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A Public Challenge to Funders: The TAC $1 million match

Last month the Stephen Lewis Foundation issued a challenge to the private and public funding world: to join the Foundation in securing the future of South Africa’s Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).  The Foundation will match all contributions to TAC up to $1 million dollars.

Why this challenge, why now?

TAC has been the voice of the African continent on the HIV & AIDS pandemic for more than 15 years. The world is now in danger of losing one of its most important activist organizations. TAC has been struggling with a pending financial crisis for more than a year, and the situation is now truly dire. They are already being forced to retrench and have cut back infrastructure; unless they are able to obtain $2–3 million dollars in new funding by March 1st 2016, their doors will begin to close. Committed, hugely experienced and talented staff will be forced to seek other employment, and “the world’s most effective AIDS group” will start to fade into memory.

Strong activism and rights-based democratic leadership from TAC has driven the HIV and AIDS response. There are at least 3 million people alive and on ARV treatment today in South Africa who would never have been on treatment if it had not been for TAC. We would not have the AIDS response apparatus that exists now in so many countries if it wasn’t for TAC. TAC organizes locally, demanding genuine accountability and the delivery of quality healthcare for all people infected and affected by HIV, through a network of over 8,000 members and 180 branches across South Africa. They are so important in the life of this pandemic.

We also know from FCAA’s most recent resource tracking report, that only 2% of global resources for HIV/AIDS were contributed by private philanthropy in 2014, and that of that 2% ($618M), only 11% was dedicated to the support of advocacy efforts.

One of the priorities of the FCAA-IHRFG Human Rights & HIV Funders Work Group is the critical issues facing human rights defenders in the HIV response. SLF’s public challenge offers an example of a recent funder response to this growing challenge.  On this webinar you can learn more about why SLF issued this challenge, the work of TAC, why their sustainability is critical to the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa and beyond, and how your organization can get involved.

Agenda:

This webinar was co-sponsored by Africa Grantmakers’ Affinity Group and IHRFG & FCAA Human Rights & HIV Funder Work Group

The recording is available here.

Learn more about Stephen Lewis Foundation’s $1 Million Dollar Match