In June 2017 the International HIV/AIDS Alliance decided to close down all 6 Regional Technical Support Hubs in the world. The for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Hub was transformed into the Alliance Technical Assistance Centre (ATAC), jointly hosted by Alliance Consultancy and Alliance for Public Health. ATAC has started its activities on the basis of Hub, following up from its extensive project portfolio and the history of a wide range of successfully accomplished technical support assignments.  

ATAC provides technical assistance in all 6 regions of the world, having worked to date in 53 countries.

 
1. The key technical areas that ATAC specializes in are:
Managerial aspects of HIV interventions including:
• Governance and overall management of programs (including civil society, PLHIV, and KAP representation mechanisms). • Financial management and ensuring appropriate use of resources Management of capacity development efforts and technical support delivery. Management of sub-awards. • Procurement and supply management. • Risk management. • Management of transitions from external to domestic (including governmental) funding in.
 
2. Technical aspects of HIV prevention, care and treatment with emphasis on:
• Ensuring expedient access of key affected populations, specific segments within those, and their sexual partners to the continuum of HIV prevention, care and treatment services. • Ensuring that specific obstacles hindering smooth transitions of people between different levels of treatment cascade are identified and addressed through innovative solutions involving collaboration between various sectors and organizations. • Promoting the dialogue between governmental agencies and civil society actors based on clear distribution of labor, including better understanding of the role of community-based outreach as a gateway to the complete service continuum for many key population members. • Use of new technologies including rapid HIV and CD4 testing to improve the effectiveness of treatment cascade. • Revision of classic components of HIV prevention and care work with key populations such as needle and syringe programs, opioid substitution treatment, and case management in order to address changes in the drug scene, better understanding of factors affecting access to services and functioning of social networks. •Revision of understanding of the quality of work (e.g. seamless movement along the steps of the treatment cascade as an essential factor defining quality of interventions).
 
3. Meaningful engagement of key affected populations.
• The focus on promoting the pragmatic and evidence based rationale for meaningful engagement at various levels, factoring engagement in the program design including employment of KAP members in direct service delivery as well as KAP involvement in program management and governance.
 
4. Gender equality.
• Specific focus on understanding and managing the influence of gender norms and stereotypes on risk and vulnerability, ensuring that the gender composition of the program beneficiaries reflects the gender composition in the target population, ensuring gender literacy of the key stakeholders and service providers.  
5. Human rights barriers to accessing health services.
• Specific focus on advocating access of marginalized communities to essential services such as substitution maintenance treatment and needle and syringe programs, elimination of inhumane approaches (such as forced rehabilitation of PWID and cruel treatment of KAPs by law enforcement personnel).
6. Community systems strengthening.
• The specific focus of this area of work relates to the development and functioning of community-based harm reduction services for People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) and community-based delivery of HIV prevention and care services to other key populations. The Alliance Hub offers support in the development and introduction of innovative outreach models targeting specific segments of key populations and linking the clients to essential HIV prevention, care and treatment services. Segments, tailored interventions, capacity development of service delivery organizations (complete cycle starting with rapid participatory assessments, intervention design, implementation, finance management, PSCM, monitoring and evaluation, human resource development, access to technical support).  
7. Monitoring, evaluation and research at various levels.
• Developing national and program-specific M&E plans, indicator frameworks, costed M&E workplans, data flow schemes, and other elements of a sound M&E system. • Adaptation and roll-out of up-to-date software for simplified collection, analysis and reporting of data on service delivery to key populations – SyrEx Cloud. • Development of data collection and reporting forms and tools. • Development and implementation of national surveys and surveillance and operational research. • Development and implementation of project / program evaluation.
 

PARTICIPATION IN REGIONAL AND GLOBAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE MECHANISMS

 
 
2009
included in the Global Fund list of recommended Technical Support Providers in the EECA Region
2012 — present
started providing TA through the GMS mechanism:
• consultants trained in 2012 and 2013 • a number of assignments implemented (Kazakhstan (2013-2014), Georgia (2014), Tajikistan, Thailand (2015))
2013 — present
one of the GF Secretariat preferred TA providers for CCM Eligibility and Performance Assessments and related processes.
• consultants trained (2013, 2014) • participation in the E-learning course for CCM EPA consultants development • training conducted (2014) • successful EPA missions in Romania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Eritrea and Egypt;
Since June 2014
provides technical support to governmental organizations such as the National Center for TB Problems of the Ministry of Health Republic of Kazakhstan.
• assistance to the Centre in the development of the Global Fund NFM Concept Note. • similar support in other countries incl. Georgia, Belarus, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan;
May 2014
preselected Community, Rights and Gender TA provider
a number of successful projects implemented (Kyrgyzstan)
Since June 2015
Prime Recipient as a part of the EECA Consortium, hosting the Regional Civil Society and Community Support, Coordination and Communication Platform – EECA (EECA Platform).