Deadline: 29-Jan-21
The Government of Canada has announced funding under the HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund (CAF) to address sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) in Canada.
As part of the Government of Canada’s efforts, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) invests $26.4 million annually under CAF to support the community-based response to STBBI.
Objectives
The HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund seek to ensure that:
- Community-based efforts reach key populations, including people unaware of their HIV/hepatitis C status, and link them to testing, prevention, treatment and care;
- Communities design and implement evidence-based front-line projects to prevent new and reoccurring infections;
- High impact interventions are brought to scale so that more people benefit from them;
- Community-based efforts reduce stigma toward populations disproportionately affected by STBBI, including people living with HIV or hepatitis C.
Funding Duration
- Organizations can apply for funding for a minimum of three (3) to a maximum of five (5) years. There is no minimum or maximum funding amount for organizations applying to the CAF.
- LOIs should demonstrate that the applicant has the capacity to spend the requested funding and that the amount requested reflects the scope of the proposed project activities.
Eligible Activities
Funding can be used to support the following eligible activities:
- Interventions that promote prevention, testing and linkage to care for key populations. This includes:
- Implementing peer-based and culturally safe interventions to prevent STBBI, including those that promote comprehensive approaches to prevention, such as vaccination (hepatitis B, human papilloma virus), condoms and lubricants, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), harm reduction services, etc.
- Promoting STBBI testing as a springboard to support engagement in the prevention, treatment, care and support cascade;
- Promoting linkages and enhancing client referrals to STBBI testing, prevention, treatment, care and support services through peer navigation;
- Promoting linkages and enhancing client referrals to programs and services that address syndemic conditions (for example, mental health) and social determinants of health (for example, housing) that contribute to STBBI vulnerability or build resiliency;
- Strengthening the capacity (knowledge, skills, abilities) of key populations to improve uptake of effective evidence-based STBBI prevention measures.
- Interventions that produce systems-level change to support key populations. This includes:
- Implementing solutions to address systemic policy barriers, by convening partners (for example, public health, community-based organizations, policy-makers, researchers, or healthcare providers) to develop collaborative approaches to addressing local or regional STBBI programming priorities (for example, access to testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis or harm reduction services) and supporting them in their implementation.
- Interventions that enhance the capacity of target audiences, such as front-line providers and health professionals. This includes:
- Enhancing their capacity to improve equitable access to effective evidence-based STBBI prevention measures;
- Supporting population-specific knowledge brokering activities;
- Enhancing their capacity to deliver stigma-free and culturally safe STBBI prevention, testing, treatment, care and support services, including harm reduction;
- Supporting initiatives to eliminate intersecting forms of stigma and discrimination associated with STBBI, including initiatives that reduce stigma within the healthcare system;
- Supporting the implementation of evidence-informed, rights-based solutions to address barriers to STBBI prevention, diagnosis, and treatment services, including legal and policy barriers.
- Campaigns that work to measurably change a specific behaviour within a clearly identified audience or population
Expected Outcomes
By 2025, projects supported through the HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund will:
- Increase the knowledge of effective evidence-based HIV, hepatitis C or other sexually transmitted infections (STI) prevention measures among key populations and target audiences;
- Strengthen the capacity (skills and abilities) of key populations and target audiences to prevent infections and to improve health outcomes related to STBBI;
- Strengthen the capacity (skills and abilities) of target audiences to provide culturally safe and stigma-free STBBI prevention, testing, treatment and care services.
By 2027, projects supported through the HIV and Hepatitis C Community Action Fund will:
- Increase uptake of effective evidence-based HIV, hepatitis C or other STI prevention measures among key populations;
- Improve access to effective STBBI prevention, testing, treatment and ongoing care, and support for key populations;
- Improve the cultural safety and stigma-free nature of STBBI prevention, testing, treatment and ongoing care, and support services provided by target audiences.
Eligible Project Scope
- The scope of a project can be local, regional or national. Local front-line projects are generally limited to a small area such as a neighbourhood, city or town, but could be broader (for example, Northern Manitoba). Regional and national projects cover a larger geographic area that may or may not have fixed boundaries.
- For example, regional projects can include an entire province or territory, or the northern regions of several provinces. A national project is defined as crossing at least three (3) provinces or territories, and having potential applicability across Canada.
Eligible Applicants
The following Canadian groups and institutions are eligible to receive project funding:
- Not-for-profit, registered as incorporated, voluntary organizations or corporations
- Not-for-profit, unincorporated organizations, societies or coalitions
- Post-secondary institutions seeking to undertake community-based programming, but not research
- Indigenous organizations
- Indigenous organizations are those governed by and primarily serving First Nations, Inuit or Métis People
- Applicants can submit both; an LOI as a single organization, and an LOI as part of a community alliance. However, it must be clear how the activities presented in each LOI are separate from each other.
When applying as a single organization applicants must demonstrate the following in the LOI:
- A minimum two (2) years of experience in the prevention and control of HIV, hepatitis C, and other STI or sexual health promotion; and,
- A minimum two (2) years of experience working with (actively and meaningfully engaging) the proposed project’s key population(s) as applicable.
- not applicable if the organization is not working with a key population
- Organizations with less than two (2) years of experience in either of the above-mentioned two criteria, who would like to apply for funding, are required to apply as part of a community alliance.
For more information, visit https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/funding-opportunities/sexually-transmitted-blood-borne-infections/applying-funding-hiv-hepatitis-c-community-action-fund.html
