Report Type: Issue/Program Report

I. INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE

Measuring performance is part and parcel of conducting business in any sector: managers calculate return on investment, year-on-year growth and product sales to make better decisions and get more bang for their buck when they measure and communicate results.

The decision to focus this year’s sessions on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) grew out of GBC’s newly expanded focus on evaluation and the realization that business can do more to measure its work on the three diseases. GBC’s 2006 survey of business, published in The State of Business and HIV/AIDS (2006) report, indicated that only 32 percent of respondents “utilize recognized measurement methodology for M&E.” Preliminary data from the follow-up report, The State of Business & HIV/AIDS, TB & Malaria (2008) indicates a similar trend (see below).

Since the baseline study, while additional companies have developed and improved M&E in their HIV/AIDS programs, the means for measuring work in this area are still unclear to many. But there are effective methods for doing so. The GBC Technical Sessions set out to help demystify the M&E process and inspire companies to do more by stimulating discussions among leading and beginning companies and providing participants with opportunities to share experiences and turn ideas into concrete actions for their own companies.