NOFO: HIV Prevention for People with Disabilities in Namibia

Deadline: 13-Sep-2024

The Small Grants Office of the U.S. Embassy Namibia is pleased to announce that funding is available through the Embassy’s PEPFAR Small Grants Program.

Funded by the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the PEPFAR Small Grants program supports community-based organizations working on activities that focus on HIV prevention, care and support as related to the national HIV response in Namibia. The program aims to help strengthen engagement and involvement in communities affected by HIV and AIDS.

PEPFAR Small Grants funded programs work closely with communities in educating members about HIV and how to prevent its spread, reduce HIV stigma and discrimination, provide community members with information to make the right choices and encourage people to get tested for HIV, and seek treatment. Programs are also required to show how they will make long-term impacts on the community and the sustainability of their initiatives. Grantees must be able to continue on their own with assistance from the community and other donors after the grant is expended.

The PEPFAR Small Grants Program hereby invites creative proposals to support People with Disabilities in addressing issues related to access to the HIV prevention, testing and treatment services.

Proposals should include at least two of the following points:

HIV prevention activities among:
- Persons with disabilities
Campaigns to sensitize and engage meaningfully with persons with disabilities
Community based interventions to address:
- Persons with disability friendly sexual reproductive health activities
Interventions aimed at reducing risky sexual behavior among persons with disability

Topics

The minimum required package of discussion topics are:
- Discuss HIV risks (i.e. alcohol prevention, multiple concurrent partnerships, inconsistent condom use);
- Reject myths about HIV transmission
- Discuss HIV testing and counseling and link to locally available HIV counseling and When working with minors, the caregiver should be provided with information on locally available HIV services.
- Discuss with parents and communities, strategies to raise awareness about HIV risks for persons with disability.
- Promote condoms: how to use them correctly and consistently, how to negotiate using them, where to get them, and improve access to them
- Discuss harmful norms related to sex and gender; reduce stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and prevent gender-based violence; promote gender equity
- Discuss HIV risks (i.e. alcohol prevention);
- Encourage safer-sex strategies for sexually active youth with disability

Funding Information

Budget requests should be between N$50,000 and N$300,000.
Grants will cover 12 months of activity.

Preference is given to projects that:

Support people with disabilities and their households to decrease vulnerability to risk of becoming HIV-infected
Link people with disabilities to HIV related services including prevention, self-testing and treatment
Implement activities aimed at reducing the discrimination of people with disabilities and reducing barriers to HIV care & treatment and HIV prevention services

Eligibility Criteria

Applicants should be community-based organizations, faith-based organizations or learning institutions which are legally registered in Namibia.
Applicants must have access to a bank account, as funding will be dispersed to grantees in installments by electronic bank transfer.
No grants will be awarded to former PEPFAR grantees, unless there are no other organizations that can fulfill the program goals.
Applicants proposing to work in schools should include in their proposal a demonstrated relationship with the school and a letter of support from the relevant school(s). All other applicants should provide a letter of support from a relevant government ministry and community organization.
Each organization that is funded will be required to measure and report the results it achieves by following PEPFAR and the U.S. Department of State’s reporting requirements.
Grantees may implement activities in any of the 14 regions in Namibia.
Programs should have a special focus on persons with disability
Grantees are encouraged to use an evidence-based HIV prevention curriculum.
Grantees must target the same group of beneficiaries’ multiple times, using at minimum the package of HIV prevention discussion topics.
Grants may be used to fund equipment only if doing so would further project objectives.
Grant funds may not be used to purchase alcohol. Other restrictions may also apply.
Grantees must submit mid-term and final financial and programmatic reports.

For more information, visit U.S. Embassy in Namibia.