THE ViiV HEALTHCARE POSITIVE ACTION FUND
Call for Proposals, Momentum Round 1 – 2021
Improving retention in HIV care among children living with HIV and their
caregivers
Guidance Notes
Please read this document carefully: it explains the ViiV Healthcare’s
Positive Action Fund application criteria and what you should include in
your application. Please check that your application clearly reflects this
guidance.
2021 Round 1 Call for Proposals
The 2021 Round 1 Momentum Call for Proposals is focused on ending
paediatric AIDS and is open to applications of up to £100,000 per year over
three years, i.e., up to £300,000 over a three-year period.
Positive Action invites applications from 26 March 2021 (00:01 GMT) to 23
April 2021 (23:59 BST). Applications will be reviewed by the Technical
Review Committee at their meeting in May 2021.
Specific application deadlines for other funding rounds are available on
the Positive Action website.
Positive Action online grant management system.
Please submit your application via our Cybergrant online application
system.
Please do not email applications to ViiV Healthcare or Positive Action
staff members or Positive Action mailboxes. We will only accept
applications via the online application system. If you have any problems
accessing the online system please review Appendix 2, the FAQs in this
document and/or contact the Positive Action mailbox..
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Completing Your Application
The application form requires you to outline the intervention that your
organisation is trying to implement, how you will address this issue, what it
is that you are trying to understand and your capabilities to respond. It will
also require completion of a detailed budget, selection of indicators and
Positive Action 2021 Momentum Round 1 Call for Proposal Guidance Note 1
an outline of a workplan. Please ensure you complete this form in full and
ensure that it meets our application criteria.
Concept Notes that are not well aligned to our criteria will not be taken
further.
Deadline: All applications must be received by 23:59 BST 23 April 2021 to
be considered by the Technical Review Committee in May 2021.
Should your application be successful, the content will be shared with our
partner the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), who will carry out the due
diligence and eventual payment. As part of their due diligence, they may
require additional information. You will be contacted if this is required. As
part of this you will be asked to sign up to CAF’s terms and conditions.
CAF undertakes due diligence on all the grants made through the ViiV
Healthcare Positive Action Fund and will need to contact you regarding
your application. The data collected in the Application Form will be
provided to them.
Context for the Momentum Call for Proposals
“The world has failed to diagnose and start treatment for almost half the
children living with HIV” (UNAIDS, 2020).
There has been significant momentum towards reaching targets outlined
in the Global Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among
Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive. This strategy has
enabled a 48% decline in new infections in children during the first 5 years
of implementation (UNAIDS, 2020). The fast track targets were then set
looking to build on this momentum and reduce the 190,000 infections in
2015 to 20,000 by 2020 (See Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free).
Progress since 2015 has been limited. Globally, 150,000 new HIV infections
among children aged 0-14 years, were reported in 2019 (UNAIDS, 2020).
Treatment coverage among 0-14 year olds makes for equally
disappointing reading, with just 53% of HIV positive children receiving the
antiretroviral therapy (ART) that they need (UNICEF, 2020). The improved
ART coverage rate among pregnant women living with HIV is not
translating down to a reduced rate of HIV infection among children.
UNAIDS results from 2019 show that over two thirds of children living with
HIV not on ART are between the ages of 5 and 14.
While adult populations are steadily advancing towards the Global
Targets, progress for children increasingly lags behind (UNAIDS, 2020).
Positive Action 2021 Momentum Round 1 Call for Proposal Guidance Note 2
Recent data shows:
• Low testing of children for HIV
• Inadequate treatment services for children: in 2019, children
accounted for 5% of people living with HIV but represented 14% of
all AIDS-related deaths;
• Poor retention in care for children living with HIV: UNAIDS data
shows that only 37% of children receiving ART achieve viral
suppression.
Recent analysis by UNAIDS identifies key gaps yet to address, in order to
reach the Global Plan targets (UNAIDS 2020). These recommendations
include identifying those children above the age of 5 that have limited
access to the health sector through innovative and holistic approaches
(e.g. case management approaches, peer support, mental health support,
support for caregivers, referral to other relevant services and institutions).
In many settings, there is insufficient investment into mental wellbeing
programming designed for caregivers and children living with HIV
(UNAIDS PCB, 2018). Recent literature reviews suggest adolescent
caregivers and their children, in particular, face distinct challenges of
access to, and retention in, HIV care. A need for holistic, differentiated
services for caregivers and children – especially for adolescent caregivers
– is needed. See Toska et al. (2020) for promising programme models
supporting the wellbeing of adolescent parents and children.
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children living or at risk of HIV
cannot be ignored. Children and caregivers are facing increased barriers to
accessing ART, impending or current stock-outs of ART, restricted
movement to health facilities, and worsening social and economic
situations. Children’s health and wellbeing is under greater threat.
The COVID-19 pandemic does, however, allow for critical thinking on how
differentiated services can ensure caregivers and children have access to,
and are retained in, HIV services. This Positive Action Momentum Call for
Proposals welcomes applications that place children at the centre of
differentiated service approaches, in order to improve HIV outcomes
among those children and their caregivers.
How Momentum Proposals Should Be Targeted
“Globally, pregnant women, children and adolescents living with HIV are in
desperate need of newly energized and catalytic HIV responses centred
on human rights and equity.” (UNICEF, 2020)
Focus of Call: Positive Action welcomes proposals designed to improve
retention in HIV care among children living with HIV and their caregivers
Positive Action is interested in supporting community-based interventions
that demonstrate effectiveness in:
Positive Action 2021 Momentum Round 1 Call for Proposal Guidance Note 3
• Scaling up diagnosis and linkage to care of children living with HIV
who are not on treatment.
