General Technical Documents Community-Led Monitoring Technical Guide

Purpose

This guide supports the implementation of EpiC’s comprehensive community-led monitoring (CLM) system, comprised of four components: LINK, Community Scorecard (CSC), Adverse Event Prevention, Monitoring, Investigation, and Response (AEPMIR), and Implementer Security. The guide provides steps and tools for implementation, outlines attributes of each component, and illustrates how the components come together to function as a single monitoring system. Each component can also be implemented on its own. Per the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Country Operational Plan (COP) 2021 guidance, CLM systems are a critical aspect of the PEPFAR programs. All PEPFAR programs are required to develop, support, and fund a CLM system in close collaboration with independent civil society organizations (CSOs) and host country governments. The AEPMIR component helps address some of the PEPFAR requirements for programs implementing index testing.

Introduction

CLM is a system that empowers program beneficiaries, CSOs, and networks to routinely monitor accessibility and quality of HIV services and client satisfaction. As a solution-oriented system, CLM is designed to use this feedback to inform changes and monitor improvements needed to ensure clients—especially members of key populations (KPs), priority populations (PPs), and people living with HIV (PLHIV)—receive optimal client-centered HIV care and services and response to individual concerns they raise if immediate support is required or desired. The main objective of the EpiC CLM system is to empower local communities to monitor and improve the quality of HIV services through the collection and presentation of information. This includes providing feedback on services, proposing and negotiating solutions with health providers and other decision-makers, and monitoring progress toward addressing specific issues.