AVAC Advocacy Fellows Program 2018 for mid-career & emerging advocates on HIV prevention

2018 Advocacy Fellows Program

The Advocacy Fellows Program seeks the following:

• Emerging or mid-career community leaders and advocates involved or interested in advocacy around HIV prevention research and implementation, particularly the areas described in question (3).

• Individuals with some experience or education in the areas of HIV and AIDS, public health, medicine, international development, women’s rights, communications, or advocacy with key populations, such as sex workers, LGBTQ individuals and drug users.

• Individuals based in low-and middle-income countries with high HIV burdens and where

biomedical HIV prevention clinical research is planned or ongoing and/or where there is current work on implementation of new preventions strategies (such as voluntary medical male circumcision, pre-exposure prophylaxis or PrEP, early treatment and “combination prevention”  packages. )Advocates can also develop proposals that seek to catalyze plans and policies in countries where little activity on these issues has happened to date.

• Those proficient in the English language . Applications are encouraged from all countries where prevention research is ongoing or rolling out, however the Advocacy Fellow and key staff at his/her Organisation must be able to communicate with AVAC staff in English.

• Demonstrated awareness of and willingness to learn about ongoing prevention research and implementation in their respective countries, although extensive knowledge in biomedical HIV prevention is not required.

The Fellows Program provides:

• Mentoring and capacity building in HIV prevention research and implementation advocacy from AVAC for both Advocacy Fellows and Host Organisations.

• Connection to a global network of HIV advocates including current and former Advocacy Fellows, researchers, civil society leaders and other individuals and/or Organisations working in similar fields.

• Opportunities for networking and information sharing with other Advocacy Fellows and a broader community of advocates including activists, scientists, clinical trial staff and other stakeholders working in the HIV movement.

• A small stipend and technical assistance for the selected Advocacy Fellow for the initial development of a detailed work plan (up to three days over a maximum of two months). This phase takes place before the official Fellows Program year begins.

• Financial support and technical assistance from AVAC for project implementation over 12 months. Through a grant to the Host organisation, the Fellow will receive full-time salary support, a budget for project execution and access to a discretionary fund for specific travel, infrastructure or and information technology (IT) needs. ( Please note that in some very

specific circumstances, Fellows can be permitted to commit less than 100 percent to the

Fellows Programs. These arrangements must be raised early on in the process.

• Overhead administration funding to the Host Organisation to cover costs associated with hosting a Fellow will also be included in the Grant. Overhead costs are those that are incurred by the Organisation to administer the grant that cannot be directly attributed to the

Fellows Program activity (for example, proportion of rent, phone,some personnel costs such as executive director, accounting and administrative staff time) and calculated as a percentage of the overall grant.