The proposed Share Fair built on the Knowledge Synthesis and Best Practices Workshop, South-to-South Learning Exchanges, Treat All Message Design Workshop, Collaborating and Learning Towards Treat All Share Fair, PANCAP webinars, and other ongoing regional knowledge management efforts around 90-90-90 and Treat All.

It provided a space for NAP managers and CSO representatives to showcase best practices from implementation experiences, discuss critical challenges, and surface recommendations on increasing access to services for men, including men who have sex with men and other key populations in achieving 90-90-90.

The Share Fair also focused on sharing of implementation experiences and identifying applicable lessons for NAP managers and CSOs in relation to PrEP, innovations on reaching and testing key populations, and strategies for sustainability of the response.  Bringing together these two key stakeholders and applying the Share Fair methodology also promoted cross-fertilization of ideas on successful implementation approaches and models of care.

Based on on-going current trends and discussions in the region, the Share Fair focused on the following areas:

1. Implementation of prevention modalities, such as PrEP.
2. Access to HIV services for men, including men who have sex with men and for other key populations.
3. Innovations in HIV testing and reaching key populations with strategies, such as online outreach and index testing.
4. Strategies to support the implementation of Treat All, including addressing loss to follow up.
5. Sustainability and resource mobilization of the HIV response, including private sector engagement.

Objectives:

The objectives of the Share Fair were:

1. To share examples of successful interventions being applied by NAP Managers and CSO representatives in achieving 90-90-90 and Treat All and demonstrate how these interventions can be more widely applied across the region.
2. To understand the factors that hinder access to services for men and share examples of successful implementation experiences in reaching, testing, and linking men to services in achieving 90-90-90.
3. To build capacity of NAP managers and CSO representatives on writing of abstracts and designing of abstract posters.
4. To share successful implementation practices on cross-cutting thematic issues such as resource mobilization and sustainability.
5. To foster collaboration between CSO representatives and NAP managers.

KM approaches utilized:

A key factor for sustainable HIV programmes in the region includes successful collaboration and cooperation between governments (National AIDS Programmes) and CSOs. While some countries have seen successful partnerships, others still experience substantial barriers. The KM approaches applied during the Share Fair enhanced learning objectives of the event by fostering knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices among participants.

This included:

Knowledge Café: While this technique has been used in the past, we paired this session with a pre-Share Fair skills building technical assistance described below. The knowledge cafés which were held at the Share Fair provided an opportunity for countries to share experiences on the implementation of PrEP, access to services for KPs including HIV testing, online outreach and lost to follow up, quality of care and sustainability of the HIV response.

Pre-Share Fair technical assistance activities:

Phase 1: Writing a good programmatic abstract

Phase 2: Designing an abstract poster

Prior to the Share Fair, the project team worked with country teams, consisting of the NAP manager and representatives from a civil society organization, regional CSOs, and USAID partners such as LINKAGES and provide a template, guidance, informational webinar, and constructive feedback on writing a programmatic abstract and creating a poster. This skills building approach will strengthen the capacity of the country teams to harness tacit knowledge, document implementation experiences, and will begin to create culture of collaboratively documenting and sharing in the region. The process is also intended to serve as an impetus for programmes to submit abstracts to upcoming conferences such as CCAS, CARPHA scientific conference, and other regional and international meetings (IAS), so that the learning from implementation experiences can benefit wider Caribbean audiences. The country teams intend on writing abstracts on successful experiences around PrEP and Index testing, strategies for the successful implementation of Treat All, and sustainability of the HIV programming. The country teams will then serve as the facilitators of the knowledge cafés and share their country experience and facilitate a discussion on their topic.

Conversation Panel: A moderated conversation panel was conducted to discuss the factors that hinder access to services for men and to share successful implementation experiences. The conversation panel was complemented by an interactive “rich picture” exercise that helped participants to think through access to services in a holistic way, understand the complexity of the issues, and illustrate the main elements and relationships that need to be considered when designing interventions to increase access to services for men.

A “Close Up” motivational talk was conducted to demonstrate how a male person has overcome specific challenges to consistently access health care services. The “Close Up” patterned after “Ted Talk” was introduced at the Share Fair in 2018 and was deemed highly successful by participants.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Proposed Event Activities

During the event

• Expectation board: We developed the expectation board and use this to facilitate a discussion on participant’s expectations, determine if these were met, and define relevant next steps or follow up activities that would be important in supporting NAP managers and CSOs.
• Virtual Evaluation: At the end of the day, participants were asked whether or not the event added value to them and whether or not the knowledge gained can be applied in their own work. This was done through virtual evaluation using the audience response system, “Poll Everywhere”.  The purpose of this exercise was to evaluate the quality of the sessions from the participants’ point of view. Introduced at the Knowledge Synthesis and Best Practices Workshop, “Poll Everywhere” has been successfully used at regional meetings over the past several years.

After the event

• An after action review was conducted with the planning team (PCU team and K4Health team) to understand what worked well, the challenges encountered, and how the learning from implementing the Share Fair can inform future events.

Anticipated Outcomes:

• Increased participant awareness and knowledge of factors impeding access and strategies to improve access to services to men in achieving 90-90-90.
• Increased participant awareness and knowledge of sustainable approaches to achieving 90-90-90 and moving toward Treat All in the region.
• Strengthened collaboration among CSOs and NAP managers who are working to achieve 90-90-90 and Treat All in the region.
• Increased capacity of participants to document and share their implementation experiences.