Part 9: Collaborations

Health departments
Agencies should coordinate program activities with their respective health department HIV/AIDS programs. This includes complying with: 1) all health department requirements regarding HIV counseling, testing, and referral, 2) HIV/AIDS reporting, 3) partner counseling and referral services, 4) and other program activities.

Prior to initiating services, agencies should meet with health department representatives to review their implementation plans and policies and procedures to ensure they meet all relevant requirements. Examples of other topics that agencies might address with their respective health departments include training, coaching, or mentoring that might be available to program staff through the health department.

Agreements for collaboration between the agency and the health department should be documented by memoranda of agreement.

Other collaborators
Agencies may plan to provide some services in their program (e.g., evaluation) through subcontractors or other collaborators. Such arrangements should be formalized and documented by written contracts or memoranda of agreement, which should clearly delineate the parties’ respective roles and responsibilities.

Any agency planning to use the social networks strategy should clearly define all formal collaborations including, at a minimum, the following:

• Name of the collaborating person, organization, or agency
• Services to be provided by the collaborating person, organization, or agency
• Respective roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in the collaboration
• Copies of all subcontracts and memoranda of agreement

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