Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Details for Mechanism ID: 8360
Country/Region: Botswana
Year: 2007
Main Partner: Academy for Educational Development
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: NGO
Funding Agency: USAID
Total Funding: $915,950

Funding for Sexual Prevention: Abstinence/Be Faithful (HVAB): $915,950

07-P0211 TBD-Civil Society Capactiy Building.

This activity links with activities P0212 to P0221, recipients of the technical assistance provided, as well as X1406, P0201, & P0202.

This is a continuing activity from FY05 and FY06. The award was initially made through USAID to Pact, Inc., to provide technical assistance and capacity building to civil society organizations (CSO) working in HIV prevention, care, and treatment. In FY07, USG will re-compete the program. Therefore, while this program's prime partner is "to-be-determined," this is in fact a continuation of an activity begun two years prior.

In Botswana, a main focus of Pact's work has been to strengthen Botswana-based Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are conducting AB-focused, community-based HIV prevention interventions under the EP in Botswana. In supporting these organizations, Pact has also worked closely with the Botswana Network of AIDS Service Organizations (BONASO) and strengthened its capacity to become a leading partner in the HIV/AIDS response, and to expand its services provided to the sector in strengthening their areas of coordination, advocacy, organizational capacity building, strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation, and service delivery.

In FY07, the partner will continue to provide technical assistance to CSOs working in this program area, and on a limited basis, the partner will also provide assistance to improve the CSOs' organizational and management capacity. The partner will encourage all of the CSOs to network and create linkages with other organizations working in HIV care, prevention, and treatment, as well as with other relevant stakeholders including the GOB to improve collaboration and the coordination of services provided in Botswana.

Technical assistance in HIV-related service provision includes training and support for improvements in program components, such as peer education, use and adaptation of theory- and evidence-based curricula, IEC development, training basics, and other program themes. The content of the organizational development and program technical assistance will be guided by formal assessments of both, of the organizations funded under the grantee program. Already some of those assessments have been completed, and that kind of assessment of the priority needs will be ongoing, to inform the nature and content of the assistance provided. Organizational development includes, for example, assistance with financial accounting, gender mainstreaming, Board development, and operational procedures.

Approximately $300,000 of the funds described in this table are reserved for in-depth technical assistance to other partners funded under the EP in Botswana for community-based AB prevention activities. Many of the needs across civil society groups are the same, and it would benefit our implementing partners to receive standardized, high quality assistance from a single source, rather than have multiple agencies providing technical assistance on the same topics, to different groups. Given the relatively small size of Botswana and the limited number of implementing partners, combining the trainings makes sense. The technical assistance should be provided through traditional means such as workshops, but also through study tours (if appropriate), one-on-one program consultation, peer-to-peer mentoring, and other methods that help organizations truly incorporate program improvements. The technical assistance is intended to be intensive.

Approximately $75,950 of the funds described will be given to new, existing, or previous Pact grantees, to help scale up successful programs or fund promising new grantees. These funds are available in FY07 because some grantees given awards in FY05 had two year contracts or dropped out of the grantee program. Therefore, in FY07, we expect to be able to allocate these funds to civil society groups. The grantee(s) will be determined at a later date.

Furthermore, approximately $200,000 of these funds will be used to select and fund a local umbrella FBO organization in Botswana, which will be funded to increase its networking activities among FBOs in the area of prevention and other HIV-related services and to increase its technical capacity to provide assistance and training to FBOs interested in improving the HIV prevention services they provide. This subgrantee will also then provide training to FBOs with support under this grant.

The targets provided below are cumulative totals of the targets from each organization receiving intensive TA, (P0212-221) and the anticipated targets associated with the unallocated grantee funds.