Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) Secretariat

Overview

MOPAN released its most recent assessment of the UNAIDS Secretariat in 2023.

The UNAIDS Secretariat is at the centre of the Joint Programme, which brings together 11 Cosponsor agencies. It maintains overall responsibility for ensuring strategic focus, functioning and accountability across all Joint Programme work on the following. According to the 2018 UNAIDS Joint Programme Division of Labour, the Secretariat is expected to fulfil the following functions:

Global leadership, advocacy and communication to drive the global AIDS agenda.
Partnerships, mobilisation and innovation to ensure coherence around global initiatives.
Strategic information on the HIV epidemic and response.
Co-ordination, convening and country-level implementation support.
Governance and mutual accountability to co-ordinate with Cosponsors, fully fund the Joint Programme and support its governance model

(The mandate of the Joint Programme as a whole is specified in the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Resolution 1994/24 (UNAIDS, 1994) and in various subsequent ECOSOC resolutions. However, the performance of UNAIDS Cosponsors of the Joint Programme was not in scope.)

MOPAN’s assessment assesses the degree to which the UNAIDS Secretariat is fit for purpose from the point of adoption of the Global AIDS Strategy 2021-2026 onwards, based on these five functions. It focused on the global function of the UNAIDS Secretariat with an approach tailored to its role. It examined progress between 2017 and 2021 and fitness for purpose to perform its five core functions for the workplan period from 2021 to 2026 (UBRAF) and beyond. Decentralized functions of the UNAIDS Secretariat (i.e. its functions at country and regional levels) were not in scope.

Given that the Secretariat is part of the UNAIDS Joint Programme, inevitably some aspects of the UNAIDS Secretariat assessment are inextricably linked to the Joint Programme Cosponsors.

The assessment praises the Secretariat for having led the development of the Global AIDS strategy effectively and for continuing to improve the UBRAF as a results framework for the UN contribution to the global AIDS response. The Secretariat is recognised for leading HIV-relevant policy dialogues with member states, for advancing global norms and for supporting strategic planning at country level.

The assessment also revealed an organisation in crisis. A key concern is that the Secretariat has been unable to address expectations of the Cosponsors, which has affected its co-ordination function. Its resource mobilisation strategy for the UBRAF has not kept up with the realities of global HIV funding and the Secretariat leadership has been accused of mission creep. The assessment also notes that the UNAIDS Secretariat had a high-profile case of sexual harassment and abuse of power and it has yet to put appropriate resources and structures in place to implement the 2023 WHO policy on sexual misconduct. The assessment suggests it is time to re-imagine the Joint UN response to AIDS and re-think the value that the UNAIDS Secretariat can offer. Merely tweaking a “business as usual” approach or re-designing a resource mobilisation strategy will be insufficient to make the UNAIDS Secretariat effective again.

Performance rating summary

UNAIDS backward looking assessment wheel — Backward-looking assessment: Areas for attention and relevant micro-indicators

UNAIDS forward looking assessment wheel — Forward-looking assessment: Secretariat functions and relevant micro-indicators

Key findings

The Secretariat leads the development of the Global AIDS Strategy effectively and continues to improve the UBRAF as a results framework for the UN contribution to the global response.
The Secretariat is recognised for its ability to lead an HIV-relevant policy dialogue with member states and for advancing global guidance and norms.
The Secretariat is a key provider of strategic information. The data on the global AIDS epidemiology and response produced by the Secretariat’s strategic information unit support strategic planning effectively at country level.

The Secretariat is not able to address expectations of the Cosponsors, resulting in loss of confidence of key Cosponsor representatives and affecting its co-ordination function.
The Secretariat resource mobilisation strategy for the UBRAF has not kept up with the realities of global HIV funding (trending towards less HIV investment and more earmarked funding for specific activities), as it aims to sustain current budget and funding levels.
The Secretariat leadership pursues an advocacy agenda that deviates from the HIV pandemic, the Joint Programme’s core mandate. This has resulted in criticism of its core function of global leadership and also in accusations of mission creep.
The Secretariat needs to put appropriate resources, structures and monitoring in place to implement the 2023 WHO policy on sexual misconduct. Ensuring it does so in a victim/survivor-centred way will be essential for building trust as it emerges from a high-profile case of sexual harassment and abuse of power.