Africa: Strengthening the engagement of women and girls with the Global Fund

Strengthening the Engagement of Women and Girls with the Global Fund in Southern and East Africa

Request for Proposals
Deadline: Friday, December 21, 2007

Today, almost 60% of people living with HIV and AIDS in southern Africa are female and young women between the ages of 15 and 24 are four times more likely to be infected than young men. Women's and girls' needs for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support differ substantially from those of men and boys. Despite this, most programming on HIV and AIDS still ignores the specific needs of women and girls for different types of messages, care and support systems and impact mitigation strategies. In 2001, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) was established to dramatically increase resources to fight three of the world's most devastating diseases, and to direct those resources to areas of greatest need.

As a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector and affected communities, the Global Fund represents an innovative approach to international health financing. In Southern Africa, the Global Fund has committed over $500 million to support programmes addressing HIV prevention, care and support and treatment. Yet little of the funding provided through the Global Fund has specifically been allocated to programs that reduce women's and girls' vulnerability to HIV infection and/or meet the gendered needs of women and girls living with HIV and AIDS to treatment, care, or legal resources and to address matters related to HIV status and gender inequality. To address this imbalance, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), the Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA) and the Open Society Institute's (OSI) Public Health Program are requesting proposals from coalitions of women's rights and HIV and AIDS organizations in Southern Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, or Uganda that wish to:

develop proposals for submission to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria that address the specific vulnerabilities of women and girls and particularly marginalized groups of women and girls (e.g. young women, sex workers, women living in rural areas, women from certain ethnic groups, etc.); build their capacity to engage with Global Fund processes at the country level; advocate to increase the flow of Global Fund resources to projects that meet women's and girls' needs in these countries. In response to the proposals received, OSISA, OSIEA and OSI will provide funding and technical support to assist each coalition to conduct an assessment of the funding needs of HIV programs for women and girls in their country and, based on their findings, develop a detailed proposal that outlines and costs specific, evidence-based interventions to:

improve women's and girls' access to HIV prevention information, technologies and services, including sexuality education and sexual and reproductive health services; increase HIV positive women's access to care, treatment and support; meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of HIV positive women and girls; and promote the human rights of women and girls, particularly those living with HIV and AIDS.

Special emphasis should be made to meet the needs of particularly vulnerable or socially marginalized groups of women, including young women, women living in rural areas, and sex workers. Following the technical and material support provided by OSISA/OSIEA/OSI, each coalition will be expected to submit their proposal to their country coordinating mechanism (CCM) for inclusion in a country-level proposal to the Global Fund. In addition, coalitions will be helped to plan advocacy initiatives that seek to ensure that CCMs are rendered more gender sensitive and are more receptive to including women's rights issues in CCM proposals to the Fund. Those wishing to access grants for the development of proposals to the Global Fund are requested to follow these steps: Find out more about the Global Fund by accessing www.theglobalfund.org .
Find out more about your CCM and its members by phoning the local National AIDS Council or UNAIDS office or visiting your country page on the Global Fund website. In particular, find out if they intend to submit an HIV/AIDS proposal for Round 8.

Based on this information, establish contact with other women's rights organizations, PLWHA organizations, and HIV service organizations to see whether they are interested in applying for Global Fund resources on women's rights and HIV and AIDS.
If they are, establish an informal network or coalition (this does not have to be registered, but the organisation that will receive the funds on behalf of the group must be registered). Select a focal point to coordinate the development of a mini-proposal to OSISA/OSIEA/OSI. Select three coalition representatives that will be able to attend a workshop on February 18-22, 2008 (location to be determined) on Global Fund proposal development and advocacy, if their coalition is awarded this grant. Travel expenses for attendance at this workshop will be funded by OSISA/OSIEA/OSI and should not be budgeted for in the proposal.
Write the proposal and submit jointly with a cover letter that includes the signatures of all Coalition members and indicates the contact information for the communication focal point and three potential workshop participants. Content of the Proposal to OSISA/OSIEA/OSI:

Please note that your proposal to OSISA/OSIEA/OSI should revolve around how you will develop a larger proposal for the Global Fund. The proposal you develop for the Global Fund will then need to undergo several steps before it can be submitted to the Global Fund. It will first need to be accepted by your national CCM. You cannot directly send a proposal to the Global Fund without going through these steps. We are offering this small grant to national level coalitions because of the relative complexity of developing a Global Fund proposal. Coalitions:

OSISA, OSIEA and OSI are requesting proposals from coalitions that are comprised of organizations that have experience working with and for women and girls in the area of HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, or Uganda. Specifically, we seek proposals from coalitions that are broad and inclusive. They should involve organizations that, for example, work with and for women living with HIV and AIDS, women living in rural areas, young women, and sex workers, and which advocate for the protection of women's human rights. We are requesting that where no coalitions or networks of this nature already exist, they be formed for the purposes of this proposal. While the coalitions will be expected to work together throughout the duration of this project, there is no expectation that the coalition be sustained afterwards or used for other purposes. Proposal Requirements:

Each coalition is requested to submit proposals containing the following information:

A list of the organizations involved in the coalition with a brief description of each organization's experience working with women and girls, as well as with HIV and AIDS, and their experience with the Global Fund, if any. An overview of Global Fund grants for HIV and AIDS in the country and the extent to which they address the needs of women and girls (country proposals are available on the Global Fund's website). Preliminary information about the CCM, its interest in submitting a proposal to the Global Fund for Round 8, and CCM-specific deadlines for the submission of proposals (if available).
A detailed work-plan outlining the process through which the coalition will carry out the development of the proposal. This should include anticipated technical assistance needs, consultations with women's groups and AIDS NGOs, information about specific regions or issues on which the proposal with focus, etc. A budget in US dollars that includes costs for coalition meetings, in-country meetings, consultant costs, etc. up to a maximum of $30,000.
Brief bios of the five coalition leaders who will take primary responsibility for overseeing the development of the country proposal and who will represent the coalition at a workshop to be held from February 18-22 (location TBD). Only proposals written in English will be considered.

Please note that all project proposals are to be submitted in the following format:
- Arial or Times New Roman Font, 11 point
- 1.5 spacing
- Budget in Excel in US dollars
- PDF documents are acceptable Timeline:

DEC.17: Deadline for submission of proposals to OSISA/OSIEA/OSI.

JAN.11: Coalitions that have been successful in their applications to OSISA/OSIEA/OSI will be notified. JAN. 14: Coalitions are expected to begin working on the development of their proposals and identify a local consultant to assist in the process and writing the proposal.

FEB.18-22: Five members of each successful coalition will be expected to attend a workshop (location to be determined), including the person who will be responsible for writing the proposal. MARCH 1: The Global Fund will issue a call for proposals for their eighth round of grant-making on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Early JUNE: Coalition proposals should be finalized and submitted to the CCM by their deadline, which varies from country to country.*

JULY 9: The deadline for CCMs to submit proposals for consideration to the Global Fund.

*Deadlines for the submission of proposals to CCMs will vary from country to country, however we anticipate that the proposals of your coalition should be finalized by early June. Proposals should be submitted via email with the subject heading 'Women and Girls Global Fund Proposal' to:

Lila Elman
Email: [email][email protected]

The deadline for submission of proposals is Friday, December 21, 2007.

For more information contact:

Thoko Budaza Media and Advocacy Specialist Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa +27 11 403 3414 [email][email protected] Lila Elman Program Assistant, Public Health Program Open Society Institute +1 212 548 0680 [email][email protected]