-staatliche Organisationen, die von Gesundheitsfunktionären und leitenden Ärzten der AIDS-Zentren geschaffen wurden, die ursprünglichen, gemeinschaftsbasierten nicht-staatlichen Basisorganisationen untergruben oder ersetzten. Infolge einer solchen Hybridisierung entsteht eine geschwächte Bürgergesellschaft, die aufexterne Geldmittel angewiesenund nicht in der Lage ist, ihre Bevölkerungsgruppenwirklich zu repräsentieren.

Resumen

Ucrania tiene una de las tasas de VIH más crecientes del mundo y fue uno de los principales receptores de financiación del Fondo Mundial (GF) para la lucha contra el SIDA, la tuberculosis y la malaria. La investigación doctoral finalizada recientemente por el autor investiga la conducta y la práctica de las organizaciones no gubernamentales nacionales e internacionales (ONG) como principales receptoras de las subvenciones del GF en Ucrania de 2003-2012. El estudio tenía como objetivo comprender cómo se implementaron los servicios basados en ONG en el contexto de un sistema de atención sanitaria estatal. Se realizó una encuesta etnográfica incluyendo 50 entrevistas de participantes en tres oblasts (regiones territoriales) en Ucrania, y en su capital, Kyiv, entre 2011 y 2013. El presente documento se basa en una investigación doctoral y presenta algunos de los hallazgos surgidos del análisis. El autor argumenta que el énfasis sobre los servicios realizados por las ONG promovidos por el GF ha ocasionado que las ONG originales, básicas, basadas en la comunidad, sean socavadas o sustituidas por ONG “casi” híbridas creadas por los funcionarios de sanidad y los médicos jefe de los centros contra el SIDA. El resultado de dicha hibridación es una sociedad civil debilitada que depende de la financiación externa y es incapaz de representar de manera genuina a sus comunidades.

摘要

乌克兰是世界上HIV增长率最快的国家之一,是全球抗击艾滋病、肺结核和疟疾基金会(GF)的最大的资金接受国。 在作者最近完成的博士研究中,调查了2003-2012年间作为GF款的主要接受人的国际和国内非政府组织(NGO)的行为和实践,研究旨在理解建立在NGO的基础上的服务如何在国有医疗体系中实施。 2011年到2013年在乌克兰、乌克兰首都、基辅的三个州进行了一项包括50名参与者的民族志调查。在博士研究基础上,本论文阐述了分析中的一些发现。作者认为,在GF推动下由NGO 提供的服务的重点已经让最初的建立在草根和社区基础上的NGO 被健康官员和艾滋病中心首席医生 建立的混合的准NGO破坏或取代,结果削弱了依赖外部资金的民间团体,导致他们不能真正代表他们所代表的团队的利益。

ملخص

أوكرانيا لديها أسرع معدلات الإصابة بفيروس الإيدز(HIV) في العالم، وكانت واحدة من أكبر المستفيدين من التمويل من التمويل العالمي(GF) لمكافحة الإيدز (HIV) والسل والملاريا. تم إكمال بحث دكتوراه مؤخرا” عن طريق مؤلف يبحث في السلوك والممارسة من المنظمات الغير حكومية الدولية والوطنية (NGOs) ، المستفيدين الرئيسيين من منح تمويل عالمي(GF) في أوكرانيا 2003-2012. هدفت الدراسة فهم كيف تم تنفيذ الخدمات القائمة على المنظمات الغير حكومية (NGO) في سياق نظام الرعاية الصحية المملوكة للدولة. قد أجرى تحقيق إثنوجرافي للشعوب و الثقافات يشمل مقابلة 50 من المشاركين في ثلاثة أقاليم في أوكرانيا، وعاصمتها كييف، بين عامي 2011 و 2013. تستند المقالة على بحث دكتوراه، وتقدم بعض النتائج التي ظهرت من التحليل. يجادل الكاتب أن التركيز على تشغيل المنظمات الغير حكومية (NGOs) الخدمات التي يروج لها التمويل العالمي(GF) جعلت القاعدة الشعبية الأصلية والمنظمات الغير حكومية (NGOs) المجتمعية، تقوض أو تحل محلها “شبه” المنظمات الغير حكومية (NGOs) المختلطة التي تم إنشاؤها عن طريق مسؤولي الصحة ومراكز الإيدز و رؤساء الأطباء. نتائج هذا التهجين هو المجتمع المدني الضعيف الذي يعتمد على التمويل الخارجي وغير قادر على تمثيل حقيقي لمجتمعاتهم.

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Notes

  1. Rounds—the GF funding cycles, usually lasting for 5 years. A Round consists of Phase 1 (first 2 years) after which the programme gets evaluated by the GF and a request for Phase 2 funding is made, approved at the condition that ‘verifiable results’ were achieved. Country may receive several grants, and round cycles often overlap. The rounds based system has now been replaced by a new funding model (NFM).

  2. The GF suspended the funding to all three PRs. “Poor governance by the CCM, poor management by the PRs, lack of clarity of internal procedures and slow programme implementation” were cited by the GFATM Office of the Inspector General as the reasons for the suspension (OIG 2008, p. 15).

  3. International HIV/AIDS Alliance—a UK-registered charity, based in Brighton. In Ukraine, it implemented GF programmes along with its linking organisation—International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine.

  4. Perestroika—a policy during the 1980s widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The literal meaning of perestroika is “restructuring”, referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system. Perestroika is often argued to be the cause of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe, and the end of the Cold War (the definition is from Wikipedia).

  5. CIS—Commonwealth of Independent States, the term used to define former Soviet republics after 1991, it excludes Baltic republics.

  6. FSU—Former Soviet Union countries—refers to 12 former Soviet republics minus the Baltic states, and includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

  7. CSOs—civil society organisations, the term is used in this paper alongside with ‘NGOs’—nongovernmental organisations.

  8. Oblast—an administrative territory in Ukraine, similar to a province in France.

  9. Elsewhere in this paper, quotations from participants are presented using the numbers rather than sector or regional identities in order to protect participants’ anonymity.

  10. MOH—Ministry of Health.

  11. Ukraine has specialized vertical health care branch—narcological dispensaries—to treat drug users, as an aftermath of ex-Soviet ‘Semashko’ health system.

  12. Needle and syringe exchange provided by NGOs, were particularly hard to implement, which fell under strict laws on medical waste utilization, a legacy of ‘Semashko’ Sanitary-Epidemiological control. With a strict regulatory framework in existence, responsibility for syringe utilization was passed on by PRs to sub-recipient NGOs. Regional NGOs were expected to work on the basis of “notifying the regional authorities about the beginning of harm reduction programmes in their region” and “clarifying the conditions for collection, transportation, storage and utilization of syringes with regional SanEpid branch” (EHRN/WHO Europe/GTZ/AFEW 2008, p. 13).

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Acknowledgments

The research was conducted as part of the PhD research course at the Institute for International Health and Development (IIHD) at Queen Margaret University. The author has received funding through the Scottish Overseas Research Student Award Scheme (SORSAS) from 2010 to 2013.

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McGill, S. NGO Hybridisation as an Outcome of HIV Services Delivery in Global Fund-Supported Programmes in Ukraine. Voluntas 27, 1853–1870 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-015-9611-1

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