Summary of implementation of Regional AIDS Fund
Implementation of Sub-Projects funded within Regional AIDS Fund (RAF) has been fully completed. In the 1st quarter of 2011 final monitoring visits on closure of all Projects will be conducted. Monitoring visits will be attended by the audit of grant recipients’ activities.
Since the beginning of Project implementation 4 Grant Rounds have been completed where small Sub-Projects have been approved amounted US$6.3 mln and US$ 8.0 mln have been provided for implementation of 11 large regional Projects focused on preventive measures ensuring for the most vulnerable groups.
The situation regarding AIDS-servicing organizations available in the region that are ready to work with RAF was complicated enough. In this connection, CAAP, jointly with “CAPACITY” Project funded by USAID, has implemented “Community mobilization strategy”, which was concentrated on building-up capacity of potential services providers in development, management, monitoring and evaluation of Projects. Over 230 organizations from Project member-countries have been trained and were able to successfully participate in RAF program.
Requestors were proposed to co-finance their proposals. Governmental agencies, public organizations, NGOs and private sector had a right to develop Sub-Project proposals (for small grants) and request RAF for financing proposals not exceeding US$ 50.000 on the competitive base for 12 months period.
By the end of the Project, number of provided small grants by countries and their factual use is presented below. In US Dollars
| Country |
Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Round 4 |
TOTAL |
| Q-ty |
Amount |
Q-ty |
Amount |
Q-ty |
Amount |
Q-ty |
Amount |
Q-ty |
Amount |
| Kazakhstan |
12 |
189 598 |
8 |
213 564 |
16 |
699 726 |
19 |
858 305 |
55 |
1 961 194 |
| Kyrgyzstan |
8 |
58 535 |
8 |
131 225 |
8 |
202 389 |
8 |
259 805 |
32 |
651 955 |
| Tajikistan |
12 |
103 648 |
19 |
203 455 |
10 |
281 427 |
13 |
375 621 |
54 |
964 150 |
| Uzbekistan |
10 |
161 137 |
28 |
640 571 |
13 |
610 097 |
27 |
1 228 949 |
78 |
2 640 755 |
| Total |
42 |
512 918 |
63 |
1 188 816 |
47 |
1 793 640 |
67 |
2 722 681 |
219 |
6 218 054 |
RAF financially supported cost-effective initiatives in the area of HIV-infection prevention and control. Fund also encouraged expansion of regional cooperation. Thus, joint proposals submitted by organizations from two or more countries and from various sectors had more chances to receive financing than proposals submitted by one country only, from one sector or from one agency. Minimal amount of large grants proposal was started from US$ 50.000 and reached US$ 1.5 mln. Average duration of “large grants” implementation was 1.5-2 years.
Quantity and amount of provided large grants is presented below:
In US Dollars
| Round 1 |
Round 2 |
Round 3 |
Total |
| Quantity |
Amount |
Quantity |
Amount |
Quantity |
Amount |
Quantity |
Amount |
| 4 |
2 890 104 |
3 |
1 421 604 |
4 |
3 715 196 |
11 |
8 026 904 |
Financing from RAF funds in the countries has become de-facto institutional development of the Fund where in many cases impressive results were achieved. These funds provided opportunities for institutions that are ready for changes to move forward and realize measures that were frequently fixed due to absence of operational budgets, one of the main restrictions in the area of institutional development and capacity building in the member-countries.
On Project indicators, since the beginning of RAF Component implementation, by now:
• Over 102.0 thousand injecting drug users (IDU), 10.0 thousand migrants and 31.5 sex workers have been covered with HIV-infection prevention services;
• Around 1.0 billion syringes and needles have been distributed among IDU in the frame of harm reduction programs and 285.0 thousand condoms (preservatives) have been distributed among the population vulnerable groups (procurements have been made from the Global Fund);
• 16.2 thousand people living with HIV are covered with care and support services (including palliative care).
Besides, results of the Project can include sub-projects financing mechanism developed within RAF as one of the effective tools existing in the region. Today, this mechanism is also considered by the other donor organizations including the Global Fund for personal use when awarding sub-projects.
In total, since the beginning of the Project over 230 RAF sub-recipients have been provided with technical assistance regarding development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Projects. Strengthening of AIDS-servicing organizations capacity on Projects management has led to improvement of their fiduciary skills in accordance to international practices including procurement and financial management processes.
Based on five years of the Project activity, brochure has been developed where key aspects of the programs activities supported by RAF are selectively described that have broad effects for illustration of best practices in each Project member-country. An independent consultant conducted assessment of the effectiveness of RAF Component implementation in general.
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