ICSS invited as technical partner for multi-year Global Fund Advocacy grant

ICSS invited as technical partner for multi-year Global Fund Advocacy grant

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has granted USD$5 million over three years to the New Venture Fund to support the Global Fund Advocates Network and country specific advocacy for Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria resource mobilization.

Over the term of the grant, International Civil Society Support (ICSS), as the secretariat for the Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN), will work with the New Venture Fund (NVF) as its technical partner to support country-level organizations to develop proposals and refer them for funding to the New Venture Fund for Global Fund Advocacy fund (NVF for GFA).

Identification of applicants to be invited by the NVF for GFA will be based on a joint analysis of political and other opportunities in donor and implementing countries, investment needs and strategic and technical advice of ICSS, the Global Fund Secretariat and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“The essential work of resource mobilization advocacy has been underfunded in the past. The New Venture Fund for Global Fund Advocacy provides a unique opportunity to strategically invest in a number of countries. These investments will also benefit all members of the Global Fund Advocates Network through the grantees’ resulting campaigns and their products,” suggests Peter van Rooijen, Executive Director of ICSS.

The NVF for GFA fund will make targeted grants to country-level organizations advocating for a fully funded and effective Global Fund and provide sustainable and predictable funding for advocacy campaigns over the next three years and one-off funding arrangement for emerging advocacy opportunities leading up to the Global Fund’s Replenishment in 2016.

There will be no open application process for the GFA fund; potential applicants will be invited by NVF for GVA to submit proposals based on criteria such as: the size of the donor country; opportunities for an increase by the donor country before or during the next replenishment; the need to protect a sustained level of donor country investment; the need to support core advocacy capacity and coordination based on available capacity and current funding; and the need for catalytic funding to seize opportunities and/or invest in change.

Due to the responsive nature of the fund, the NVF has already been able to provide financing to STOPAIDS (UK) and a coalition of European Financial Transaction Tax advocates who will use the grant to support actions and media outreach leading up to key European Union meetings.

Over the coming years, ICSS looks forward to this opportunity to support GFAN members more actively in the development of stronger and more effective Global Fund campaigning.

About the New Venture Fund

The New Venture Fund, a US-based charity established in 2006, supports innovative and effective public interest projects financed by large grant-making foundations by providing an efficient, cost-effective and time-saving platform to launch and operate charitable projects. It executes a range of donor-driven projects in conservation, global health, public policy, international development, education, disaster recovery, and the arts. NVF is overseen by an independent board of directors that has extensive experience in philanthropy and non-profit management.

About the Global Fund Advocates Network

The Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN)was established in 2011 to unite voices and efforts from all over the world to support a fully funded Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.It currently has over 190 organizational members from 59 countries. GFAN brings together advocates, activists and affected communities in the South and the North, as well as Friends of the Fund organizations. Its purpose is to build a global social movement to demand health for all by recruiting, connecting and mobilizing advocates to communicate the urgent need, and demand full funding for, the Global Fund to maximize its impact. The GFAN Secretariat is hosted by International Civil Society Support.

For more information: please contact ICSS