Culturally Appropriate HIV Capacity Building Among Pacific Islander Organizations in Southern California: Results from an organizational capacity survey of participating organizations

The Pacific Islander HIV Capacity Building Project, supported by a three-year grant (2006-2009) through the US Office of Minority Health, used a culturally appropriate, Pacific Islander centered approach to build capacity for service delivery and organizational sustainability. The program included workshops, family/community gatherings, cultural/religious events, and organizational coaching/mentoring to build skills, confidence, and networks for HIV prevention among Pacific Islanders in Southern California. The four organizations participating in the program were secular and faith-based, Chamorro/Guamanian and Samoan, and located in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties. To measure the effects of the program on the organizational capacity of the four partners, organizational capacity surveys were conducted at three points in time: baseline, mid-program, and end of program. The survey results indicated that there was substantial improvement in HIV knowledge across the partner organizations, and an increase in training received and workshops attended. The survey results also indicated that at the very least, organizational partners remained stable in several organizational capacity areas (e.g., financial management), and showed substantial improvements in specific capacity measures including human resources management, service delivery, and strategic planning capacity. The results indicate that a Pacific Islander centered program may have both immediate outcomes (improving HIV knowledge within secular and faith based Pacific Islander community organizations) and longer term impacts (improving organizational capacity across a variety of indicators). The implications of the program will be discussed for Pacific Islander secular and faith-based organization capacity building centering on stigmatized health conditions such as HIV/AIDS.