Community REACH

Name: Community REACH
Duration: March 2010 - March 2015
Donor: United States Agency for International Development

Pact works with USAID South Africa’s Regional HIV and AIDS Program for Southern Africa (RHAP) to provide grants to local and international non-governmental organizations, faith-based organizations, and community-based organizations in Swaziland. Pact is currently deciding upon a new round of grantee partnerships, and in the past, Pact Swaziland provided sub-grants to a total of 16 organizations working in a variety of focus areas. These areas included:
  •   HIV prevention, testing and counselling;
  •   Home-based care;
  •   Tuberculosis and HIV treatment;
  •   Support for orphans and vulnerable children;
  •   Policy development and systems strengthening with the government of Swaziland.

Pact focuses on strengthening the organizational effectiveness of community-based partners. The ability of these partners to clearly articulate program goals and activities, as well as develop realistic budgets greatly enhances their ability to leverage and diversify their funding base. In this way, Pact works to ensure the project and grantee partner’s sustainability. Pact builds the capacity of organizations in a number of critical areas including but not limited to the following:
   governance (board development, strategic planning, public external relations, leadership)
   administration (operational, personnel, volunteer management policies, documentation, staff recruitment and development,  information technology)
   budgeting, financial management (accounting policies, internal controls, procurement, travel policies)
   resource mobilization (networking, donor relations, proposal writing, success story development)
   program implementation (developing program design documents, implementation planning, ensuring quality service delivery)
   monitoring and evaluation (to meet PEPFAR and organizational requirements)

Pact develops specialized capacity building strategies with each grantee to meet their individual needs. Pact uses the results of initial capacity building assessments to assist grantees in developing individual institutional strengthening plans (ISPs). The ISPs outlined specific interventions needed to address organizational weaknesses and gaps, including specific support to be provided by Pact as well as other possible resources to be explored. Pact also provides tailored, on-site assistance to each partner to identify and address priority areas of organizational weakness. In addition to individual mentoring assistance provided through site visits, e-mails, and phone calls, Pact also facilitates a wide range of structured trainings for partners to address cross-cutting institutional needs and to enhance their capacity to meet targets and deliver quality HIV & AIDS programs and services.