Injecting Drug Users (IDU), Commercial Sex Workers (CSWs), Men who have sex with men (MSM), the Roma ethnic minority and incarcerated persons

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

Abt Associates

HIV/AIDS

RiskNet
The three-year RiskNet project ended in 2005. It took a regional approach to reducing the transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV and other blood borne viruses (BBV) by supporting local NGOs that work with vulnerable populations such as ethnic minorities, injecting drug users (IDUs), commercial sex workers (CSWs), and men who have sex with men (MSM). This program supported 13 such NGOs in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Romania.

RiskNet2
The first is the continuation of the “gatekeeper” model of outreach. A gatekeeper is someone who has access to and/or influence over a portion of the target that is otherwise difficult for an NGO to reach or influence. They act as extensions of the NGO itself, helping in non-formal ways to facilitate behavior change among their network of friends and acquaintances. In the previous project, this model helped increase the number of registered clients at the NGOs by more than 430%; it grew the number of clients being served on an average monthly basis by more than 160%; and it increased the number of clients getting tested for HIV by more than 180%.

RiskNet2 also provides technical assistance to improve NGO sustainability. In many countries of southeastern Europe, external funding from donors is decreasing. Most support from The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will soon draw to a close. RiskNet2 will develop individual organizational development plans to improve sustainability for each NGO and aid in their implementation.

The program is based on four major goals:
1) reaching the target populations; 2) developing the skill set and relationships that would enable NGOs to maintain services with other donors or funding organizations; 3) supporting the NGOs to build capacity for sustainability through educational and training programs; 4) identifying lessons learned about behavior change programs and improve an understanding of the approaches that work best and why.

Achievements
• Continuous growth in key measures among the network NGOs. This included growing the number of new clients by 429% and the number of HIV/STI tests by 183%.
• Completed qualitative peer ethnographic research of men who have sex with men in four countries.
• Designed and tested an intervention to promote sexual health among Roma males. A secondary objective of this project was to make the intervention simple enough that non-HIV focused NGOs could easily implement it with little sexual/reproductive health knowledge or experience.
• Conducted quantitative research study of drug consumption patterns in four countries. This included 614 interviews executed by 12 organizations.

PSI's RiskNet program targets high-risk groups in southeastern europe through various outreach activities.