Interim stöd till UHAI 2016-2017

BackgroundAfter almost ten years of cooperation, Sida´s support to the East African Sexual Health and Rights Initiative - UHAI EASHRI is coming to an end. Supported by Sida since 2009, UHAI EASHRI (hereon referred to as UHAI) is an indigenous, activist-led fund that seeks to strengthen movements for people engaged in transactional sex (here on referred to as PETS), sexual and gender minorities. The organization's aim is to strengthen civil society movements in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and from 2016, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. To build movements for UHAI's target groups, Sida supported institutional capacity building of UHAI to enable its affiliated organisations and grantees to access flexible funding and direct support from UHAI. Over the last years, UHAI has developed and supported four areas; i) grant making, ii) capacity support/networking, iii) Pan-Africa advocacy and organization and iv) research and documentation. Although not formally labelled as core support, Sida funding has been used as a general grant to all budget lines. Some 44 percent of funding has been used for grants and capacity support, while the rest has been used for the development and operations of UHAI, and for research and advocacy related activities. Over time, UHAI has diversified its funding base to include a range of donors, however, Sida remained a substantial funder.  UHAI has had a deep and diverse relationship with Sida. Initial support was granted under the Strategy for Special Initiatives for Democratisation and Freedom of Expression. This support was then moved under the Strategy for Special Initiatives for Human Rights and Democratisation. By 2017, UHAI's support fell under the Regional Strategy for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in Sub-Saharan Africa (2015-21) where it is currently managed by the Regional SRHR Team in Lusaka. UHAI has been evaluated on three occasions to assess the progress,organizational capacity and financial situation. An independent evaluation was concluded in 2016 for the programme period 2009 and 2015, followed by an organizational assessment and in-depth audit including some of UHAI's grant partners in 2017 as part of a process to consider grant renewal within the SRHR strategy. It was later decided not to continue with a support to UHAI. During the assessment,  it was discovered that the agreed activity period of UHAI ended a year earlier than the activity period of its sub-grantee partners, justifying a cost-extension of 1,4 MSEK until 31 October 2018 to complete the programme. During the cost-extension period, UHAI continued to deepen and sustain support to LGBTI and PETS related civil society organizations, focusing on advocacy for inclusive law and policy reforms. Summaries of these related activities, their results and lessons learnt are presented below. Note that no names of grantee partners or other donors are mentioned in this completion memo as the contribution is classified for the safety of individuals and organizations.  Output oriented achievements per componentOverall, UHAI has become an effective grant maker and capacity supporter. The outputs of UHAI's activities are summarized below according to each of the four core areas of support and countries of implementation.  Grant makingIn the programme UHAI has developed and provided three different types of grants:- Peer Grants were open annual competitive grants where applications were assessed and selected by a Peer Grants Committee (PGC) to represent the diversity of communities and countries UHAI supported. Between 2009 to 2015, the committee awarded 40 out of 107 applications received, the majority of which were in Kenya and Uganda, and half of all grantees only received a once-off grant.- Strategic Grants were targeted, non-competitive grants that established partnerships with institutions in support of work that was larger in context and impact than would be possible through the peer grants processes. The grants were considered by a Secretariat Grants Committee of UHAI staff, and approved by the board.- Opportunity Grants were rapid response, non-competitive grants that addressed opportunities that arose outside the peer grants funding cycle and that responded to an immediate, unanticipated, critical need and/or took advantage of unexpected opportunities. The grants were also considered by the Secretariat Grants Committee of UHAI staff and were approved by the board. Over the last decade, UHAI has made 600 grants amounting to US$ 9 million in seven countries. 48 percent of grants made in the last three years provided multi-year general support for institutional strengthening and service delivery. Between 2009-2015, 99 grantees received 174 grants with Sida funding. This represented 46 percent of the number of grants provided by UHAI and 38 percent of the total funding for grants. Kenyan organisations have received 59 percent of the Sida funding for grants followed by Uganda (20%) and Burundi (8.5%).   The Swedish funding for grants has focused on lesbian, gay, bi and transgender persons generally (51%) and increasingly on PETS and less on lesbian and transgender groups. While 29 percent of the Sida support for grants went to PETS organisations, the average overall contribution from UHAI to PETS movements was 11 percent. Only two other donors of UHAI supported PETS in their funding. From January 2016 to October 2018, UHAI used 10,9 MSEK from Sida to support 33 new organisations. Around health, the UHAI programme built and sustained community-led programming when government programming was either absent or insufficient. Capacity support/networkingUHAI grew from a team of one, in 2009, to a team of 13, in 2018, comprising 12 permanent staff, one associate and clerks hired through the year. By launching a US fund raising campaign and advisory board, the organization has grown its operational budget year after year to include multiple government agencies, corporations, foundations and individuals in and outside Africa. Capacity support to sub-grantees was provided by UHAI using a range of methods including:- Internships at the Secretariat where a total of 26 internships were offered since 2009.- Capacity support and advisory services provided by UHAI staff during grantee visits.  - Organisational development consultancy support. - Facilitation of regional networking and movement building activities. Following feedback from the review of the previous capacity building programme in 2017, the model was replaced with needs-based capacity support interventions modelled around peer learning and exchange for mutually reinforced learning. In 2018, an additional 14 organizations were engaged by UHAI through the in-Residence Peer-to-Peer Exchange programme, 13 organizations participated in various leadership and advocacy learning spaces, 11 organizations attended varied learning and partnership events and six organizations received institutional capacity development with a focus on technical skills. Internally during the last year, UHAI focused on strengthening the grants administration by building a digital system to fully automate grant making, administration and archiving. Pan-Africa advocacy and organizationThe Research and Pan-African Engagement Programme was reviewed in 2016, and in 2017 transformed into "Knowledge, Evaluation and Learning". The programme then focus on knowledge building, M&E efforts and facilitation of activist-led meetings. This approach was used in the sixth Changing Faces, Changing Spaces Conference (CFCS VI) held in 2017 providing direct interaction between activists and donors, towards influencing a scale up of funding for Africa’s organizations. More than 140 activists from 35 African countries and 70 representatives of 33 funding agencies, including Sida, attended. The CFSC is Africa’s largest LGBTI and PETS convening. Research and documentationFormerly "Research and Documentation", now “Research and Learning”, UHAI acted as a nexus of conversations, debates and dialogues by undertaking broader knowledge generation, sharing processes and organizing different conferences and meetings to foster partnership for the movements UHAI supported. Apart from UHAI annual reports, many researched publications have been produced and were publicly available on the UHAI web-site, www.uhai-eashri.org. Although UHAI has learnt the importance of taking a "do no harm approach" to disseminate results from studies and reviews, UHAI research has at times unintentionally informed homophobic actors, prompting the removal of some reports online.  Country specific achievementsSupport in Tanzania focussed on safety and security management, ally building, and building resilience for organizations against a backdrop of government sanctions on civil society. One partner received support to increase sexual and reproductive health knowledge and skills among transgender people and improved personal safety. The organization built partnerships with 12 public health providers and supported sensitization and awareness raising among their staff towards building a network of affirming allies with whom their transgender constituents may navigate through health care services. These public health partnerships proved invaluable in minimizing interruption of health care access at moments when transgender people were increasingly surveilled and targeted by government.   Support by UHAI to DRC builds upon the foundation of human rights violations and advocacy strategizing. UHAI has supported establishment and growth of LBQ organizing in Kinshasa, Goma and Bukavu as well as joint movement efforts in the Universal Periodic Review Process. Similarly, in Ethiopia the programme supported engagement on CEDAW for LBT Ethiopians, as well as the opening of safe spaces for LGBTQ Ethiopians. While introducing support to Ethiopia in 2016, diminishing civil society space due to a change in the legal environment restricted the registration of LGBTI and allied organizations making UHAI unable to support partners directly or through fiscal hosts. Grants for 2016 were therefore delayed into 2017 to identify a feasible fiscal hosting arrangement that complies with internal policies and guidelines. With this flexible approach, the national partners secured office space allowing meeting and organizing for their 63 members. UHAI's partners have also undertaken sexual health and mental health outreach to up to 2,000 facebook users through their bi-weekly online health forums on Facebook-raising that created awareness on HIV, STIs, risks and prevention. UHAI also supported the establishment of the first transgender and intersex targeted organisation in Burundi.  It sustained operations at the first, and largest, LGBTI community health center including support to institutional policy reviews, evaluation of the Center’s registration status to allow continued service delivery, review of security protocols and facilities, and maintenance of finance and clinical personnel. The Center also provided a home to a new transgender organization and a meeting space for autonomous LBQ women organizations. The sustenance of the center has allowed for critical coalition building tiding Burundi over a difficult period of political unrest. Relying on the strength of Kenya’s Constitution, UHAI´s grants focused on strengthening LGBTI human rights protections within key government departments and policies responsible for the implementation and enforcement of law. Critical to the wellness of LGBTI people was comprehensive sexual and mental health care which remained a core agenda for grant making in Kenya. During the last programme period, UHAI made three grants in Rwanda with focus on increasing availability of safe spaces for networking, organizing and movement building at the community level; and increasing recognition, respect and protection from violence for LGBTI people in public spheres. One partner received support to undertake research on the causes of persistent homophobia in Rwanda, despite the country’s progressive laws, as well as to map the distribution and manifestation of hate. The research findings were used to design and implement aggressive media advocacy, including live radio show features and participation in public opinion debates that shaped and enabled progressive public discourse. Rwanda’s only LBQ women and transgender led organization (as of 2018) received support to sustain appointment-based mental and sexual health outreach and programming, as well as core operating expenses. A third partner received core operations support to focus programming and advocacy on ally building, linking LGBTI organizing to mainstream human rights civil society in the country. In Uganda, the programme supported varied ally-building dialogues and the establishment and sustenance of varied services by and for the community. Out of four grants, one partner organization received core operating support for clinical services, and support to establish a resource center to complement their clinic. Institutional support to the same partner helped them efficiently manage their expanded health services delivery programme by establishing a dedicated M&E infrastructure, and expanded clinical, administrative and finance offices. Another organization received similar support to undertake gender and sexual diversity training among health care providers as an entry point to cultivating ally networks in public health care. The grants were instrumental in equipping health care providers to provide affirming, informed and quality care. Both organizations identified, contacted and trained hundreds of providers across Uganda. A rural LGBTI organization, received core operating support for member meetings, community networking, and community health promotion sessions, particularly to enable linkages among community members who found themselves geographically isolated from the often-urban LGBTI organizing and safe spaces. 

A well- informed, resourced, organised, accountable and unified movement of sexual and gender minorities and sex workers in Eastern Africa with a greater influence on equality legislation, and progressive policy and social attitudes.