Achieving a Common Understanding: What AIDS Service Organizations and Microfinance Institutions Need to Know About Working in HIV/AIDS Prevalent Communities

This note aims to create a common understanding between AIDS service organizations (ASOs) and MFIs by improving the information gap between them. ASOs and MFIs can work together to lessen the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS on poor households and communities. The paper makes the following recommendations:

• MFIs and ASOs must reach a common understanding about goals and objectives;
• ASOs need to understand the basic principles of microfinance as well as the drivers of MFI decision making;
• MFIs must comprehend how working in an HIV/AIDS environment affects their operations as well as their clients;
• Both must speak a common language that will enable them to understand each others, as well as their own strengths and limitations.

The note examines the reasons that ASOs and MFIs are concerned about increased household vulnerability due to HIV/AIDS. It explains the role of microfinance in addressing this vulnerability, and defines key terms in the microfinance and the health services fields, to ensure that both groups understand each other's language. Finally, it stresses that strategic collaboration between these two organizations is the most efficient response to mitigating the socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS on poor communities.