Friends Africa and AfriCASO in Strategic Partnership

The surge of civil society organizations in Africa and funding for them has presented a unique opportunity to grow and build solid and effective indigenous institutions in Africa that can support the work of government in th efight against AIDS TB and malaria. A lot of focus has been on building organizations that operate at the national level but the organizations that operate at the grassroot level close to the communities where most Africans live, are gaining increasing importance and relevance. If their capacity to deliver is increased, they can make a big difference. Against this backdrop, Friends Africa and Africaso put together an NGO capacity building seminar capacity of these important grassroot players. Out of a sense of shared burden, the work Pan-African organizations, organizaed this seminar to do more to support the expanding needs of committed, community-driven interventions across Africa. For the huge resources that are available to make in impact in our communities, pie of implementers needs to be expanded to include those operating at the grassroot level.

 The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria 

The Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and Malaria recognizes the importance of these organizations as strategic on the ground resources for delivering key services. This is clearly demonstrated by its new policies in dual track financing which requires the involvement of civil society in grant management. The Global Fund played an important role in the Friends Africa - Africaso  seminar evidenced by the presence of Her Excellency, the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa and Vice Chair of the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, Mrs. Elizabeth N. Mataka in the company of 3 senior staff of the Global Fund secretariat Kingsley Moghalu, Victor Bampoe and Cyrille Dubois who all served as important resource persons. Mrs. Mataka’s shared her story about growing from scratch what is today Africa’s model Zambia National AIDS Network (ZNAN)   

Close to 500 applications were from NGOs in 32 African countries were sent in for consideration for this seimanr. Through a very competitive process that examined structure, composition, thematic-focus, credibility and readiness for growth, 60 unique grassroots-serving organizations were selected from 26 African countries. With the amount of interest shown by both participants, panelist and funders, we are pleased to announce that we have decided to make this seminar an annual event.

These 60 grassroot organizations which work in a variety of areas including AIDS, TB, Malaria, reproductive health, Gender, Income generation, among others, went through a 3-day capacity building process to enable them to: A. mobilize significant resources globally  B. Implement programs effectively  C. Scale up on their efforts, by giving them the tools in fundraising/proposal development, project management, monitoring and evaluation, financial management and procurement. These NGOs will be followed and nurtured for a six month period post-seminar to ensure that they have the required support.  We have set up an internet forum whereby participants can gain access to resources on the courses that will be provided during the seminar, access to our networks, and dialogue with each other to exchange best practices and foster a sense of community. Friends Africa will give all NGO participants access to our Technical Assistance Hub, which will enable consultants with the technical skills to provide support for proposal development, project implementation, monitoring and evaluation or as the organization deems fit.

Ghana the Perfect Host

His Excellenecy President Kufuor of Ghana welcomed all participants in a welcome letter and His Excellency, Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, declared  the 3-day seminar open. We are indeed grateful for and  humbled by the tremendous support shown by the government and people of Ghana where the Global Fund has invest close to 200million USD to date.

Our Sponsors:

 This particular project is supported by the UN Foundation, Access Bank Plc, Afrinvest West Africa, Stanbic Bank and Databank Financial Services. Four of these five wonderful donors are from Africa’s very-own business community and are deserving of all accolades for choosing to now get involved in the business of saving lives. This is worthy of emulation across board. Thank you very much!