Achievements & Lessons Learned-C: Center for Women Policy Studies

Knowledge Item: CA-Initiative Impact-99C
Major Achievements and Lessons Learned: 1994-1999

Center for Women Policy Studies

The Metro DC Collaborative has reduced cultural, linguistic, and organizational barriers to care experienced by women living with HIV/AIDS.

In 1999, the Evaluation and Dissemination Center asked each project to state its major achievements and the lessons it had learned from conducting the project. Those stated achievements and lessons learned are reproduced here (with minor editing) as reported to the Evaluation and Dissemination Center. The summary statements given here are those aspects of the program's experiences that the Project Director wished to emphasize.

Achievement 1: Set up extensive network of women with HIV/AIDS from diverse communities. Seen more women involved and attend Ryan White Planning Council Meetings.

Key Elements for
Success:

Including women in all phases of the project.

Factors that Limited
Success:

Few existing networks to tap to build our network.

Factors the Ensured
Success:

Allowing women with HIV/AIDS to set the agenda, which allowed the network to service the needs of the community more directly.

Achievement 2: Published a number of policy reports that are very accessible (i.e., information and writing style) to a range of constituents (women with HIV/AIDS, policy makers, and practitioners).
Key Elements for Success: Supportive Center staff members who made collaborative publications a priority.	Factors that Limited Success: None listed.	Factors the Ensured Success: Documentation of the information sharing meetings through the reports empowered the women attending the meetings because they saw through the reports that they too had expertise with the system.

Achievement 3: Publication of quarterly Woman Care News newsletter provides current news/policy updates.
Key Elements for Success: More brief than reports and are able to get information to the constituents in a more concise format.	Factors that Limited Success: None listed.	Factors the Ensured Success: None listed.

*Achievement 4:* Building a strong working relationship with the women of the community and building trust was paramount.
Key Elements for Success: The Center’s perspective on our work – centering our work on women of color and having all of our work focus in this direction made this project easier and made it a bit easier to touch diverse communities and build the trust necessary to make it work.	Factors that Limited Success: None listed.	Factors the Ensured Success: None listed.

*Achievement 5:* Created a model training program – Fighting for Our Lives – which extends the reach of training to build a more expansive network.
Key Elements for Success: None listed.	Factors that Limited Success: Not having the capacity to accept all of the women who were interested in the workings of the project; ability to leave behind the activity/training because of the costs and resources needed to conduct the trainings.	Factors the Ensured Success: Tapping a number of community centered programs to provide information germane to women’s lives.

1. Lesson Learned: The importance of including the affected community in all phases of the project – planning and implementation.

How related to achievements: This built trust and made the project more relevant to women's lives.

2. Lesson Learned: Need to always build in flexibility in such a way to be able to make changes that adhere to the nature of the policy environment.

How related to achievements: Not specified.

3. Lesson Learned: Must be diligent in reaching diverse community.

How related to achievements: Not specified.

Completed By: Wendy Smooth
Last Updated: May 1999

Project Resource Page

Center for Women Policy Studies

Evaluation Data

Last Updated: August 02, 2001; data through June 15, 1999; analyses conducted January 2000.

Knowledge Base Citation: The Knowledge Base and this Knowledge Item were designed and authored by G. J. Huba, Ph.D.; in collaboration with Lisa A. Melchior, Ph.D.; A. T. Panter, Ph.D.; and the staff of The Measurement Group. Cite this work as "Huba, G. J., Melchior, L. A., and Panter, A. T. (1998 - 2001). The Measurement Group Knowledge Base on HIV/AIDS Care. On the World Wide Web: http://www.TheMeasurementGroup.com."

Questions or Comments: Contact The Measurement Group.

Use of Knowledge Base Information: Acceptable Uses and Limitations.

Collaborators from Participating Projects: Cooperative Agreement Steering Committee 1999.

Participating Projects: This Knowledge Base is based on the service delivery experiences of 27 Cooperative Agreement Projects on Innovative Models of HIV/AIDS Care. These projects and the Evaluation and Dissemination Center which produced this Knowledge Base were funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) as Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) between 1994 and 1999.

Why This Evaluation was Conducted: Editorial.

More Information: Design of this Knowledge Base.

Recommended Citation Format for Web Materials: American Psychological Association Publication Manual Section, Revised 2001.

Work on the Knowledge Base and the cross-cutting evaluation was supported in part by Grant Number 5 U90 HA 00030-05 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau's (HAB) Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS). The contents of this Knowledge Base are solely the responsibility of The Measurement Group and do not necessarily represent the official views of HRSA or HRSA/HAB's Special Projects of National Significance nor may they represent the positions of the individual grantees whose projects are included in the cross-cutting evaluation.