Hivos Regional Fund: ASRHR in the Southern Africa Region Hivos Den regionala fonden: ASRHR i södra Afrika Hivos Hub för Södra Afrika har ansökt till Sveriges regionala SRHR-team i Lusaka om finansiering om 78 miljoner kronor för att stödja Hivos regionala SRHR-fond för att stärka ungdomars sexuella och l reproduktiva hälsa och rättigheter i södra och östra Afrika under perioden 2017-2021.

Hivos regionala SRHR-fond har som målsättning "Förbättrade rättigheter och tillgång till kvalitativa SRHR-tjänster på ett säkert, rättvist sätt för alla medborgare, särskilt kvinnor, flickor  och nyckelgrupper och särskilt utsatta personer ”. Syftet med det föreslagna projektet är att komplettera Hivos regionala program med ett målinriktat tillvägagångssätt för ungdomar och deras SRHR genom att stärka ungdomsorganisationers förmåga att samla evidens och påverka regionala SRHR-policy. Hivos SRHR-fond kommer att bedriva bidragsverksamhet som inriktas på fem (5) områden: Kapacitetsförstärkning, Kunskapshantering, Påverkansarbete, Samordning och sammankallande och behovsbaserad finansiering. Genom inriktning på dessa områden strävar interventionen efter att uppnå följande resultat:

1. Att politik och policy i regionen bättre svarar upp mot SRHR-behov hos ungdomar.
2. Att regionala hälsosystemen bättre möter nya kunskaper och information kring SRHR hos unga.
3. Att regionala hälsoorganisationer i större utsträckning engagerar ungdomsledda/ungdomsfokuserade organisationer
4. Stärkt ungdomsledd/ungdomsfokuserad SRHR-rörelse i regionen
5. Upprätt en fond för strategiska och behovsbaserade bidrag för att underlätta engagemang i regionala SRHR-initiativ

Projektpersonal kommer att vara baserad i Zimbabwe (huvudkontor) och Sydafrika för att överse genomförandet av projektet. Hivos Hub för södra Afrika har också landkontor i Malawi och Zambia. På grund av karaktären av Hivos arbete kommer den exakta placeringen av mottagare av bidrag från den regionala fonden bero på vilka organisationer som söker och sedermera beviljas stöd. Hivos Southern Africa Hub has applied to Sweden’s Regional SRHR Team in Lusaka for funding of 78 million SEK to support Hivos Regional Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights Fund (RSRHR) strengthen  Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights in Southern Africa, and to an extent East Africa, during the period 2017-2021. 

The current Hivos RSRHR Programme Fund has as its goal the “Improved realisation of rights and access to quality SRHR services in a safe, fair and equitable manner by all citizens/people in the region, particularly women, girls and key populations/marginalised groups”. The purpose of the proposed project is to supplement Hivos' regional programme with a targeted approach to adolescent and youth SRHR through strengthening the capacity of young people and their organisations to gather the evidence and to influence regional SRHR policy and programmatic agendas.  Hivos RSRHR Fund, through their grant making approach, will undertake grant making activities focused on five (5) areas: Capacity Strengthening, Knowledge management, Advocacy and Awareness Raising, Coordination and Convening and Needs Based Funding. Through focus on these areas the intervention seeks to achieve the following outcomes:

1. Increased regional policy and service delivery responsiveness to the SRHR needs of adolescents and youth
2. Regional health system increasingly responds to new and emerging knowledge and data on ASRH
3. Regional health structures engage more substantively with youth-led /youth-focused organisations
4. Strengthened youth-led / youth-focused ASRHR movement in the region 
5. A Fund for strategic and responsive grant-making is in place to facilitate engagement in strategic regional SRHR initiatives

Project staff will be located in Zimbabwe (head office) ane South Africa  to oversee implementation of the project. Hivos Southern Africa Hub also has country offices in Malawi and Zambia. Due to the nature of Hivos work, the exact location of sub-grantees will only be known once calls are made and grantees are selected and awarded. In 2017, Sweden's Regional SRHR team approved a four-year project proposal
submitted by Hivos Southern Africa Hub. The project aims to build and strengthen
strategic ASRHR partnerships and collaboration at the regional level, and to achieve
outcomes that are inter-connected, mutually reinforcing and linked to the health and
well-being needs of young people and adolescents in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA).
By December 2021, the project is expected to have achieved stronger and more
coordinated youth-led and youth-focused civil society in Southern and East Africa that
can promote, address and advance Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive
Health Rights (ASRHR) and its interconnection to HIV at the regional level. The project
was conceptualized to strengthen interventions on ASRHR in Southern Africa and
further into East Africa with the aim of improving access to SRHR for young people and
adolescents.

The specific objectives of the project are:

Objective 1: Capacity strengthening - Youth-led and/or youth-focused
organizations are trained, mentored and upskilled in all areas of organizational and
programmatic capacity to enable them to promote and advocate for improved access for
adolescents and youth to SRHR services.

Objective 2: Knowledge management - There is improved knowledge sharing,
networking and data collection on SRHR in the region by youth-led and/or youthfocused organisations and individuals, as well as increased capacity for youth-driven
research.

Objective 3: Advocacy and Awareness Raising - Youth-led and/or youth-focused
organisations have improved capacity to conceptualise, design and coordinate joint
ASRHR advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns in the region.
Objective 4: Convening and Coordination - Youth-led and/or youth focused
organisations have enhanced capacity to coordinate SRHR activities and convene spaces
through integrated and inter linked activities, including with similary organisations in
East Africa.

Objective Five: Special Initiatives: Responsive Grant Making
The intervention will also make provision for a Special Initiatives Fund to support
individual or organizational participation in key forums and strategic meetings to
advocate and advance SRHR for all, support to innovative interventions, support to
evidence based research, as well to respond to unexpected situations requiring immediate
response in the broader SRHR realm.

The contribution is all tied together by grant making which serves as a Critical
Enabler - serving as the mechanism that funds an integrated set of strategies, activities
and approaches that aim to improve the accessibility, acceptability, uptake, equitable
coverage, quality, effectiveness and efficiency of ASRHR interventions and services.