[Washington, DC, February 27, 2023] – Today,  PAI announced the recipients of the first round of grants to civil society organizations (CSOs) and youth-led organizations (YLOs) that will contribute to the implementation of the Global Financing Facility (GFF) Civil Society and Youth Engagement Framework. The funding will support CSO and YLO efforts to advance the health of women, children, and adolescents.

Through a competitive and transparent process, US$969,678 in grants were awarded to 14 CSOs and YLOs in eight sub-Saharan Africa countries supported by the GFF – Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, and Zambia. This funding, channeled through a World Bank project, aims to further strengthen CSO and youth organizations to accelerate health and nutrition gains for women, children and adolescents.

Many governments around the world have increased their commitments to strengthening primary health care and advancing universal health coverage to improve the health of women, children, and adolescents. However, health systems in many low and middle-income countries are not operating optimally to meet the basic health needs of the communities they serve.

In partnership with civil society leaders across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, PAI supports and collaborates with CSOs and YLOs in GFF partner countries.  Building on nearly 60 years of experience, PAI is providing awardees with financial grants, strategic advocacy support, capacity strengthening, technical assistance and other resources. The goal is to enable a strong and resilient network of health champions who deeply understand community needs and opportunities that can deliver better and more equitable access to quality health services for all.

“For nearly six decades, and in partnership with our civil society peers and partners, PAI has been steadfast in advocating for the health and rights of communities around the world,” said Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, President & CEO of PAI. She added, “The investment from the GFF and this recent round of grant support will enable 14 truly dynamic CSOs and YLOs to better expand, connect, and fortify a global network of advocates who are working to ensure that essential healthcare is funded, delivered and sustained for the long-term.”

The role of CSOs and YLOs is crucial in ensuring that country investment cases supported by the GFF are evidence-based, aligned with country health priorities and reflective of the needs of women, children, and adolescents, especially in hard-to-reach and excluded communities.

“Supporting civil society and youth-led organizations is vital to ensure health systems respond to the needs of the women, children and adolescents they serve,” said Luc Laviolette, Head of GFF Secretariat. “The grants announced today will support civil society to ensure that the most hard-to-reach communities have a say in shaping health investments to drive equitable health outcomes.”

With this funding, the selected partner organizations will ensure the inclusion of community voices and evidence that enables them to strengthen the quality and monitoring of SRMNCAH+N services, while better engaging with policymakers and relevant GFF stakeholders. Advocates will also disseminate knowledge products and resources to community members—including youth, migrants, and women—that explain how civil society, youth networks and coalitions can advance sexual and reproductive rights and universal access to primary health services through the GFF-supported multistakeholder country platform.

“Organisation pour de Nouvelles Initiatives en Développement et Santé (ONIDS) is committed to delivering on smart project goals,” said Cécile Thiombiano Yougbaré, President of ONIDS in Burkina Faso. “We feel empowered being part of a dynamic and sustained partnership that builds on a global movement to strengthen ambitious initiatives at the country and local levels.”

The support will also help CSOs and YLOs to drive community awareness and demand for essential health services including across the SRMNCAH+N spectrum, as well as capacity and coalition building.   For example, in Ethiopia, grant partner Fiker Behiwot Children & Youth Development Association (FBCYDA) is focused on helping migrant youth make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.  FBCYDA project coordinator, Dagem Assefa, said that the grant will help them expand access to quality SHR information at Hawassa University and in high schools.

“Existing innovative approaches will be expanded to address domestic migrant youth and student sexual and reproductive health challenges and ensure sustainability,” said Assefa. “In addition, [this support will] strengthen organizational sustainability and increase youth capacity to address various community problems…as a center of youth-led, youth-based, and youth-focused civil society.”

PAI is currently reviewing applications received for the second round of grants and will notify awardees by March 30, 2023. A third round of grants will soon be announced through PAI, partner websites, as well as the Civil Society Coordinating Group (CSCG) and other platforms. The full list of grant awardees from this first round of grants can be found below and at GFF CSO Grant Partners.

ABOUT PAI

PAI is 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, 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 country, regional and global levels. PAI works toward 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.

