U -- Management of Training and Technical Assistance-Relationships

a. Statement of Work Background & Need: The task of bringing science based interventions to the field of HIV prevention has been advanced by the CDC with its innovative projects, the Replicating Effective Programs (REP) project and the Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) project. The REP project packages interventions with evidence of effectiveness into easy understand and use designs which can be used by any agency to deliver an intervention that has been proven to reduce behaviors associated with HIV transmission. These packages contain all intervention materials, manuals to guide their use, and marketing materials to promote the program. Upon completion of each REP intervention package, the DEBI project is charged with ensuring that it is used in the field. The DEBI strategy involves providing training for trainers that can teach the intervention to various community agencies, support for those trainings, and on-going technical assistance to agency implementers who choose to deliver the intervention. This nationwide diffusion strategy involves the work of the original curricula writers and package designers who can train other trainers to deliver the intervention, additional trainers, and coaches who can address technical assistance needs to ensure appropriate delivery of the intervention. CDC's Advancing HIV Prevention initiative has emphasized addressing the prevention needs of PLWH using science-based programs. The CDC endorsed this intervention further with Program Announcement 04064 that specifically stated that CBOs that serve HIV infected populations should implement this intervention with general populations of HIV infected persons. The stature of the CDC in national and international public health influences the direction of prevention initiatives throughout the US whether they are funded by CDC (through direct or indirect methods) or by other organizations. Community organizations and their funders are looking to the CDC to provide guidance on the implementation of proven interventions for PLWH. This contract shall be used to procure the materials, training, and on-going technical assistance for agencies wishing to deliver the Healthy Relationships intervention. The Healthy Relationships intervention is the only intervention for a general population of people living with HIV that has is based in science and has been proven effective. The diffusion of the Healthy Relationships intervention addresses CDCs goal of improving HIV prevention by bringing evidence-based interventions to the field of HIV preventions. Scope of Work: The contractor shall manage the diffusion of the Healthy Relationships intervention for interested community and non-governmental organizations and health departments. This diffusion effort shall include developing a Healthy Relationships training curriculum and producing training materials for training of trainers, delivering a training of trainers, training of coaches, providing Technical Assistance Guides for all coaches, managing training for community agencies, and provision of materials. Required personnel for this project include trainers with experience in curriculum development. Detailed Technical Requirements: Train-the-trainer curriculum development and production of training materials for training of trainers, and providing a training of trainers: The contractor shall develop a train-the-trainer curriculum, and shall conduct a training of trainers with representatives from the four behavioral STD/HIV Prevention Training Centers and the focus area 2 Capacity Building Assistance Providers funded under Program Announcement 04019. The contractor shall provide all materials for this training of trainers. This training of trainers shall be appropriate for adult learners, and shall include a review of materials, a review of all sessions, demonstration of all intervention concepts, mock training sessions, and teach-backs at a minimum. At the end of training, participants shall have all skills necessary to train agencies on the delivery of the Healthy Relationships intervention as evidenced by demonstration of training skills in the Healthy Relationships intervention materials. Curriculum development for training of coaches, delivering a training of coaches, and production of a Technical Assistance Guide: The contractor shall conduct a training of coaches for the Healthy Relationships intervention. The training shall prepare coaches to answer all technical assistance inquiries from agencies that have been trained to deliver the Healthy Relationships intervention. The training shall be designed with adult learning principles in mind, and shall address the salient learning points of the Healthy Relationships intervention. Coaches may be selected from programs funded under Program Announcement 04019. Provision of Materials: The contractor shall print materials for the training of trainers, the training of coaches, and the training of implementers of the intervention. The contractor shall ensure that at each training every participant has a copy of the intervention package which shall include an implementer's manual, 4 video clips, a marketing video, and a risk/stress continuum banner. The contractor must print and provide for the training up to 600 intervention kits. The contractor shall be responsible for shipping all training materials to each training site. A waitlist of agencies who wish to receive training on Healthy Relationships will be managed by an external contractor funded through a pre-existing task order, the Academy for Educational Development (AED). Agencies will sign up for training by visiting www.effectiveinterventions.org, the Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) homepage. AED will be responsible for scheduling agencies to receive training and for cooperating with the HIV/STD Prevention Training Centers and the focus area 2 Capacity Building Assistance (CBA) providers funded through CDC Program Announcement 04019 to plan the training. The waitlist, including a listing of all agencies who have received training will be made available to CDC staff in the Prevention Program Branch and the Capacity Building Branch. In this way the CDC project officer will be able to monitor the list to ensure that trainings are provided appropriately, and that agencies receive training in a timely manner.