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Global Fund gives LWF first NGO grant in AIDS fight
Episcopal News Service
Issue:
Section:
2003-018-3
Posted: Wednesday, January 29, 2003
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The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has for the first time allocated a grant to a non-governmental organization by presenting $485,000 to the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) for its HIV/AIDS action plan.
'Resources have been pledged to overcome this life-threatening illness, but they need to be renewed and increased,' said the LWF general secretary, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, at a signing ceremony in Geneva on January 27. 'The signing of this grant agreement sends an important message to the international community, declaring mutuality between us, saying that we are working together as national and international organizations towards the eradication of this pandemic,' Noko said.
Previous grants of the Global Fund, an independent, public-private partnership established in 2002, have gone directly to countries.
'It's vitally important that we build bridges between faith-based organizations and partners in-country in the fight against HIV/AIDS,' said Richard Feachem, executive director of the Global Fund. 'The Global Fund process enables this linkage and affirms it.'
The grant will support LWF initiatives to fight HIV/AIDS for the next two years, with an additional $215,000 allocated for a third year.
The purpose of the LWF campaign is to strengthen support among the federation's 136 member churches in 76 countries serving 62 million people. The plan includes conferences with church leaders, and the employment of an AIDS consultant to organize them and to co-ordinate follow-up activities. The LWF already supports HIV/AIDS-related projects in Africa and Latin America funded by several other donor organizations.
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