ABOUT THE GFF NGO HOST AT PAI

The CSO Global Financing Facility (GFF) Resource and Engagement Hub is a multiyear initiative to amplify and support civil society organizations and coalitions to contribute to GFF partner country outcomes for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition. Learn more about the GFF PAI collaboration 

December 2022 GFF CSO Grant Partners:

NAME	COUNTRY	PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Fiker Behiwot Children and Youth Development Association	Ethiopia	Strengthening youth voices and agency in addressing the sexual reproductive health challenges of domestic migrant youth and students in Hawassa city. Youth will have improved access to quality SRHR information and youth-led organizations and groups will be better integrated into partnership networks and platforms as part of scaling up and building the capacity of the youth movement.
Future Hopes Integrated Development Organization	Ethiopia	Building the capacity of students (10-16 years) in low-income areas of Addis Ababa to lead advocacy initiatives to improve SRH services for school youth and break down existing norms that hinder access to information and services.
Marie Stopes Zambia	Zambia	Engaging with Zambia’s SRHR civil society to build a unified movement to advocate for the adoption of the GFF investment case by the government of Zambia. Informed stakeholders will actively work with the Parliament and Ministry of Finance to advance the plan which will create a sustainable financing mechanism for RMNCAH. The project will also strengthen the capacity of Zambia’s civil society to advocate for SRHR and build a strong network of advocates.
Associação Observatório do Cidadão para Transparência e Boa Governação no Sector Saúde	Mozambique	Working with civil society platforms and other stakeholders to engage with the Ministry of Health to enhance the approved GFF investment case. Focusing on improving the process for allocating public resources and having greater social accountability and monitoring to ensure health services respond to community RMNCAHN needs. Additionally, emphasiing the need to make adolescent sexual and reproductive health a priority.
Health and Rights Education Programme	Malawi	Building the capacity of Malawi’s civil society to conduct evidence-based advocacy with the government of Malawi to ensure RMNCAHN priorities are included in the GFF investment case, as well as strengthening political will for increasing domestic resource mobilization. Advancing the adoption of the GFF investment case with a strong accountability framework to monitor the implementation and results.
Youth Initiative for Community Development	Malawi	Strengthening the voices and capacities of Malawi’s SRMNCAH+N Youth Coalition members to influence SRHR decision-makers in policy and budget processes. Promoting social accountability and improving resource allocation, delivery of quality services, and public resource management for SRMNCAH+N.
Réseau Jeunesse Population Développement	Senegal	Strengthening the capacity of CSOs and community leaders to effectively communicate the RMNCAHN needs of communities and meaningfully engage with the government to have their views and recommendations reflected in the GFF investment case. Also developing an inclusive monitoring mechanism to hold the government accountable for its commitments.
Alliance Nationale des Jeunes pour la Sante de la Reproduction	Senegal	Building the capacity of young people to effectively engage with policy-makers and stakeholders to contribute to the GFF investment case and breaking down socio-cultural barriers to the discussion and promotion of sexual health and reproduction for young women and adolescent girls.
Organisation pour de Nouvelles Initiatives en Développement et Santé	Burkina Faso	Building strong partnerships with private sector companies that are well positioned to contribute to improving RMNCAH-N and pushing them to commitment to budget allocation as part of RMNCAH-N funding.
SOS Jeunesse et Defis	Burkina Faso	Strengthening the commitment and leadership of CSOs and young people in advancing the GFF investment case in Burkina Faso and improving the monitoring and accountability framework for its implementation.
Réseau Des Plateformes d’ONG d’Afrique De L’ouest	Regional (Senegal)	Strengthening and building the capacity of civil society in francophone Africa to identify neglected sectors in GFF investment cases and conduct evidence-based advocacy to enhance the plans and hold governments accountable for RMNCAH+N commitments.
Cellule de Liaison des Associations Féminines	Chad	Strengthening the capacity of the national coalition of CSOs to advocate for the prioritization of identified community needs in the GFF investment case and the development of a strong accountability mechanism for monitoring its implementation and evaluating the effectiveness of its interventions for improving RMNCAH.
Association Nationale des Jeunes Femmes Actives pour la Solidarité	Central African Republic	Building the capacity of civil society to monitor and analyze budgets for RMNCAH-N services to identify irregularities and improve budget management to avoid funding disruptions.
Mouvement d’Action des Jeunes de l’Association Centrafricaine pour le Bien-Être Familial	Central African Republic	Building the capacity of the Central African Republic’s (CAR) civil society to conduct advocacy, domestic resource mobilization, monitoring, and evaluation to support the National Health Development Plan (PNDS) as part of improving SRMNCAH-N in the Central African Republic, with an emphasis on improving conditions for women of childbearing age, children, adolescents, and young people.