Title: Ambassador's Small Grants Fund for HIV and AIDS Outreach

Major activities:

The Ambassador's Fund for HIV and AIDS Outreach in Viet Nam will use PEPFAR funds to support

essential HIV/AIDS public affairs activities and promising programs and activities designed by small

community organizations and youth groups. These projects, though relatively modest compared to the

broader PEPFAR efforts, are making significant contributions to the fight against HIV and AIDS such as

organizations or persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA). Special emphasis will be placed on funding

media/diplomacy related events and activities which further the broader information sharing goals of the

President's Emergency Plan. The Small Grants Fund for HIV and AIDS Outreach will complement grants

provided under the Ambassador's Self-Help Fund which focuses on water projects, education activities,

health care projects, solar/energy efficiency/environmental projects, income generating projects as well as

the Democracy and Human Rights Fund. Activities funded through this program will provide special

emphasis on targeting media and outreach activities involving PLWHA and their families, care givers,

community volunteers, and other related local organizations in Viet Nam.

The Fund for HIV and AIDS Outreach will be administered by the Public Affairs Section at the US Embassy,

with substantial support provided by the PEPFAR Information Specialist. Working closely with the PEPFAR

Coordination Office, the Public Affairs Officer will establish guidelines and review procedures to ensure that

strong applications are considered for funding through a fair, transparent process. Criteria for selection

include: activities which strengthen HIV/AIDS planning, programming, implementation, communications and

evaluation, particularly at the level of the community and district; programs that improve basic health,

education and social conditions at the community level, particularly those related to HIV/AIDS; actions

which are within the means of the local community to operate and maintain; events which provide support to

key media objectives and events of significant benefit to USG objectives, particularly those related to

PEPFAR programs; and activities which require quick implementation schedules and can generally be

completed within a one-year agreement period. The Public Affairs Officer will be responsible for ranking and

evaluating all unsolicited proposals prior to review by a full committee comprised of representatives from the

PEPFAR interagency team and the Mission's Humanitarian Assistance Coordination Board. This broad

committee will meet with the Public Affairs Officer on at least a quarterly basis, or as necessary, to review

final applicants and to provide recommendations to the COM or DCM and to share lessons learned and

best practices on small grants program implementation.

The Public Affairs Officer, with the assistance of the PEPFAR Information Specialist, will be responsible for

keeping a minimal database for tracking the status of the following issues:

o provision of information regarding the origin, type, scope, scale, objectives, targets and other useful

information of the proposals received;

o major actions taken by the full committee, Public Affairs Officer and the Mission with regard to receipt,

review, approval/disapproval and monitoring/evaluation of each proposal/application;

o communication records between the Mission and appropriate agencies and officials, particularly

communications regarding the approval, disapproval or recommended revisions of the

proposals/components and the tracking of resources for operation of the Small Grant Fund; and

o selected monitoring, evaluation and auditing activities and actions necessary for operation of the Fund.

It is expected that between five and ten grants will be issued each year, with most grant awards being

$10,000 or less. For the purposes of the operation of this Fund, the designated Public Affairs Officer will be

under the supervision of the Deputy Chief of Mission.

Funds are being moved from unallocated into new programs.

$500,000 will remain unallocated but earmarked for co-location expenses.

Co-location of PEPFAR Staff:

The progressive increase in the PEPFAR budget (nearly 30%) between FY 2007 and FY 2008 has required

a commensurate strengthening of operational and management capacity to plan, implement, monitor and

evaluate the increasing scale and scope of programs. To enhance operational and management efficiency

and effectiveness, the PEPFAR Management Team has taken actions to: increase the number of key

management and technical staff; open opportunities for training; and focus on means to improve program

coordination. An important strategy to augment program coordination and more efficiently utilize staff time

and resources is to co-locate PEPFAR staff, who are presently dispersed widely across Hanoi. Currently

Embassy administrators are working diligently to identify appropriate sites for co-location of PEPFAR

agencies and staff; however, it is important to program additional time in order to complete negotiations,

favorably, with regard to key financial and security objectives. PEPFAR/Vietnam will work towards

programming these resources in July 2008.