CSOs have become the main vehicle through which help reaches the most vulnerable in society and their voices heard on the national and international global platforms. Donor funding of HIV and AIDS programmes through these organisations has greatly contributed to the alleviation of suffering caused by this pandemic through various mitigation strategies. With the current scale of the HIV and AIDS problem at national level, huge amounts of resources will continue to be needed for a long time to come. For more than two decades now since the pandemic became a major world concern resulting from the devastation it caused, bilateral and multilateral donors have continued to make the largest contribution toward prevention, care and support, as well as treatment programmes. However, there seems to be no indication that this funding is gradually being localised to ensure that donor dependence is reduced. The budgets of nearly all (if not all) major NGOs that are spearheading the fight against HIV and AIDS are entirely funded by donor resources.

ZNAN is currently among the topmost recipients of donor funding to support various programmes being implemented by NGOs and CBOs. Notably, these CSOs have made tremendous contributions towards preventing the further spread of HIV and AIDS and mitigation of its impact on families and communities. However, with the almost total dependence on donor funding to support these programmes, it is unlikely that these will continue to meet the needs of the current beneficiaries should donor funding be discontinued. This chronic dependence on donor funding to implement programmes has made ZNAN member CSOs and the outputs of their programmes not sustainable. Their non-sustainability is exacerbated by their lack of a future strategy for continuing their work beyond donor assistance. Lack of innovative approaches to mobilising local resources and their limited commitment to initiating and engaging in Income Generating Activities (IGA) to generate own resources exposes these CSOs to the risk of termination resulting from withdrawal of  donor support.
The objective of sustainability will be tackled in two ways: firstly, it will target ZNAN’s own sustainability plan and that of CSOs. At the level of ZNAN, there will be need to develop and implement a sustainability plan that will enable it diversify its funding sources. The diversification will include attracting new funding partners, and undertaking income generating ventures.

Secondly, it will also include sustainability for CSOs. This will be done in two ways: firstly by providing funds for training in management of income generating activities including provision of IGA guidelines and, secondly by setting up a revolving fund for CSOs so that donor dependency is minimized.

ZNAN will, however continue mobilizing funds and diversifying sources of funding on behalf of CSOs.

The role of Lead Agencies in the future

Lead Agencies are important partners in the implementation of the sub-granting programme.  The benefits that ZNAN has derived from the Lead Agency model include:

- Wider geographical coverage of the ZNAN sub-granting programme as Lead Agencies are relatively well established in their operational areas and are networked with smaller NGOs and CBOs which are target of the programme;

- Lead Agencies provide a reasonable amount of capacity building support to smaller NGOs and CBOs, thereby filling in the gap for ZNAN whose capacity limitations prevent it from reaching many of these sub-grantees;

- Lead Agencies provide an institutional framework for supporting the sustainability of projects supported by sub-granting funds.

ZNAN intends to continue incorporating the role of lead agencies in our strategic direction due to the positive results as outlined above. In this proposal, lead agencies are included in the term “selected civil society organizations” to provide room for other CSO that can play the role of a formally appointed lead agency. Overall, the sub-granting programme has facilitated the scaling up of Lead Agencies’ own core activities. As recipients of the sub-granting funds, Lead Agencies have been replicating the ZNAN culture of transparency and accountability and for this reason; the sub-granting standards set by ZNAN are adhered to across the board and have trickled down to the sub-grantees of Lead Agencies. Lead agencies have adopted the ZNAN sub-granting model and are applying its principles. From this perspective, the sub-granting programme has been instrumental in scaling up good practices and strengthening partnerships between Lead Agencies, sub-grantees and communities as the availability of resources has enhanced their commitment to providing HIV services with a high level of accountability and transparency. Accountability is further enhanced by the existing requirement of subjecting Lead Agencies and sub-grantees to external auditing, a role ZNAN will continue to support.  

Other functions that the lead agencies and other selected CSO will continue to play are to build capacities of smaller NGOs, CBOs and the communities they serve to provide a wider range of quality HIV services. Some of these services have also contributed to the success of other HIV programmes.

ZNAN has identified capacity needs of CSO and the need to build capacity in these organizations to provide quality services to the communities. Lead agencies and other selected CSO will play a bigger role in capacity building of small CSO. The identified gaps are

1.    Proposal writing skills
2.    Financial management skills
3.    Monitoring & evaluation
4.    Project report writing
5.    Management of income generating activities
6.    Management of revolving funds
7.    Record keeping