Family and Community Action Grants
In partnership with the Government of Uganda, the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID), through their
implementing partner UPHOLD, developed an innovative and
competitive grants application program for Civil Society
Organizations (CSOs).
Valued at approximately 9 billion Ugandan Shillings (over US$5
million), this is the first large-scale integrated HIV/AIDS, health and
education grants scheme in Africa.
The grants, called Family and Community Action grants, will
increase the number of CSOs in Uganda benefiting from USAID
funding, with technical support from UPHOLD.
Family and Community Action Grants
The grants will enable organizations to achieve programmatic
results that promote the quality, availability and effective use of
social services and other key behaviours in direct partnership with
families and communities.
Cross-cutting health, primary education and HIV/AIDS technical
priorities are four key themes that UPHOLD believes CSOs are
effectively able to impact:
• Family Dialogue and Decision-Making for Effective Use of Social
Services;
• Prevention and Mitigation of Gender-Based Violence;
• Consumer-Provider/Community-Facility Relationships; and
• Delivery of Social Services at Household and Community Level.
Partnership with Local Government
UPHOLD and Local Governments defined needs for 88 Family and
Community Action grants in the areas of health, education and
HIV/AIDS based on district priorities and plans.
Together, UPHOLD and Local Governments specified needs in the
health sector that included child health and integrated reproductive
health; in primary education, the needs focused on community
involvement in education; within HIV/AIDS, the needs focused on
prevention and mobilizing communities to use available services.
In addition to determining technical needs and locations for grants,
Local Governments were actively involved in the technical review
and short-listing of candidate grantees. The results are applications
that meet district needs and are owned by Local Governments.
Grants Application Process
USAID, through UPHOLD, launched the application process in July
2004. CSOs responded to the request for applications in
overwhelming numbers; 625 applications were submitted for the
possible 88 grants.
UPHOLD provided applications through local government offices,
UPHOLD Regional Offices, or the website and received completed
applications at any of the UPHOLD offices by the submission
deadline of September 3, 2004.
UPHOLD endeavoured to make the process fair and transparent at
all stages. During the application period, pre-recorded programs on
10 radio stations that reach 20 UPHOLD-supported districts
explained specifics of the grant application form and answered
commonly asked questions to ensure that all applicants received the
same information.
Grants Review Process
Phase 1
UPHOLD Regional Offices confirmed that applicants met basic
requirements, including applications that focused on eligible
districts, in the correct technical areas, with appropriate budget
requests and that the organizations held current registration, and
approval to submit applications from the local government, etc. A
Technical Review Panel then reviewed applications that met these
basic requirements.
Grants Review Process
Phase 2
To ensure fair-play and transparency, Technical Review Panels
comprised of Local Government officials, UPHOLD staff, and
representatives from CSO fora, with USAID officials where possible,
reviewed applications from each district.
Grants Review Process
Criteria to select grants, as stated in the Request for Applications,
included:
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Project Description
Management Capacity/Past Performance
Partnership
Reasonableness of Costs Relative to Results
Monitoring and Evaluation
Applications that scored highly in these areas were sent to
the UPHOLD head office in Kampala.
Grants Review Process
Phase 3
UPHOLD used recommendations from the Technical Review Panels
to select "best and final" applications.
Grant Awards
USAID, through UPHOLD, has begun the process of awarding
grants. Grants for HIV/AIDS projects have been prioritized to
reflect their urgency in national development. Grant awards for
health and primary education activities will begin in February 2005.
Grant Awards
Grant awards will benefit a large number of CSOs and communities
in Uganda. As partnership was a key criterion for selection, each
award reflects an average of at least three recipient organizations.
For example, of first 19 approved grants, include 59 implementing
organizations.
Planned Activities
To ensure that all stakeholders are adequately informed on progress
made, UPHOLD will be conducting Members of Parliament briefings
as well informative meetings with District / Local government and
CSO partners at regional level.
UPHOLD has also put in place an Information line ( 039 200200 ) to
provide the general public with an opportunity to access additional
information on the awarding of the CSO grants.