Pact and USAID announce HIV/AIDS grant winners

Pact and USAID announced the Community REACH winners for its latest
grants competition, which will make $750,000 dollars in HIV/AIDS
awards for programs that will reduce stigma and discrimination at the
community level. The seven recommended recipients were selected among
102 applicants working in 20 countries.

"Stigma and discrimination remain key barriers to accessing HIV/AIDS
prevention, care, and support services. The innovative community-
based programs that were awarded funding today will reduce the stigma
and discrimination felt by HIV infected and affected individuals,
allowing them to access these much-needed services," said Dr. Anne
Peterson, USAID's Assistant Administrator for Global Health.

The grant winners are all organizations that have the potential to
reach many thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs),
traditional leaders, caregivers, health care providers, and families
affected by HIV/AIDS. Each selected winner has embodied the
principles of "Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS"
(GIPA) in their program designs. International NGO winners were
required to have local NGO sub-grant partners and will provide
capacity building to their partners that include community-based
organizations (CBOs) and local institutions such as organizations and
networks of people living with AIDS.

Only one grant to Asian agencies:

Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in partnership with
Rural Association for the Development of the Economy (RADE), Cambodia
Organization for Human Rights and Development (COHRD) – Cambodia.

ADRA and its local partners will empower and mobilize stakeholders,
such as trained Buddhist leaders, local authorities and PLWHA to help
reduce internal and external stigma and discrimination and facilitate
widespread and enduring changes in social attitudes in Sampov Meas
District. These stakeholders will be mobilized to disseminate
accurate information about and dispel myths surrounding HIV/AIDS and
PLWHA, promote a compassionate community and individual response to
PLWHA, and inform people about locally-available voluntary counseling
and testing (VCT) and support services.


For Further details please Contact: Polly Mott
(Tel.) 202/466-5666
E-mail: pmott@...