The Community Review Panel (CRP) of the Collaborative Fund for HIV/AIDS Treatment Preparedness in Southern Africa has reviewed and granted support to 23 community-based organisations in the region. These were organisations whose applications were most aligned to the funding priority areas as set out in the Call for Proposals within the broad spectrum of conducting HIV treatments advocacy and education programs.

The CRP extends warm congratulations to the successful organisations and encouragement during the implementation phase. It also sends a word of support and much appreciation to those organisations whose applications were not fruitful.

The high volume of applications received is an indicator of deep civil society engagement in efforts against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We therefore call for these efforts to be complemented by increased national level budgetary allocations towards health, and increased and predictable donor contributions. As was noted in January of this year in a World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) progress report, unless funding and other commitment are dramatically scaled up, the modest campaign objective of treating 3 million people living with HIV/AIDS in poor countries by the end of 2005 is unlikely to be realised.

Background

The objective of this grant program for HIV/AIDS treatment preparedness in Southern Africa is to support initiatives of civil organisations that represent interests of people living with HIV/AIDS and other communities affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Grants have been allocated to successful applications for a period of up to one year to a maximum amount of 10,000 US dollars per application from a total pool of 200, 000 US dollars.

The Collaborative Fund is a partnership of Tides Foundation with members of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition that aims to fund efforts by civil society, especially people living with HIV/AIDS, to advocate for and participate in the development and implementation of HIV treatment access programs.

In the Southern Africa region, a Community Review Panel (CRP) has been established and is made up of community experts from the Pan African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM). The CRP will be managing the grants process in collaboration with Tides Foundation, a U.S.-based public charity. Funds have been received from a number of donors, most notably from the World Health Organisation's 'Preparing for Treatment Programme'.

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About the Tides Foundation: www.tides.org

About the Pan African Treatment Access Movement (PATAM): www.patam.org