Using a social enterprise model to build sustainable organizations
In the Dominican Republic, donor funding has been on the decline, creating uncertainty about sustaining advances in addressing HIV. While the prevalence rate of HIV has declined in the general population to 0.8 percent per the 2013 Demographic and Health Survey, HIV rates among key populations continue to increase.
To address the issue of decreasing donor funds in the face of increasing prevalence among key populations, SHOPS Plus works with three organizations that provide HIV services—La Clinica de Familia, COIN, and CEPROSH—to help improve their sustainability by using a social enterprise model. These organizations scored the highest on an assessment that looked at service delivery, financial capacity, and entrepreneurship.
The project supports the organizations by providing on-site technical assistance to management and clinic leadership to implement strategies that reduce cost, and look at new revenue generation opportunities. The project is exploring access to social health insurance to ensure organizations can be reimbursed for HIV and other primary care services, and to generate additional revenue for clinic operations.