The VOICES consortium—comprising PATH, the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), and the Organisation of African Youth (OAY)—is implementing Pillar 1 of the GFF x CIVIC Platform.
The project aims to empower local civil society organizations (CSOs) and youth-led organizations (YLOs) to influence domestic health financing, policy, and accountability for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health plus nutrition (RMNCAH+N). A total envelope of $3.35 million USD will fund 22 LCYO country partnerships across participating African nations.
Key Details
Subgrant Award Size: Up to $150,000 USD for most qualifying countries; up to $175,000 USD for Kenya and Nigeria (due to decentralized health budgets requiring subnational engagement).
Project Duration: Up to 18 months (starting November 30, 2026).
Proposal Deadline: October 7, 2026, at 23:59 EAT
Issuing/Fiduciary Organization: PATH (in consortium with AFIDEP and OAY).
Target Structure: LCYO Country Partnerships of 2 to 3 local organizations.
Eligible Countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Eligibility Requirements
Applications must meet strict partnership composition, operational, and financial governance standards:
Partnership Composition: Must be a consortium/partnership of at least two (2) and no more than three (3) legally registered local organizations. At least one member must be a Youth-Led Organization (YLO), where young people aged 15–35 hold primary leadership and decision-making authority.
Lead Organization Experience: The designated lead organization must be legally registered in the implementation country with at least five (5) years of experience in health financing advocacy and RMNCAH+N accountability. Lead entities hold legal, financial, and fiduciary responsibility.
Partner Experience: All non-lead consortium partners must have at least three (3) years of relevant experience in health advocacy.
Exclusivity: An organization can only participate in one LCYO partnership application. Additionally, organizations selected under Pillar 1 cannot receive funding under Pillar 2 of GFF x CIVIC.
Financial & Audit Track Record: The lead entity must possess functional financial management systems, clear segregation of duties, internal control mechanisms, pre-financing capacity, and proof of undergoing independent external audits.
Priority Areas & What It Covers
Proposals must address two core priority areas to drive sustainable health financing:
Priority Area 1 (Coordination & Civic Engagement): Establishing or strengthening coordination mechanisms among health advocacy actors; building joint advocacy agendas aligned with national RMNCAH+N Investment Cases and Country Partnership Frameworks (CPFs); and amplifying youth and community voices in budget decisions.
Priority Area 2 (Domestic Resource Mobilization & Oversight): Conducting evidence-informed advocacy targeting national/subnational planning and health budgets; tracking government budget commitments; participating in multi-stakeholder platforms/technical working groups; and supporting civil society oversight.
Ineligible Support:
Unilateral, single-organization submissions (must be a 2–3 member partnership).
Entities with primary operations tied to political lobbying or religious proselytization.
Organizations lacking local registration within the target country of implementation.
Required Documents
Applicants must email their complete application package directly to voices@path.org before the deadline:
- Official Submission Template (submitted as a Word document).
- High-level Budget Template (submitted as an Excel spreadsheet).
- Proof of Legal Registration for each partnership member (PDF or JPEG).
- Budget verification documentation for the lead organization (PDF or JPEG).
- Organizational organograms for all partnership members (PDF or JPEG).
- (Note: Total email attachment size must not exceed 150 MB. Applications may be submitted in English, French, or Portuguese.)
- Application & Selection Timeline
- September 15, 2026: CFP Launch
- September 21, 2026: Deadline for clarification question submissions & General Virtual Info Session
- September 24, 2026: Youth-Led Organization (YLO) specific virtual info session
- September 25, 2026: Official publishing of responses to clarification questions
- October 7, 2026 (23:59 EAT): Proposal Submission Deadline
- October 27, 2026: Targeted evaluation completion date
- November 30, 2026: Public announcement of selected partnerships & project start date
- Major Considerations & Evaluation Criteria
- Proposals are evaluated using a weighted 100% scoring metric:
- Relevance & Strategic Focus (25%): Alignment with national health financing priorities and GFF objectives.
- Advocacy Experience & Capacity (25%): Demonstrated track record of consortium members in health policy and coalition building.
- Cost-Effectiveness & Budget Realism (10%)
- Financial & Grant Management Capacity (10%)
- Social Equity & Gender Integration (10%)
- Sustainability (10%)
- Innovation (10%)
Because only one LCYO country partnership will be selected per country, competition is high. Partnerships should ensure their lead organization meets all financial and external audit criteria while demonstrating complementary strengths across budget tracking, youth mobilization, and government engagement.
Should You Apply?
This is a high-value opportunity for established local health advocacy CSOs and youth organizations seeking to influence national health budgets and policy frameworks.
If your organization has strong financial management, 5+ years of RMNCAH+N advocacy experience, and can lead a coalition with local youth partners, this grant provides substantial financial and technical resources.
However, if you operate as a single entity without a local youth-led partner, or lack independent external audit reports, you should seek single-applicant or pilot-stage opportunities.
0 Comments