Purpose of the Award
Ipas South Africa (Ipas SA) in partnership with the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), will be implementing a three-year project, with the title “Strengthening Comprehensive SRHR Programs and Gender Equity for Women and Girls in South Africa”. The project will be implemented in two of South Africa’s nine provinces, KwaZulu Natal (KZN) and Eastern Cape (EC). The key targets for the project will be women and girls, including persons living with disabilities, and LGBTIQ+ individuals. These groups face various barriers such as poverty, disability, marginalization, discrimination, and exploitation that hinders their access to quality SRH information and services. Ipas SA will provide strategic, targeted support to national, provincial, and local governments and key partners to help them seize immediate opportunities to advance and protect abortion ecosystems. Another important element of the project is to incorporate SRHR services in climate crisis initiatives in order to address the injustices and limited access to SRHR services that women and girls face during the times of climate crisis. Ipas recognizes the impact that the climate crisis in South Africa and the broader SADC region has on reproductive freedom, gender equity, and the resiliency of health systems and communities. Therefore, the project will prioritize harmonizing climate, gender, and SRHR laws, policies, and programs to respond to evidence, learning, and expressed needs of health systems and communities.
NB: This award is intended to scale up already existing work in targeted geographies. Applicants are encouraged to apply only if they have a running project to which this award will complement.
The intended Impact of the Project: Women, girls, and people who can become pregnant in South Africa have increased reproductive freedom, experience gender equity, and are more resilient to the climate crisis.
Primary objectives of the Project:
- Objective 1: Strengthen KZN and EC health systems to build responsiveness, inclusivity, and resilience to SRHR through shocks and stressors.
- Objective 2: Increased social and community support for people to access SRHR services in Ipas intervention communities (Including LGBTQI+ community and persons with disabilities)
Ipas will award grants and offer technical assistance to the sub-award partners. Partners are expected to respond to OBJECTIVE 2 for this call through technical assistance, which may include: provision of training and resources on abortion programming and advocacy; and referrals to other entities that can also provide capacity strengthening. The sub-awardees should ensure that direct and indirect beneficiaries for their interventions include community members, including LGBTQI+ communities and people with disabilities.
Sub-Award Criteria
- Organization is located in Eastern Cape or Kwa Zulu Natal Province.
- Organizations with women’s empowerment, livelihoods and/or health and rights included in their strategic objectives.
- Organizations that have existed for at least 3 years and are locally registered.
- Organizations that have an organizational strategy and workplan that implement activities related to their vision.
- Organizations that have a vision for how abortion rights advance the rights of women, girls and others who need an abortion.
- Organizations that work through a rights-based approach and can show a record of past program experience.
- Organizations that address socio-economic issues and barriers to women’s empowerment, offer a range of strategic interventions, and disseminate best practices.
- Organizations that are well connected to other rights organizations and collaborate to advance women’s empowerment.
- Organizations that are able to scale their work and contribute to donor learning.
- Organizations with a majority female leadership.
- Organizations with annual narrative and financial reports.
- Organizations with a bank account that can accept foreign funds, and clear processes for financial management.
- A portion of grants will be made to groups that have the potential to build networks that strengthen and advance policy advocacy.
Attachments to RFA:
- Attachment A – Application Form
- Attachment B – Budget
- Attachment C – Management Systems Questionnaire
- Attachment D – Past Performance References
- Attachment E – Instructions to Grantees
All applicants are responsible for carefully reviewing all information, including attachments, and following any instructions related to this RFA. If anything is unclear, the applicants should submit questions and comments to the assigned Ipas contact by the date indicated above.