PEPFAR DRC Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) Program | AFPCO 24 02

Opportunity Information: Apply for AFPCO 24 02

The PEPFAR DRC Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) Program is a grant opportunity released by the U.S. Department of State through the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa and its PEPFAR Coordination Office. It invites proposals for community-led monitoring work that strengthens HIV service delivery by collecting and using community-generated evidence. The program is designed to be carried out in close collaboration with local community-based organizations and civil society groups, including networks of key populations, people living with HIV, and youth and adolescents (including children) and other communities affected by HIV. Activities are focused in three PEPFAR priority provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Kinshasa, Haut-Katanga, and Lualaba.

At the center of this opportunity is the concept of community-led monitoring, described as a routine, systematic process led by HIV-positive and HIV-affected communities and the organizations that represent them. CLM is meant to document what is working well in HIV services, identify gaps or failures in service delivery, and help drive practical improvements using a mix of quantitative and qualitative information. The program emphasizes that community leadership should regularly gather perspectives from both service users and service providers, especially from underserved groups, then work collaboratively with government and health system actors to translate findings into real changes. In practice, CLM functions as a structured tool within broader community engagement, bringing together multiple partners in a defined geographic area to focus on client-centered service improvement.

The grant frames CLM as a way to strengthen the overall performance and responsiveness of HIV programs by focusing on whether services are available, accessible, affordable, acceptable, timely, and of good quality. It also places strong emphasis on rights and accountability. Expected outcomes include raising public awareness about the rights of people living with HIV and key populations, increasing health literacy, empowering communities to speak up about barriers and mistreatment, and supporting demand creation for HIV services. At the same time, the approach is intended to strengthen accountability by ensuring decision-makers and service providers respond to community-identified problems and implement corrective actions that measurably improve service delivery.

A key feature of the opportunity is its focus on "added value" data rather than duplicating routine reporting that PEPFAR already receives through standard implementing partner systems. Applicants are expected to collect community insight that typical health information systems may not capture well, such as beneficiary experiences at facilities, stigma or discrimination issues, practical access barriers, reasons for poor retention in care, and other enablers or obstacles that shape real-world service uptake and outcomes. Data is expected to be gathered using standardized tools, then synthesized and shared in ways that highlight actionable problems and solutions at multiple levels, including facility, community, sub-national, and national. The program also stresses that monitoring must be routinized, meaning it should happen consistently with follow-up over time so that improvements can be tracked and sustained rather than treated as one-off assessments.

Another expectation is regular information sharing and feedback loops with stakeholders. CLM results are meant to be communicated in a consistent schedule (monthly, quarterly, and annually) to host government entities, health systems, PEPFAR implementing partners, and the PEPFAR team. The purpose of these routine exchanges is to ensure findings inform decision-making and lead to improvements in service timeliness and quality. Overall, the opportunity aligns with PEPFARs broader goal in the DRC: progressing toward HIV epidemic control by supporting evidence-based prevention, care, and treatment interventions that save lives.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary grant (Funding Opportunity Number AFPCO 24 02) under CFDA 19.029, issued by the U.S. Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The opportunity anticipated up to three awards, with an award ceiling of USD 100,000. The original closing date listed for applications was June 18, 2024, and the notice was created on April 17, 2024. Eligibility is geared toward local, registered community-based organizations and civil society groups, including networks representing key populations, people living with HIV, youth and adolescents (including children), and other HIV-affected groups, particularly those whose missions involve HIV programming and who are positioned to gather and use both qualitative and quantitative data to improve HIV services.

• The U.S. Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "PEPFAR DRC Community-Led Monitoring (CLM) Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.029.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-17.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-06-18. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $100,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for AFPCO 24 02

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