Description
The U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa / PEPFAR Ethiopia Coordination Office (PECO) is pleased to announce an open Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to solicit applications that implement Community-led Monitoring (CLM) activities for its HIV/AIDS programs. The CLM program is funded through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). One of PEPFAR’s goals in Ethiopia is to support efforts to achieve HIV epidemic control through the implementation of evidence-based interventions in HIV prevention, care, and treatment and ultimately, save lives. Through the PEPFAR Coordination Office, the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa administers this Community Grants Program and is currently seeking proposals from registered local Community-based organizations and other civil society groups, networks of key populations (KP), people living with HIV (PLHIV), women-led civil society organizations and other groups affected by HIV, or community entities that have expertise in gathering quantitative and qualitative data about HIV services, and whose functions covers HIV programs. The CLM activity is key to ensuring the availability of, access to, and delivery of quality HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. The activity will empower clients and communities to seek out information, increase health literacy, expand engagement with the health service, support demand creation for high-quality HIV services, and demand accountability from the health system to improve the quality of these services. The CLM activity will collect data using standardized tools. Quantitative and qualitative data collected through CLM will be synthesized, analyzed, and used to gain insights from communities/beneficiaries about problems, barriers, and potential solutions to HIV services delivery at the facility, community, sub-national and national levels. Results from CLM will be presented and analyzed in collaboration between community representatives, service providers, facility managers and relevant implementing partners to ensure dialogue and help all sides identify service delivery gaps and design solutions collaboratively to improve service delivery, continuity of treatment, and retention in care. PEPFAR-supported community-led monitoring programs must include an explicit focus on key populations or affected populations. This requirement will be met by “Who” is doing the CLM (e.g., are KP or affected populations leaders’ part of CLM design and processes?), “where” is KP focused CLM being conducted (e.g., are all GO, NGO, KP-Specific and private health facilities that serve KP included?) and “what” KP specific indicators being measured (e.g., competency of health services providers, availability of KP commodities, Availability, Accessibility, acceptability, and affordability of services). Additional focus areas that the community-led monitoring will prioritize in COP22 include pediatrics clinical cascade and treatment continuity (addressing the programmatic gaps).