PESHAWAR, Aug 27: The NWFP Aids Consortium has asked UN agencies to issue funds to non-governmental organisations through it to avoid duplication of activities and wastage of money.

“Huge funds are being pumped by the UN and other international donor organisations through NGOs for raising public awareness regarding HIV/Aids, but there is little tangible improvement as far achievement of the prescribed goals is concerned,” said an official, adding that besides Aids, the consortium was also concentrating on Hepatitis, TB and malaria.

He said they had already asked UN agencies to streamline funding for measures against Aids and the demand would be reiterated at a four-day meeting of the Provincial Aids Control Programme (PACP) in Nathiagalli from Aug 28.

In 2004, the European Commission (EC) and the British government’s Department for International Development (DFID) funded a project ‘Tameer’ which aimed at radically enhancing the capacity of Aids NGOs and helping them to be effective and enduring partners in fighting Aids.

This includes enhanced strategic, organisational and technical governance, project identification and management capabilities, and increased joint planning and coordination.

The Tameer project has been implemented by the Pakistan National Aids Consortium (PNAC) in collaboration with the Interact Worldwide UK.

Dr Khizar Hayat, executive director of the NWFP Aids Consortium that has 51 member NGOs in the province, said that the Tameer project had four components—capacity building of NGOs as well as of their members, small grants programme (SGP) and research. In the first phase of SGP eight projects had been funded while in the second phase, 27 projects of the partner NGOs had been funded after a competitive process involving member NGOs.

Under the SGP, partner NGOs are working with people living with HIV/Aids, injecting drug users (IDUs), homosexual men, female sex workers, eunuchs, border traders, coal miners, jail inmates and fishermen.

A total of 77 NGOs are implementing 35 projects throughout the country. Dr Khizar said that they had developed a monitoring system for the NGOs implementing small grants programme. He said that last month one such project was terminated which was implemented by two NGOs on female sex workers in Mardan.

“We have awarded four small grants, each amounting to Rs1.8 million, for a period of 18 months. One is for jail inmates in Kohat, the second for students of religious schools in Peshawar, third for working with out-of-school youths in Takhtbai Mardan and the fourth one is about capacity building of female sex workers in Mardan,” he said, adding that the last one was terminated after the PNAC expressed strong reservation over the number of female sex workers in Mardan.

“We know that it is extremely difficult to work with female sex workers in Mardan district due to traditional and cultural taboos, but the two NGO, the co-implementers of the project, had recorded fake data,” said he.

He said that they had 200 master trainers to train people on basics of the HIV/Aids.