Author: Olesya Kravchuk, AFEW International
Starting from December 2018, organisations from 10 countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia can receive small grants with a maximum amount of €5,000 per grant. AFEW International and Aidsfonds started awarding emergency grants in the framework of the Emergency Support Fund for Key Populations (ESF). The activities of the Fund are financed by the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Aidsfonds. With these small grants AFEW International and Aidsfonds support organisations representing key populations in surviving in difficult situations which they face due to legal barriers, stigma and discrimination, financial challenges and political restrictions. Support is given to organisations carrying out activities that ensure access to HIV prevention, treatment and/or services for key populations, or projects protecting the human rights of key populations. The total funds available in the Emergency Support Fund is equivalent of the 750,000 pound sterling.
Today we are talking with AFEW International’s program manager Daria Alexeeva about the first results of ESF’s work, and what it takes to be awarded the small grant.
– What are the first results of Emergency Support Fund’s work?
– During this first phase, our main tasks were to set up the grant application process, the selection procedure and the infrastructure for receiving and qualifying applications. All three aspects were ready by December 1, 2018. The invitation to apply for a grant from the ESF was spread widely in the networks of AFEW, Aidsfonds and the members of the Advisory Board. In December 2018 AFEW International has established a system to administer grants to applicants. On January 4th the first meeting of the Operational Team took place to review first applications. Since December 1, 2018 we received 96 applications, of which 42 (44%) were approved for grants. The total committed amount by the end of March 2019 was Euro 235.000.
– What countries are applying to the Fund the most?
– The majority of applications came from Russia. We received 45 applications from the Russian Federation and awarded 22 applications. The next most active country was Tajikistan with 15 applications, and 7 being awarded. The third one was Ukraine with 16 applications, 5 of which were awarded.
– What problems do organisations address the most?
– More than half of the awarded grants are targeting people living with HIV (PLHIV) – 55%. One third of all awarded grants went to the projects which provide support to communities of LGBTI, and one third – to communities of men having sex with men (MSM). One third of the awarded grants support projects for people using drugs (PUDs). The equal amount of the awarded grants – 21% – supports projects for sex workers and vulnerable women.
– How does the Fund help to solve the problems organisations have?
– We are helping with a broad range of emergencies. We have several goals within the Fund. The first one is contributing to decline in the annual number of new HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). The second goal is increasing access of everyone who is living with HIV in the EECA region to treatment. The third goal is full funding of the AIDS response in EECA.
Thus, we are funding activities, which contribute to these goals. Among the grants we awarded are projects aimed at the provision of harm reduction services, HIV testing and referrals for the treatment for difficult to reach populations (MSM, LGBTI). We have funded repairing mobile units for outreach work, purchasing milk formula to secure stock for HIV positive women. We support project working for disabled PLHIV making sure they are able to adhere to their treatment regimens, and projects which help prisoners getting access to testing and treatment, and to adhere to their treatment after they are released from prisons. Besides, there are projects organising trainings of the medical staff with the goal to form a tolerant attitude towards key populations, for instance, transgender people, in order to improve access and quality to health services and antiretroviral treatment. We also support advocacy activities to raise awareness of the needs of the key population and to call for the funding increase, for instance, provide legal support to cases of rights violation in prisons to generate evidence for advocacy. There are much more issues we support that are aligned within our three goals that I have mentioned before.
– What type of applications is being rejected by the Fund?
– Some of the projects are one-off events which are not carefully thought through from the sustainability point of view. For instance, conducting training for outreach workers without creating a system to support their work in the future. Besides, there are projects which are contributing to solving a real emergency situation. Some of the proposals are just weakly written. In all cases, we provide feedback and advice on how to improve the proposal if an applicant decides to submit again.
– What are ESF’s plans for the future? How many projects do you plan to support in 2019 and in the years afterwards?
– We plan to support at least 100 applications and maybe even more in the period till the end of 2020. We will continue supporting applications until the total funds that are available will be exhausted. We might be done in the middle of 2020 already. The amount of grants to be awarded depends on the size of the requested funds. In some cases, we allow a grant up to 10,000 euro, in particular when the project is contributing to solving situations which concern bigger groups of key populations or when the project is contributing to generating the evidence needed for developing prevention programs and advocacy towards national or local governments. When the emergency situation cannot be solved with 5,000 euro – then the bigger amount is awarded as well. We foresee a little fewer approved grants in the second quarter of 2019. By the way, there will be a summer break in the reviewing of applications from 8th July till 16th August due to holidays.
