PEPFAR Small Grants Program (Botswana)

PEPFAR Small Grants Program (Botswana) is sponsored by U.S. Mission to Botswana, U.S. Department of State. This Annual Program Statement outlines funding priorities for projects that support Community Based Organizations (CBOs), Faith Based Organizations (FBOs), and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that work directly with communities in Botswana to promote HIV/AIDS prevention, t…

**Program Description and Objectives:** U.S. Embassy Gaborone through the PEPFAR Botswana Coordination Office (PEPFAR/PCO) is pleased to announce an open competition for local civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to submit applications to carry out a Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) program.

The CLM program is funded through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in Botswana (PEPFAR/Botswana) in support of the Government of Botswana’s (GoB) 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 and ultimately, save lives.

The **overall goal** of the CLM program is to ensure the availability, access to, and delivery of quality health and HIV services. The CLM program’s **main objective** is to provide a direct feedback mechanism to clients and beneficiaries of these services throughout the health service delivery experience to diagnose persistent issues and barriers to service uptake.

The expectation is that this feedback loop will help identify gaps and workable solutions that are driven by the community to overcome them. The CLM program seeks to provide grants to local CSOs and NGOs to establish, train and support networks of clients and beneficiary groups to monitor and address persistent problems and barriers to effective, client-centered HIV and health services.

Monitoring clients and beneficiaries will be recruited from representative groups including people living with HIV, people living with disabilities, key populations, youth groups that include adolescent girls and young women, DREAMS ambassadors, PrEP ambassadors, ART champions, etc. Grantees are expected to set up monitoring groups that are diverse, inclusive and gender-and-age balanced.

With the support of the grant recipients, the monitoring groups will collect quantitative and qualitative data and observations using standardized tools. The data will be synthesized using a variety of methods to provide insights on barriers to service uptake and workable solutions to address them at the appropriate service delivery levels – local (community and facility), district, and national.

The CLM program findings will be analyzed and discussed collaboratively between community representatives, service providers and facility managers to ensure dialogue and help all participating sides identify, implement and monitor follow up actions.

By capturing clients’ and beneficiaries’ perspectives on these barriers and enablers and engaging them in identifying and adopting corrective actions, the CLM program seeks to improve service quality, continuity of care, and retention for all clients and beneficiaries. This includes expanded treatment literacy, improved access to services, and increased service uptake.

The CLM program will cover 20 of the country’s 27 districts, including Bobirwa, Boteti, Francistown, Gaborone, Good Hope, Kasane, Kgatleng, Kweneng East, Lobatse, Mabutsane, Mahalapye, Moshupa, Ngamiland, North East, Palapye, Selebe Phikwe, Serowe, South East, Southern, and Tutume. The scope and scale of monitoring will be determined by the participating client and beneficiary groups, in consultation with the grantees and PEPFAR/PCO.

For example, monitoring activities could be limited to facilities and community sites supported by PEPFAR or expanded to cover all health facilities and sites in a district.

The CLM grant deliverables are: Formation and training of monitoring groups for each district; groups must be diverse and inclusive of all constituencies that access health and HIV services; Data collection, consolidation, and analyses; Formulation, implementation, and monitoring of follow up actions to improve service uptake at the local and district levels; Quarterly financial and activity reports; Participation in quarterly meetings with PEPFAR, community, government, and other stakeholders, to provide in-depth discussion of work and results at the local, district and national levels; Participation in national level advocacy activities when/where relevant.

**Award Information: Length of Performance Period: March 1, 2021 to September 30, 2021;**Anticipated Program Start Date: **January 1, 2021;**Program Performance Period: **Proposed activities should be completed no later than September 30, 2021**.

**Eligibility:**Eligible organizations should meet the above and following criteria: Be registered as a not-for-profit organization with the Government of Botswana (proof is required); Must have experience of successfully implementing programs with funding of a minimum of $40,000; Must apply for only one CLM award, which can cover multiple districts; only one proposal per organization is allowed.

**Other Eligibility Requirements:**Applicants must register with Grants. gov prior to submitting an application. Registering with Grants.

gov is a one-time process; however, it may take weeks to have the registration validated and confirmed. There are four steps to register: (1) obtain a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number from Dun & Bradstreet (if your organization does not have one already) by visiting http://fedgov. dnb.

com/webform; (2) register with System for Award Management (SAM) www. SAM. gov; (3) register yourself as an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR); and (4) be authorized as an AOR by your organization.

For more information, go to www. grants. gov. Please note that your SAM registration must be annually renewed.

**Application and Submission Information:**Applicants must ensure: The proposal clearly addresses the goals and objectives of this funding opportunity and be aligned with the requirements of the CLM program.

All documents must be in English; budgets must be in U.S. dollars and **calculated at USD 1= BWP 11 (as of November 2020)**; pages must be numbered, including budgets and attachments; documents must be formatted to 8 ½ x 11 paper; Microsoft Word documents must be 1.

