2024 Innovator Stigma Funding Program

Deadline: 30-Jun-24

Positive Action is seeking applications to support projects that reduce or stop the drivers of stigma and facilitate social and legal environments that prevent stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV who also belong to a key population group.

This Innovator open call for proposals focuses on community-based and community-led innovative approaches to address the multiple layers of stigma that impact People Living with HIV (PLHIV).

Proposals for this Innovator grant should focus on testing and piloting new approaches. These approaches must be new to the funding applicant but can have been delivered by another organisation in a different location or aimed at a different target population. The project should be a two-year pilot that aims to build evidence before scale-up.

Funding Information

• Grants of up to £100,000 will be awarded for implementation over a two-year period (£50,000 a year).

Funding Criteria

• New/Pilot projects 
  • The project proposed should be a two-year pilot that aims to build evidence before scale-up. It should focus on testing and piloting new approaches which must be new to the funding applicant but can have been delivered by another organisation in a different location or aimed at a different target population.
• Community Focus 
  • Positive Action believes that engaging affected and local communities is critical to addressing the drivers of health and life inequalities, it therefore seeks to promote community responses that work at the level of changing beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours to improve health and rights at the community level.
  • Community engagement and participation are mandatory requirements for all Positive Action grants. Your proposal must demonstrate how your target group/recipients of care are involved in your project.

Focus on Key Populations

• This funding round will focus on multiple-layers of stigma PLHIV may face. In particular, they want applicants to focus on the following populations that may experience stigma at different intersections:
  • People with Disabilities 
    • People with disabilities experience negative attitudes that can result in violence, sexual abuse, stigma and discrimination, which can lead to low self-esteem and social isolation. Vulnerability, combined with a poor understanding and appreciation of their sexual and reproductive health needs, places people with disabilities at higher risk of acquiring HIV and/or have an unmet need for existing HIV services.
  • Sex Workers 
    • Evidence shows that HIV prevalence among sex workers is 12 times greater than among the general population. Even in very high prevalence countries, HIV prevalence among sex workers is much higher than among the general population. Stigma and discrimination, violence and punitive legal and social environments are key determinants of this increased HIV vulnerability. Punitive environments have been shown to limit the availability, access and uptake of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for sex workers and their clients.
  • Migrants
    • The term migrants refers to people who choose to move to find work, for education, for family reunion or other reasons. Migrants face. stigma and obstacles, including language and cultural barriers, lack of resources and the wide reaching consequences of racist and xenophobic attitudes and behaviours.
    • Migration can place people in situations of heightened vulnerability to HIV and has been identified in certain regions as an independent risk factor for HIV. In the majority of countries, undocumented migrants face complex obstacles, such as a lack of access to health-care services or social protection. Social exclusion also leaves migrants highly vulnerable to HIV.
  • Displaced People 
    • Displaced People are those who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or humanmade disasters. This definition covers both internal and cross-border displacement.
    • Displaced people can face discrimination and Stigma due to racism and xenophobia, alongside hostility from the local community for the often-mistaken belief that they take up a greater share of the available resources. This can lead to resentment and discrimination from the community around them.
    • Displaced people living with HIV, face the additional strain of dealing with disruption to their HIV care and treatment due to their displacement and the prolonged time it takes to access healthcare services in their new locations.
  • The LGBTQ+ community and men who have sex with men (MSM) 
    • Globally, gay men and other men who have sex with men are 19 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population. The incidence of HIV among gay men and other men who have sex with men is rising in several parts of the world. Structural factors, such as stigma, discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity and the criminalization of same-sex sexual practices, contribute to hindering the availability, access and uptake of HIV prevention, testing and treatment services among gay men and other men who have sex with men.
    • In addition, Transgender women are among the populations most heavily affected by HIV. Transgender women are 49 times more likely to acquire HIV than all adults of reproductive age. An estimated 19% of transgender women are living with HIV. Transgender people face discrimination, violence and lack of access to appropriate health care. All of these factors contribute to increasing the vulnerability of transgender people to HIV.

What they are looking for? 

• Positive Action seeks to support community-based and community-led innovative approaches that address the multiple layers of stigma that impact People Living with HIV (PLHIV).
• HIV-related stigma and discrimination are often compounded by marginalisation, criminalisation and exclusion on the basis of intersecting factors such as gender, age, sexual orientation or practice, race, sex work and drug use.
• They are seeking programmes, interventions and/or policies that reduce or stop the drivers of stigma and facilitate social and legal environments that prevent stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV and key populations. These interventions should tackle the HIV related stigma and the stigma associated with the identity of the key population.
• They’re looking for interventions that will address stigma through advocacy, engaging and collaborating with stakeholders and targeted communication. It is also important that the relevant key populations are involved in the design of the programme and are given the opportunity to advocate for themselves.

Work Areas

• Your application must address work area 1 as detailed below. Work area 2 is optional and can be selected in addition to work area 1. Applications that do not consider work area 1 will not be eligible for funding.
• For each work area please outline which key population you will be working with. You may select more than one population.
  • Work Area 1 Tackling and addressing multiple layers of stigma PLHIV may experience in healthcare settings
    • Healthcare settings can be a source of stigma and discrimination, as well as care and treatment, for people living with HIV. Stigma can manifest as unnecessary delays in treatment, differential care, conditional care, or refusal of service—all of which directly obstruct access to appropriate health care.
    • Under this work area, they are seeking innovations focused on addressing stigma in healthcare settings, including interventions that focus on ensuring stigma free service delivery points, as well as interventions that address Stigma in preservice training settings, such as Medical, Nursing and Midwifery Education institutions.
    • Examples of interventions can include:
      • Human rights. ethics and patient care training for health-care providers, and others (non-clinical staff) that may engage with service seekers, as well as training which enables them to understand and empathise with the particular key population
      • Training, support and guidance for healthcare administrators to ensure they implement policies and practices that ensure stigma-free healthcare for key population members living with HIV
      • Advocacy for non-discriminatory healthcare policies
      • Integrating sensitisation, reduction of stigma and discrimination, and human rights approaches into the curricula of health provider training schools
  • Work Area 2 Tackling and addressing laws and policies that reinforce stigma. 
    • Harmful and discriminatory laws and policies can undermine effective HIV prevention, treatment, care and support due to the fear of prosecution potentially dissuading people from seeking testing and treatment services. Discriminatory laws can also deter people living with HIV, or those most at risk of HIV, from talking openly to their medical providers, disclosing their HIV status or using available treatment services.
    • Under this work area, they are seeking innovations focused on addressing stigmatising laws and policies that negatively impact the key populations prioritised for this funding round. This could be through lobbying for law and policy reform, working with law enforcement agencies to ensure correct interpretation of laws that protect key populations and people living with HIV, as well as educating key populations living with HIV of their legal rights.
    • Examples of interventions can include:
      • Advocacy and lobbying for law reform including removal of discriminatory laws
      • Education and awareness of legal rights, such as ‘know your rights’ campaigns
      • Sensitisation and training of law enforcement agencies to create an enabling environment
      • Providing legal guidance and supporting legal cases for key populations living with HIV

Eligible Countries

• Open to countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the Caribbean.

Eligibility Criteria

• Positive Action is targeted at supporting communities affected by HIV. Any not-for-profit non-governmental national or community-based organisation that represents, or is working with or for, affected communities is eligible to submit a proposal.
• International non-governmental organisations that can deliver change at a community level through their links with or representation of the communities affected can also apply for this funding.

For more information, visit ViiV Healthcare.