PEPFAR Small Grants Program, Capacity Building and Coordination for Community-Led Monitoring

In alignment with PEPFAR Country Operational Plan, CLM activities are required to ensure explicit focus on Key Populations. This does not mean KPs are the only focus on CLM activities but rather they must be included. Key Populations include men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers, people who inject drugs, and people in prisons and other enclosed settings.

The Community-Led Monitoring program is funded through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in support of the Ministry of Health’s effort to achieve HIV epidemic control through the implementation of evidence-based and client-centered interventions to accelerate progress in HIV prevention, care, and treatment. The initial full implementation of the program was in 2022.

The goal of the CLM program is to help PEPFAR programs and health institutions identify persistent problems, challenges, and barriers to effective service and client outcomes at the site level in order to formulate workable solutions that overcome these barriers and ensure beneficiaries have access to quality services.

The objective of the CLM program is to facilitate participation of local CSO players in the evaluation of HIV services, identify areas for improvement, advocate for change, guide the health care providers to incorporate monitoring as part of their routine activities, and popularize the CLM feedback tools among PLHIV groups.

The CLM Capacity Building and Coordination organization overall objective will be strengthen the capacity of the engaged CLM grantees in the evaluation of HIV services, identify areas of improvement and advocating for change. The scope of work will cover coordination and capacity building of approximately 11 CSOs who will be awarded funding at the level of $20 000 or less. This will be in support of CLM activities all districts of Lesotho, each CSO will be expected to ensure maximum coverage of the health facilities in each district in coordination with partners implementing CLM related interventions. On the key CLM activities is facility and community-based data collection which will be done on a quarterly basis and the CLM findings will be shared with all relevant stakeholders.

Based on the 2022 CLM implementation, some of the key activities will include;

·        Conduct capacity assessments to unpack the grantees CLM technical capacity and the overall capacity of the organization

·        Conduct CLM trainings, data collection, analysis and reporting and provide continuous technical support on implementation of the customized capacity building plans

·        Consolidate CLM results, organize national level stakeholders feedback meetings and follow up on the agreed action plans and advocacy efforts

·        Support triangulation of the results to the PEPFAR data streams and other related national data streams

·        Liaise and coordinate with other CLM TA partners to leverage on the available resources

·        Ensure that there is no duplication in the health facilities being monitored among all the grantees. This will include coordinating with Ministry of Health, CLM related partners and other key stakeholders.

·        Ensure timely reporting of the grantees and prepare a consolidated report to be submitted to PEPFAR (through the Special Projects Office).

ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION

Eligible applicants

The Special Projects Office welcomes applications from non-governmental organizations; networks of key populations, people living with HIV and other affected groups; or other entities that gather data and observations about components of HIV services, with a focus on getting input from recipients of HIV services. 

·        All applicants must be legally registered and have been in operation for at least five years to be eligible for funding.

·        Demonstrate experience in successfully delivering capacity building support to CSOs

·        Organizations must be able to demonstrate that they have adequate internal controls and financial monitoring procedures in place. 

Each project accepted for funding will submit financial and narrative progress reports on a routine basis.

Please note that organizations currently funded by PEPFAR to deliver health services either in the community or at the health facility are prohibited from applying for this grant.

However, in specific circumstances, a PEPFAR IP or sub-grantee that performs site-level service delivery may be included as a CLM partner if the organization meets the other requirements of a strong CLM partner, such as being led by a community or key population, and is not monitoring its own sites.

All organizations applying for grants (except individuals) must obtain www.SAM.gov registration.

Register in SAM.gov by logging onto: https://www.sam.gov. SAM registration is free and must be renewed annually.

Applicants should not request more than $50,000 USD. Please note that the PEPFAR Small Grants Program is subject to the availability of funds. Applicants should include an anticipated start date of October 01, 2023. 

The project period should be 24 months.

APPLICATION AND SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Complete application MUST include the following:

·        Completed and signed SF-424, SF-424A and SF-424B forms

·        Cover Page including a table with organization name, project title, target districts/location, name and contact information of the organization’s primary point of contact

·        Table of Contents listing all documents and attachments with numbers

·        The proposal should contain sufficient information that anyone not familiar with community-led monitoring would understand exactly what the applicant wants to do. Applicant may use their own proposal format, but it must include all the items below:

o  Introduction to the Applying Organization

o  Program Goals and Objectives

o  Program Strategic Approach and Tools

o  Program Activities

o  Expected measurable results

o  Proposed Program Schedule and Timeline

o  Key Personnel

o  Program Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

Detailed Budget amount of funding request; costs must be in U.S dollar and estimated in Maloti using exchange rate of $1=M16 and not exceeding $50,000

Budget Justification Narrative: After filling out the SF-424A Budget (above), use a separate sheet of paper to describe each of the budget expenses in detail. See section H. Other Information: Guidelines for Budget Submissions below for further information.

Mandatory Application Forms

 Form SF-424 Application for Federal Assistance

Form SF-424A Budget for Non-Construction Programs

From SF-424B Assurances for Construction Programs

 Attachements

·        1-page CV or resume of key personnel who are proposed for the program with their role description

·        Monitoring and evaluation narrative plan (not exceeding TWO pages, word document)

·        A copy of your organization’s constitution

·        A list of committee/board members with their names and addresses.

·        A copy of project bank account details including the name of the bank, account name, account number and type of account (savings or checking).

The PEPFAR Small Grants Community-Led Monitoring Program will accept applications from March 1, 2023 to May 26, 2023.

Applications can be emailed to grantsmaseru@state.gov or mailed to/handed in to

           U.S. Embassy Maseru

Special Projects Office

           254 Kingsway

           P.O. Box 333

           Maseru 100, Lesotho  

The Special Projects Office will determine eligibility for all applications and then each application will be evaluated and rated individually against the following criteria, listed below. The Special Projects Office strives to ensure each application receives a balanced evaluation by a review panel.

• The application should be responsive to the NOFO.
• The implementation plan must be achievable and realistic for the means and skills of the community and must be completed within the 12-month timeframe.
• The application should clearly detail how activities will be carried out. The objectives should be clear, measurable, and have a well-articulated timeline.
• The budget must be complete and reasonable in relation to the proposed activities and anticipated results, and the plan for services and related cost estimates must also be realistic.

Below the table shows the scores of the sections, the total score is 80

Sections

Score

Meet Eligibility Information (under C)

5

Responsive to the NOFO

10

Technical Proposal (following the guide under D1)

20

Implementation Plan

10

Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

15

Related Experience

5

Budget

15

After rating, shortlisted applicants will be contacted and may be asked for an interview to provide additional information or clarification on portions of their application and may be asked to accommodate a site visit. The final list of applicants will be presented to an internal review panel for final selection. Applicants not selected will receive notification that they will not receive a grant.