Call for Applications for Subrecipients of the Regional Program ‘Right to Health’ Community Actions to Increase Access of MSM and Transgender People to HIV Services in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
I. General
Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM) is a regional association of non-profits, community groups, activists and experts in Eastern Europe and Central Asia working on creating favourable conditions to ensure that all men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender people will have access to health services, including HIV services, based on respect for their human rights.
Recognizing the challenge of the disproportionately low access to HIV services of men who have sex with men (MSM) and trans*[1] people in the region, the Eurasian Coalition on Male Health (ECOM) has developed a Regional Program “Right to Health. Community Actions to Increase Access of MSM and Transgender People to HIV Services in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia”.
The goal of this program is to contribute to an increased uptake and retention across the continuum of HIV services for MSM and trans* people in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
The objectives of the Program are:
1: To contribute to increasing MSM and trans* community participation in decision-making in national HIV responses.
2: To contribute to building the capacity of MSM and trans* organizations by strengthening organizational structures, technical competence and fundraising capacity.
3: To strengthen enabling environments for HIV services for MSM and trans* people, through fighting stigma and discrimination, promoting and protecting human rights, and removing legal and policy barriers.
The duration of the Program is 3 years.
In April 2016, the Concept Note for the Program has been recommended by the Global Fund to proceed to grant-making; the grant negotiations are being completed at the moment.
If the grant agreement with the Global Fund is signed, ECOM’s Secretariat will be the Principal Recipient to implement it directly at the regional level, while activities at national level will be implemented in five target countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Macedonia.
For a detailed description of the Regional Program, please refer to the Annex 1.
II. Tender for Subrecipients
Within preparation to the implementation of the Regional Program “Right to Health”
ECOM is announcing a Call for Applications for Subrecipients in the five target countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Macedonia.
One Subrecipient is expected to be supported in each country.
Subrecipients are selected for the whole duration of the Regional Program. The grant agreement is signed for one year and will be extended with consideration to the progress results.
Organizations that will be selected as subrecipient of the program, will be able to receive funds only if ECOM sign a grant agreement with the Global Fund and will receive funding.
III. Who can apply
The call is open to non-governmental organizations that meet the following requirements.
- Must be legally registered in the one of the five target countries: Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Macedonia.
- Must be a community-based organization of gay men and other MSM and/or trans* people
- Must have a history of at least 3 years of operation in HIV and human rights of gay men and other MSM and/or trans* people
- Must share the objectives of ECOM’s Regional Program as confirmed by the organization’s articles of association, strategic plans and/or current projects.
- Applicants are encouraged to form consortia of interested community organizations, as a catalyst to encourage more productive cooperation for the Program implementation. These applications will be given priority with all other factors being equal.
IV. Activities and Work Plan of Subrecipients
Detailed activities are listed in a general description of the Regional Program (Annex 1).
A framework workplan has been developed or the sub-recipients for the whole duration of the Program (see Annex 2). A detailed individual workplan for each subrecipient for the first year will be further agreed during the grant negotiations and as result of the orientation working meeting of all subrecipients in the first quarter of the Program.
V. Amount and duration of funding
Under this Call for Applications, funds will be given for 2017 for a total of 12 months. Further funding will depend on the subrecipient’s progress in the first year of the program.
The maximum amount of funding provided Under this Call for Applications is Euro 51,000.
The applicant organization must fill out the Budget Form (Annex 4). Details on the supported expenses are given in Budget Instructions (Annex 5).
In addition to direct financial support, subrecipients will be supported with technical assistance, participation in regional meetings and trainings etc.
VI. Timeline and Procedures of the Tender
1 November 2016 – Announcement of the Call for Applications.
30 November 2016 г. – Deadline for applications submission.
1-11 December 2016 – Review and decision-making on the applications.
12 December 2016 – Notification on the decisions.
Until 31 December 2016 – grant negotiations with subrecipients.
Applicants should submit an application package consisting of the following documents:
- A completed application form.
- A completed budget form
- Copy of Articles of Association of the organization (translated into English or Russian if there the document is in a different language)
- Organization’s registration certificate (translated into English or Russian if there the document is in a different language)
- Confirmation of authority of the organization head – power of attorney, minutes of the Board meeting or General Assembly, appointment order, etc
- CV of the Project Director in English or Russian.
Application Package must be submitted no later than 30 November 2016, 23:59 EET by email only at contact@ecom.ngo with the topic of "Call for Applications Right for Health / [NAME OF COUNTRY]".
ECOM will confirm the receipt within two days.
During the application review ECOM may request additional information from the applicant.
The final decision and the signing of grant agreement with subrecipients will depend on the signing of the grant agreement between ECOM and the Global Fund.
All organizations-applicants will be informed of the decision on the selection of sub-recipients. The results will also be published on ECOM’s website www.ecom.ngo
VII. Conditions for Obtaining Funds
Sub-recipients can receive funds only in case of signing of a grant agreement between ECOM and the Global Fund, and after receiving a tranche from the Global Fund.
Sub-recipients will need to open a separate bank account to receive funds under the Regional Program.
The grant agreement will specify further terms of funds and other aspects including the final work plan, schedule of fund transfers, financial and programmatic reporting forms and timetable, etc.
VIII. Review Criteria and Assistance in Completing the Application
The application form is, at the same time, a form of capacity assessment of the applicant.
Please note that when making a decision on sub-recipients, assessment will be done both of the applicant’s managerial and program capacities.
ECOM strongly encourages applicants to carefully read the description of the Regional Programme (Annex 1) and the Framework Workplan of Subrecipients (Annex 2) and, while describing their capacity, give particular attention to the competencies and skills of the organization and employees that are necessary for Regional Program.
If you have any questions when filling out the application and budget forms, please contact the Technical Support Coordinator Gennady Roshchupkin at gena@ecom.ngo.
IX. Annexes
Annex 1 – General description of the Regional Program “Right to Health”.
Annex 2 – Framework Work Plan of Subrecipients.
Annex 3 – Application Form.
Annex 4 – Budget Form.
Annex 5 – Budget Instructions.
[1] The abbreviation trans* is employed here to describe transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming identities, including (but not limited to) transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, genderfluid, non-binary, agender, third gender, two-spirit, bigender etc.