Deadline: 12-May-23
Do you know an inspiring, community-driven organization with a health equity project in sexual and reproductive health and rights? The Minga Foundation is seeking new grassroots partners in underserved communities in Central America.
The ideal partner advances equity and well-being in sexual and reproductive health and rights through community-led programs, prioritizes the voices and needs of the most vulnerable or marginalized community members, and is inspiring and resourceful but may struggle to find external funding (whether because of their small size, recent establishment, or unconventional approach). Partners should be strong communicators who want equitable partnership. That means they can take the lead in determining partnership goals, they are looking for collaboration rather than just funding, and they can treat us as equals and hold us accountable to partnering well.
Minga is a small nonprofit that supports grassroots efforts to advance health equity and socioeconomic well-being. They fill a unique niche by working in long-term partnerships with small organizations so they can resolve locally-identified problems using their own solutions. Over the course of each partnership, they may fund multiple projects, but their support extends far beyond the dollars that they provide. They also work closely with organizations throughout the project from conception to evaluation; they help their partners expand their capacity so they can effectively compete for external grants in the future; and they help strengthen local and regional networks and ensure project sustainability.
Over the last 20 years, Minga has focused on health equity internationally, addressing a broad range of “social determinants of health” including access to clinics, doctors, and vaccines; water, sanitation, and hygiene; education; reproductive health; women’s rights and gender equality; food security and food sovereignty; culturally appropriate health care for youth and stigmatized populations; and sustainable livelihoods. They typically work with a partner for 5 or more years and aim for slow, steady progress. Since the beginning, they have been committed to grassroots work that is anti-colonial, gender-inclusive, and anti-discriminatory.
Their board members come from a variety of backgrounds and have expertise in: medicine; public health; anthropology; gender equality; sexual and reproductive health; environmental justice; education; agriculture and food security; economic development; and nonprofit management. Their role is to mobilize their diverse skills to support partners with tasks including monitoring and evaluation, grant writing, networking, project planning and implementation, community outreach, gender equitable programming, and many other areas that partners identify.
Funding Information
- Funding of up to $10,000 per year for projects addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights in the larger context of health equity, socioeconomic well-being, and community empowerment.
Eligible Countries: Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible organizations: nonprofits, informal organizations, or tribal governments/organizations based in Central America.
- Partnerships will include: (a) one or more short-term projects and (b) a longer-term process of collaboration and organizational development.
- Full applications and interviews will be invited approximately June 15, 2023. Final partner selection by September 2023.
For more information, visit Minga Foundation.