• Linking caregivers of children living with HIV to tailored prevention
and mental wellbeing services that ensure retention in care for
themselves and their children; and
• Providing differentiated HIV services to children living with HIV
Focus on children aged 5-14 years old: This Momentum Call for Proposals
is focused on supporting children between ages 5 through 14 years of age.
UNAIDS results from 2019 show that over two thirds of children living with
HIV not on ART are between the ages of 5 and 14.
There are fewer opportunities and more limited interactions with the
health sector for older children, which highlights the significant challenges
with identifying and retaining these children in HIV care. Focused efforts
putting these children at the centre and involving their caregivers will be
required to make the difference.
Priority countries:
Positive Action welcomes applications from the following priority
countries: Indonesia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Mozambique, Uganda, and
Kenya.
These countries have been identified for this Call for Proposals, for their
comparatively lower ART coverage for children aged 0-14 (see UNAIDS,
2020; UNAIDS, 2019):
Country New ART ART coverage Rate of
infections coverage pregnant MTCT
0-14 0-14 women
Indonesia1 ~3,500 22% 15% 29.3%
Cameroon ~3,000 33% 73% 14%
Nigeria ~22,000 36% 43% 22%
Mozambique ~15,000 63% 100% 14%
Uganda ~5,000 66% 100% 6%
Kenya ~6,000 68% 94% 11%
Key considerations for Momentum Proposals
Positive Action awards Momentum grants to proven projects that are
prepared to scale-up or replicate in next contexts.
Your application should be specific in describing how the interventions
that you want to implement will build on what works to support retention
of children living with HIV in care, as well as caregivers of children living
with HIV. Interventions that focus on addressing structural barriers are
encouraged.
1 UNAIDS, 2019 data
Positive Action 2021 Momentum Round 1 Call for Proposal Guidance Note 4
Funding criteria:
1. Who can apply?
Non-governmental and community-based organisations that can deliver
change at a community level through their links with or representation of
the communities affected especially adolescents’ girls and young people,
in all their diversity
2. New Project
Your project must focus on scaling up or replicating interventions that are
proven to work to improve the lives and wellbeing of pregnant and
parenting adolescents living with HIV, as well as caregivers of children
living with HIV. It cannot be a pilot project.
3. Community Focus
Positive Action believes that engaging local communities is critical to
addressing the drivers of health and life inequalities, it therefore seeks to
promote community responses that work at the level of changing beliefs,
attitudes and behaviours to improve health and rights at the community
level.
Community engagement, participation and/or leadership are
mandatory requirements for all Positive Action grants: your proposal must
demonstrate how your work will engage, involve and empower and
benefit affected communities.
As an example, the Clinic-CBO Collaboration (C3) Programme is one model
of community engagement with health facilities and key local
stakeholders.
Timelines
The Positive Action application, review and grant process can take up to
three months to complete. The following table outlines the review process
for the 2020 Call for Proposals.
Momentum Funding Round 1 26th March 2021
opens
Momentum Funding Round 1 23rd April 2021
closes
Technical Review Committee Week commencing 15th May 2021
meets
Recommended applications pass Week commencing 20 May 2021
through validation
Additional information and Week commencing 01st June 2021
documentation may be requested
Final decision and contracting August 2021 onwards
Please note that these dates are a guide.
Positive Action 2021 Momentum Round 1 Call for Proposal Guidance Note 5
General Guidance
Your Organisation
Positive Action is targeted at helping communities affected by HIV and
AIDS. Any properly registered not-for-profit organisation that represents,
or is working with or for, affected communities is eligible to submit a
proposal.
The Size and Period of the Grant
The funding available is up to £100,000 per year up to a maximum of
£300,000 over three years.
Outline Budget
The online application system will require you to enter a detailed budget.
This should show spending for each year of the project against lines
including any capital costs, staffing, travel, training, monitoring and
evaluation, and communications.
Please follow the budget template in the application form.
Please note the following:
• The total grant amount cannot account for more than 50% of an
organisation’s overall income for countries in LICS/MICS.
• 85% of project budgets must be spent in country; and
• Overheads over 15% of the total project budget will not be
accepted.
• Budgets will be strictly adhered to – do not request more than the
allowable amount as you will not be able to submit your application.
We request that all budgets are submitted in both local currency and
Pound Sterling (at the prevailing rate of exchange). You must include an
annual and total budget for your project in Pound Sterling to be
considered for funding.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Program monitoring and evaluation is highly recommended. Please
review the Positive Action results framework to ensure that your indicators
are aligned and ensure that you select up to 5 indicators prior to
submission. Please note that relevant indicators are pre-selected for this
thematic area and will be agreed prior to contracting
References and Validation
Two references are required. References should have knowledge of your
organisation’s work and should include a named contact with phone
number and email.
If your funding is approved by the Board, validation of your organisation’s
charitable status is required before funding is made available. Validation
Positive Action 2021 Momentum Round 1 Call for Proposal Guidance Note 6
will be undertaken by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). Please see the
FAQs for more details on Validation.
Multiple Proposals
As a rule Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) should not apply for
more than one grant in this call for proposals. However, we will consider
applications from different country offices of the same organisation.
Designating a Primary Contact
We require that all international organisations with a country office where
the project will be located provide a contact in-country. A secondary
contact out of country may also be included.
Positive Action 2021 Momentum Round 1 Call for Proposal Guidance Note 7