New Grant Funding to Accelerate Health and Nutrition Gains in Five Additional Global Financing Facility Partner Countries
For Immediate Release
Media Contact
Katie Unthank
Director of Strategic Communications
[Washington, DC, June 6, 2023] — Today, in collaboration with the Global Civil Society Coordinating Group (CSCG) Steering Committee, the GFF NGO Host at PAI announced a second round of grants designed to support civil society organizations (CSOs) and youth-led organizations (YLOs) in implementing the Global Financing Facility’s (GFF) Civil Society and Youth Engagement Framework. This small grants funding mechanism, supported by the World Bank, aims to accelerate health and nutrition gains for women, children and adolescents.
The GFF NGO Host disbursed $380,322 to nine organizations in this second round of grant funding — including two based in Guatemala, one each in Indonesia and Pakistan, three in Mauritania and two in Uganda. Earlier this year, 14 CSOs based in Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal and Zambia received $969,678 in round one awards. Cumulatively, 23 CSOs and YLOs in 13 GFF partner countries have received $1.35 million through the GFF NGO Host in rounds one and two.
Established in 2015, the GFF supports 36 low- and lower-middle-income countries with catalytic financing and technical assistance to scale up access to affordable, quality health care for women, children and adolescents. While many governments around the world have increased their commitment to strengthening primary health care, health system gaps remain. Engaging CSOs and YLOs at all levels helps bridge that gap, enabling countries to achieve their goals to advance health and rights for all.
Nearly half of round two grantees are using the funding to equip young people with the tools they need to advocate for improved sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition (SRMNCAH-N), including tools that are developed by youth themselves. Projects range from better supporting Indigenous youth to advocate for improved policies in Guatemala to strengthening strategic nutrition communications in Indonesia and engaging the private sector in Mauritania.
Youth Association for Development (YAD) in Pakistan, one of the recent awardees, says the funding will help with “fostering an enabling environment and stronger movement for effective policy, planning, accountability, financing and budget allocation — which will [help] children, youth, women and adolescents to exercise their health and sexual and reproductive health,” explained Atta ul Haq Khaderzai of YAD, adding, “The project ultimately brings outcomes and impact, in terms of reducing the alarmingly high rate of maternal mortality and reducing the infant mortality rate.”
Meanwhile, Benilda Batzin, executive director of Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS) noted that the funds “will be able to support the work of citizen monitoring carried out by young Indigenous people … and will facilitate youth to have a voice and active participation in the improvement of the Guatemalan health system.”
PAI, a leading civil society advocacy organization dedicated to advancing universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) across the globe for nearly 60 years, has been administering this GFF initiative. In addition to supporting the small grants mechanism as the GFF NGO Host since May 2022, PAI is providing strategic, technical and institutional capacity-building support to grant partners and the CSCG — a network of 570 civil society and youth advocacy organizations — and fostering learning and exchange opportunities across and among CSO and YLO advocates.
The third and final round of grants for advancing SRMNCAH-N will total $1.35 million and will be awarded to CSOs and YLOs based in GFF countries that were not included in the first two rounds. Grant partners for the next round of Engagement Grants and Global Goods Grants will be selected from the pool of organizations that have already submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI). The GFF NGO Host is not accepting new EOIs.
| Name | Country | Project Description |
| Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS) | Guatemala | Equipping young, Indigenous health activists with the tools to monitor SRMNCAH-N policies and services in order to engage with authorities and educate Indigenous youth about their health and rights and to effectively advocate for better access to quality health care. |
| Paz Joven Guatemala | Guatemala | Creating a tool built by young people, for young people, to help train different actors and sectors on the behavior change process and education in SRHR. |
| Center for Indonesia’s Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) | Indonesia | Incorporating community voices to shape action on health advocacy, formulate policy recommendations and deliver strategic communication, with an emphasis on nutrition. |
| Youth Association for Development (YAD) | Pakistan | Increasing engagement among partnership members, citizens, government officials and other stakeholders to formulate and implement policies, improve resource mobilization and increase budget allocations for SRMNCAH-N in Balochistan province. |
| Association des Jeunes aux Services de Rosso (AJSR) | Mauritania | Developing a tool for SRMNCAH-N associations to improve operations and help mobilize financing from the private sector for GFF activities. |
| Association des Gestionnaires pour le Développement (AGD) | Mauritania | Promoting the capacity building of CSOs, maintaining an officially constituted coalition committed to national health policies, and ensuring meaningful participation of adolescents and young people. |
| Association Mauritanienne d’Aides aux Malades Indigents (AMAMI) | Mauritania | Influencing the Mauritanian government to increase budget allocations to nutrition, along with monitoring and implementing the country’s health policies and strategies. |
| Naguru Youth Health Network (NYHN) | Uganda | Improving health outcomes for adolescents and young people in Uganda by developing the GFF Youth Capacity Assessment Tool (GYCAT) to build capacity and improve youth understanding and engagement with country- and global-level GFF processes. |
| Faith for Family Health Initiative (3FHi) | Uganda | Developing a guide to equip agencies and CSOs with the tactics for mobilizing and engaging SRMNCAH-N champions to advocate for better health and well-being for the communities they serve. |
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ABOUT THE GFF NGO HOST AT PAI
The GFF NGO Host and associated Civil Society GFF Resource and Engagement Hub are multiyear initiatives to amplify and support CSOs and coalitions to contribute to GFF partner country outcomes for SRMNCAH-N. Learn more about the GFF-PAI collaboration.
ABOUT PAI
PAI is a leading civil society advocacy organization dedicated to advancing universal access to SRHR across the globe. For nearly 60 years, PAI has served as a credible source of information, a strong ally to in-country partners, and an unrelenting advocate for improved and expanded SRHR at the national, regional and global levels. PAI works to advance its mission by propelling evidence-informed advocacy strategies in the United States and globally and supporting in-country CSO partners across nearly 40 low- and middle-income countries to advocate for increased access to sexual and reproductive health services and expand SRHR for all. To learn more, visit pai.org.