Partnering microfinance and HIV/AIDS training in a rural South African intervention: Lessons learned from a process evaluation

Issues: Influencing structural drivers of HIV/AIDS, such as poverty and gender inequalities, requires innovative partnerships between institutions. International donors and NGOs have increasingly called for the partnering of microfinance and HIV prevention. As the profile of these partnerships is raised, it is essential to document lessons learned from successful models.

Description: The Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity (IMAGE) is a partnership between a South African microfinance NGO, Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF), and an academic institution, Rural AIDS and Development Action Research (RADAR). SEF delivered microfinance loans to women; RADAR delivered HIV/AIDS training and community mobilization. In a rigorous process evaluation, we combined quantitative data on program delivery and uptake with over 100 semi-structured interviews with IMAGE participants, management, staff, external donors, and policy-makers.

Lessons Learned: Microfinance is a useful mode of delivering HIV/AIDS training, resulting in high levels of attendance and participation. Partnering public health with microfinance can lead to program synergy as HIV training has potential to improve microfinance delivery and staff morale. However, the IMAGE partnership required significant managerial nurturing. External funding meant SEF's microfinance business was not affected, but long-term sustainability of such an approach remains unclear.

Recommendations: Successful HIV and microfinance partnerships require strong management capacity, ongoing attention to core competencies of each institution, and donors that value links between health and broader development goals. Future research will need to explore relative benefits of individual components of such interventions, document appropriate funding mechanisms, and identify how such partnerships can best target high-risk populations.