15 spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, with a minimum of 1-inch margins; materials must be submitted in pdf format; All proposals should be no more 15-page long and all budget narratives should be no more than 3-page long.

The follow documents are required: Mandatory Applications forms: SF-424 (Application for Federal Assistance); SF-424A (Budget Information for Non-Construction Programs); SF-424B (Assurance for Non-Construction Programs); These forms can be found at https://www. grants. gov/forms/sf-424-family.

html. Summary Page: Cover sheet stating the organization’s name, districts to be covered, and brief overview of the organization’s implementation strategy for the CLM program. Proposal: 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: **_Proposal Summary_**: Short narrative that outlines your organization’s proposed community-led program, including the program objectives, districts to be covered, and anticipated results and outcomes.

**_Introduction to the Applying Organization_**: A description of past and present operations, showing the ability to carry out the CLM program, including the descriptions of funding programs of more than $40,000, and all previous grants from U.S. government agencies. **_Program Goals and Objectives_**: The goals should describe what the organization’s CLM program intends to achieve and in which districts.

The objectives refer to the intermediate accomplishments on the way to the goals. Both should be measurable and achievable during the grant period.

**_Program Strategic Approach and Tools_**: A description of how the organization’s CLM program is expected to achieve the goals, including how monitoring groups will be formed; which monitoring tools will be used; which health services will likely be prioritized; how data will be collected, reported, consolidated and analyzed; how follow up actions will be identified, implemented, monitored and reported; etc. **_Program Activities_**: A description of the CLM activities, expected output and outcomes and how they will help achieve the objectives.

**_Proposed Program Schedule and Timeline_**: The proposed timeline for the CLM activities. It should include dates, times, and locations of planned activities and events. **_Key Personnel_**: Names, titles, roles, and experience/qualifications of key personnel involved in the CLM program.

Key personnel include the head of the organization, the program manager, and the finance officer in charge of the CLM program. What proportion of their time will be used in support of the CLM program? **_Program Partners_**: List the names of key partner organizations and sub-awardees and describe their specific roles and responsibilities in the implementation of grant activities.

**_Program Monitoring and Evaluation Plan_**: The M&E plan should cover the life of the grant; and describe how activities will be monitored to ensure they are happening in a timely manner and how and when the CLM program will be evaluated to make sure it is meeting the goals of the grant. Budget Justification Narrative: After filling out the SF-424A Budget form, use a separate document to describe each of the budget expenses in detail.

Attachments: Proof of registration with the government of Botswana; CV or resume of key personnel who are proposed for the program; Letters of support from program partners describing the roles and responsibilities of each partner (if applicable); Three (3) Reference letters; one (1) letter must be from a donor organization of $40,000 or more.

**Questions:**Please submit your questions on this solicitation to PEPFAR Botswana/PCO at: **PEPFARBotswana@state. gov****. ** Questions will be received until **December 4, 2020** and the answers to all questions received will be provided by **December 15, 2020** via the PEPFAR Botswana website at https://bw.

usembassy. gov/our-relationship/pepfar/ or during a virtual Bidding Conference to be organized by that date. For questions relating to www.

grants. gov, please contact them at +1-800-518-4726 or support@grants. gov. **Submission: All application materials must be submitted electronically through****_www.

Grants. gov_**. If you are unable to submit your proposal on www.

grants. gov, you may submit via email at **PEPFARBotswana@state. gov**.

The subject line should be as follows: **_Applicant Organization name: Community Led Monitoring Grants Program_**. All applications must be submitted digitally; **paper applications will NOT be accepted**. **Application Deadline: December 31, 2020.

** Criteria: Each application submitted under this NOFO will be evaluated and rated based on the criteria enumerated in the evaluation section. Acknowledgement of receipt: Applicants will receive acknowledgment of receipt of their proposal. Review: A technical review panel will review the proposal based upon the criteria noted in evaluation section.

A determination will be made regarding the CLM proposals and activities, and those applications that are the best fit will be recommended to the U.S. Embassy Grant Officer for consideration for an award. Follow up notification: Applicants will be notified within 30 days after the NOFO deadline regarding the results of the review panel.

Each application will be evaluated and rated based on the following evaluation criteria (please see full NOFO for details): **Quality and Feasibility of the CLM Implementation Idea** (25 points) **Program Planning and Ability to Achieve Objectives** (15 points) **Organizational Capacity and Experience** (20 points) **Budget and Financial Management Capacity** (15 points) **Collaboration and Sustainability of Planned Activities** (10 points) **Contact Information:**If you have any questions, please contact PEPFAR Botswana/PCO via email at **PEPFARBotswana@state.

gov**. TEL: +267 367-2400 **OTHER INFORMATION:****Please see full NOFO for additional information and activities NOT Eligible for Funding**