The purpose of the study was to investigate whether there were differencesrnbetween government and non -government. HN para- counselors regarding the irrnknowleclge a n cl practice of HIV counseling s kills . To attain these objectivesrnpurposive and availability sampling techniques were employed to select researchrnparticipants (i.e., para- counselors, clients and coordinators). Five differentrninstruments namely questionnaire, interview, FGDs , case studies and observationrnwere used to collect information. Data was analyzed through t-test, one-wayrnANOVA and descriptive statistics. The findings reve ale d that there was nornsignificant difference between government and non-government HIV para -rncounselors in relation to knowing counseling skills. However, on the practicerndimension para- counselors who were working at both organizations werernsignificantly different. Training for sufficient period of time was found to bernhelpful to gain and practice counseling skills effectively. In addition, paracounselorsrnwho had been nominated by coo rdin ators tended to know andrnpractice counseling s kills effectively than voluntarily engaged para- counselors.rnGenerally, with regard to counseling skills, maintaining pre-requisites forrnHN/ AIDS counseling processes; for example, availability, accessibility andrnprivacy of counseling office and waiting areas etc were likely to exist poorly atrnboth organizations particularly the non-government HN/ AIDS counselingrnproviders were SUffering from dearth of such aspects. Consequently, both,rnH N/ AID S counseling providers need to be conscious in imparting basicrncounseling skills among HIV para- counselors as well as should be practical inrnrelat ion to furnishing counseling environments with all conducive physical, socialrnand psychological con texts so as to conduct successful HN counseling, which inrnturn, to prevent ancl con trol the spread of the pandemic.