Request for Applications for Lesotho Grants Program

SECTION 1: FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION
1.0 OVERVIEW OF THE LESOTHO BLC PROJECT
The Building Local Capacity (BLC) for Delivery of HIV Services in Southern Africa Project is a five-year
project (2010-2015) contributing to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Regional HIV/AIDS Program (RHAP) goal to strengthen the overall sustainability, quality, and reach of
HIV/AIDS interventions in the region. BLC builds the capacity of government and civil society entities in
the Southern Africa region, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, to implement
policies and health services for those infected with and affected by HIV and AIDS.
The project‟s vision for Lesotho is that by the year 2015, the Lesotho Ministry of Social Development
(MOSD), civil society organizations (CSOs), and development partners will work in coordination to directly
provide and link orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) and their caregivers to quality programming and
services that are age and gender specific. They will work with community members, especially in remote
areas, to ensure that interventions are applied through local mechanisms/structures targeted to each
community and sustainable over time.
In Lesotho, through the Grants Program and other activities, BLC contributes to the government‟s National
Health and Social Welfare Strategic Plan (2006-2011), National OVC Strategic Plan (2011-2016), President‟s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Lesotho-US Partnership Framework 2009, and the
USAID/RHAP goal to strengthen the overall sustainability, quality, and reach of community-based
interventions given to OVC and their caregivers.
1.1 Grants Program Purpose and Objectives
The grants to be awarded through this solicitation will support local CSOs to implement activities that
provide essential care and support services to OVC and their caregivers in Lesotho.
1.2 The purpose of the Grants
The BLC Grants Program will award two grants for organizations to carry out activities in the following
districts and specific community councils:
1. Mohale‟s Hoek – in the community council of Siloe
2. Qacha‟s Nek – in the community councils of Ntsupe and Tsoelikana
It should be noted that the BLC project has supported two organizations to implement projects before in the
above mentioned areas for a year. The project in Siloe community council in Mohale‟s Hoek will end in April
2013; whilst the project in Ntsupe and Tsoelikana community councils in Qacha‟s Nek ended in September
2012.
The successful applicants will therefore propose projects that will continue to provide quality and sustainable
services to OVC and their caregivers in these areas. The successful applicants are expected to provide
services to the same individual beneficiaries that were reached during the first year (data on all individuals to
be served will be provided to the successful applicants; out of safety and privacy concerns for the children,
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