Geneva Global, Inc.

Identification of Effective Local Organizations Allows International Donor Agency to Quickly Place Grants in Ethiopia and Ivory Coast

In 2006, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) initiated a program to identify charitable organizations addressing HIV/AIDS in 15 focus countries, 13 of which are in Africa. The program was called New Partners Initiative (NPI), and is part of the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief. Among the programs goals was to identify effective local organizations addressing the HIV/AIDS challenges faced by their communities. NPI was also seeking to identify locally based organizations which had not previously received USAID funding, and whose capacity could be increased to the point that, in the future, they would meet USAID’s stringent technical grant requirements and could apply for grants directly with USAID.

USAID first needed to find organizations that could identify these grass-roots groups, and act as grant manager, overseeing grants to these grass roots organizations.  Geneva Global participated in a competitive bidding process to assist USAID in this task, and was selected to manage more than $8 million in grants over three years to local charitable aid organizations battling HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and Ivory Coast.

Once selected, Geneva Global quickly identified more than 90 local charitable organizations in the two countries, and conducted due diligence to determine those best qualified to meet NPI’s goals for its funding.  Through our process, we selected the 36 local organizations in Ethiopia and Ivory Coast best suited to achieve NPI’s goals.  Since funding was placed, Geneva has acted as the grant manager. With staff in the US and consultants on-the-ground in Ivory Coast and Ethiopia, we oversee the funding, monitoring, ongoing program evaluation and capacity-building of these organizations. 

By the third quarter of 2008, programs funded through Geneva’s role as grant manager had impacted the lives of over 324,000 people in communities in both countries. By the end of 2009, it is expected that more than 633,100 people will have been impacted through a variety of HIV/AIDS prevention and care efforts. In addition, each of the local organizations will have built their capacity, and the strongest indigenous organizations will be much better situated to receive and manage USAID technical grants directly.

In addition to USAID’s NPI program, Geneva Global has managed two other grants for USAID: one in Sri Lanka and one in Ecuador. In both cases, Geneva successfully identified effective local charitable aid organizations, established program benchmarks, monitored the progress of programs, and provided reporting to meet USAID’s stringent technical requirements.