Training and a follow up call for proposals to receive small grants for Building Broader Coalitions for budget advocacy

Тhe Eurasian Regional Consortium invites you to fill in online forms to take part in the training and a follow up call for proposals to receive small grants for Building Broader Coalitions for budget advocacy (BBC).

The call for proposals and the training to develop the skills and knowledge in Building Broader Coalitions for budget advocacy are organized with financial support of the Robert Carr civil society Networks Fund (RCNF) within the project  “Thinking outside the box: overcoming challenges in community advocacy for sustainable and high-quality HIV services”.

The Eurasian Regional Consortium (ERC) joins the efforts of the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM), the Eurasian Women’s AIDS Network (EWNA) and the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) to effectively address the lack of financial sustainability in prevention, treatment, care and support programs for the key populations vulnerable in terms of their rights violation and the risk of HIV – the Inadequately Served Populations (ISPs), in our case: people who use drugs (PUD), women living with HIV (WLHIV) and gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and trans* people (MSM/T).

Activities of the Eurasian Regional Consortium within: Learning cycles of the Project implemented by the Eurasian Regional Consortium the Project are composed of five interlinked thematic areas: Organizational sustainability; Building broader coalitions for budget advocacy; Community-led advocacy for comprehensive quality standards for HIV services based on national needs and international recommendations; Budget monitoring and accountability and Community-led monitoring of quality of services.

Within the Project component “Building broader coalitions for budget advocacy”, the Eurasian Regional Consortium 1) organizes a Training, and among the training participants 2) initiates a call for proposals for small grants to implement road maps developed during the training.

Training will be organized in three parts:

The three days training will address the first two parts during the first day, while the rest of the time will be devoted to giving participants concrete knowledge and skills and to practical exercises like developing country road maps etc. While budget advocacy part will be coordinated by EHRA, and the coordination part by ECOM, all three ERC partners in cooperation with the consultant(s) will be responsible for the third part in their agreed and relevant capacities.

Up to 18 Community activists, based on the merits of individual application from EECA countries from following community organizations/initiative groups, their consortia or joint advocacy platforms: people who use drugs (PUD), women living with HIV (WLHIV) and gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and trans* people (MSM/T).

Participants from the following countries will be eligible to apply for participation in the three day training: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.  

During the training, participants will make up the teams for implementation of the roadmaps developed at the training. These teams will be comprised of representatives of all ISPs or platform representing all or some ISPs and will be eligible for applying to the small grants 

Because of the consortium model which is necessary for implementation of the country road map, there are no quotas for different community members. In the application form (see the link below), participant will be asked to provide contact in the consortium, joint advocacy platform or similar of the person, who is in the position to confirm endorsement of 1 or more participants from their platform.

Participants will need to fill the participant form (see the link below), where they will describe their background, motivation and intention to partake in the small grant competition for the trainees.

The call for proposals for small grants will be initiated among the training participants after training is conducted. Below you will find the preliminary description of the small grants. The full description and application details for the competition will be announced during the training.

The goal of the call for proposals: To ensure application of the skills and knowledge received during the training on Building Broader Coalitions for budget advocacy (BBC) in terms of developing country road maps and submitting project proposal to implement it.

Six grants will be awarded. The total budget of the call for proposals is USD 36,000, with the maximum amount of one grant being USD 6,000. 

communities: people who use drugs (PUD), women living with HIV (WLHIV) and gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and trans* people (MSM/T).

! All other things being equal, preference will be given to the groups/organizations, which are active members of EHRA, ECOM and EWNA.

Each proposal will be considered by secretariats of the organizations, which are members of the Eurasian Regional Consortium, and the decision on composition of the workshop participants will be taken considering the equal representation of all ISP communities.

If you meet the above-mentioned criteria, please fill in the form to confirm your intention to participate in the training on building broader coalitions for budget advocacy. Participation form also includes the section to confirm the intention after the training to initiate small grant project to implement the road map developed during the training. The form can be accessed here.

Deadline. The proposals will be accepted by 23:59 on November 12, 2019 (Tallinn time).