FAQs

• 1. What is the HER Voice Fund?
  The HER Voice Fund is a fund created by the Global Fund and partners to support the meaningful engagement of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and youth-led community-based organizations into Global Fund and other related policy and program processes. The HER Voice Fund is supported by ViiV Healthcare Positive Action and implemented by the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Y+ Global), with technical support from Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+).
• 2. What is the difference between HER and HER Voice Fund?
  The Global Fund launched HER (HIV Epidemic Response) in 2019 as a platform to inspire advocates, engage new partners and supporters, and mobilize resources to empower women and girls in the fight against HIV. With an organizational target of a 58% reduction in new infections for adolescent girls and young women in 13 countries – the Global Fund recognized the need to bring in new and innovative partners to help us to work differently and better. Partners could engage in HER through financial contributions to prevention programming, contributing expertise, awareness raising, and contributions to HER Voice.
  
  HER Voice Fund provides small grants to organisations working with and supporting AGYW in 13 focus countries to ensure the meaningful engagement of adolescent girls and young women in Global Fund related processes in the 13 focus countries of HER. For investments to be effective in addressing the health risks for adolescent girls and young women – they must be at the center of designing, delivering and evaluating the programs.
• 3. What is the difference between the pilot phase and the current phase of HER Voice Fund?
  The first phase of HER Voice Fund was an exciting pilot to learn how to best engage communities of adolescent girls and young women most impacted by HIV and TB. launched in 2018 with Global Fund support the implementing organizations, Eastern Africa National Networks of AIDS and Health Service Organizations (EANNASO) and the South African AIDS Trust (SAT), were chosen through a competitive process. The approach was to deliver small grants to AGYW-led grass-roots and national level organizations to address the barriers to meaningful engagement of AGYW in policy and program processes that impact their lives.
  
  As part of the first phase, a HER Voice Ambassadors Programme was also started. Thirteen Ambassadors – one for each country – used their extensive social platforms to reach AGYW to and spread out inform about the HER Voice Fund opportunities. The first phase successfully integrated learning and evaluation throughout, so that the results of the first two years of HER Voice Fund shaped what the HER Voice Fund is today. After a competitive process, the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Y+ Global) was selected as the implementer with technical support from Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+). The HER Voice Fund will continue to offer grants to address the barriers to meaningful engagement of AGYW in policy and program processes in the 13 focus countries as well as continue with the Her Voice Ambassadors.
• 4. How were the 13 countries where HER Voice Fund is operating identified?
  Botswana, Cameroon, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are the 13 countries globally where new infections (incidence rate) amongst AGYW are the highest, and where the disparity in HIV risk between males and females is the greatest. As a result, these are countries where the Global Fund, national governments, and other donors like PEPFAR have prioritized investments in programs to reduce new HIV infections, unintended pregnancies and other health risks amongst adolescent girls and young women. HER Voice Fund was launched to ensure that AGYW have as much opportunity as possible to shape these investments, strategies, national and local programs.
• 5. Why are adolescent boys and young men not included?
  HER Voice Fund recognizes that adolescent girls and young women face particular and disproportionate challenges in political participation compared to boys and young men and HER Voice Fund is aimed at ensuring that they have a voice in the processes that impact their right to health. This does not mean, however, that Global Fund investments for AGYW don’t also target adolescent boys and young men. Programs such as life skills or sexual education are delivered to girls and boys, and the Global Fund invests in other programs such as voluntary medical male circumcision, differentiated HIV testing and community mobilization for gender norms change that specifically target young men.
• 6. How does HER Voice Fund work?
  HER Voice will give grants of up to € 9,000 to civil society and community organizations that work with AGYW in their diversity, including transgender women, groups in four work streams including:

  1. Stories for Advocacy: to collect evidence from AGYW about the issues they are facing in their context and to articulate for themselves what they want to see GF grants to be addressing.
  2. Training and Mentoring:: to offer training and mentoring to build skills and confidence to support young women to participate in Global Fund and other national process around health and HIV that impact their lives.
  3. Policy and Advocacy: to support young women to participate in policy events and activities, and to represent their communities through the presentation of evidence.
  4. Monitoring and Accountability: to support organizations of young people in their own countries monitor the commitments made at national level and to track the funding and its alignment with the expressed need of adolescent girls and young women.

  All small grants need to be implemented in the period by 31 December 2020.
• 7.What are the eligibility criteria?
  To be eligible to HER Voice Fund grants, applicants must meet the following criteria:

  1. Be a registered network or community-building organization. We recognize that many groups may not be registered, and in these cases, we encourage them to identify a registered organization to partner with when applying;
  2. Be based in one of the 13 eligible countries;
  3. Be a network or community-based organization of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) or a community-based organization implementing programs in a demonstrably participatory manner with and for AGYW;
  4. Be an organization with really creative ideas for engaging in national policy discussions, advocacy and monitoring with really creative ideas for engaging in a nationally supported programs; with focus on adolescent health, HIV prevention and treatment, sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR), empowerment of adolescent girls and young women and/or addressing gender-based violence (GBV); and
  5. Submit your application by the deadline and successfully complete the due diligence processes.
• 8.What are the key milestones for 2020?
  March 2020: Launch of small grants requests for proposals (RFPs) for Cameroon, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia & Zimbabwe
  
  April 2020: Launch of small grants requests for proposals (RFPs) for Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi & Namibia
  
  August 2020: Launch of small grants requests for proposals (RFPs) for Botswana, Kenya & South Africa.
• 9. Where can I get more information on HER Voice Fund?
  You can find out more by visiting our website or emailing us:
  www.yplusglobal.org/her-voice-fund/
  hervoicefund@yplusglobal.org