The Solidarity Fund says that, while there will be a time when its work will no longer be needed, that time has not come yet and, until it does, the fund will continue to work with partners and stakeholders to support the country.
As of October 15, the fund had received more than R3.12-billion of the R3.16-billion pledged by businesses, governments and individuals and had allocated R2.26-billion and disbursed over R1.36-billion.
The remaining funds have been allocated to ongoing projects or earmarked for future initiatives.
In terms of projects that are under way, for health interventions, there are 11 active projects and two that have been completed; for humanitarian relief efforts, there are four active projects and two that have been completed; and for behavioural change, there are four active projects, one in the pipeline and two that have been completed.
To date, the fund has approved R1.77-billion towards health interventions, R412-million towards humanitarian relief efforts and R759-million towards behavioural change programmes.
UPCOMING CALL FOR FUNDING APPLICATIONS
On October 22, the Solidarity Fund will open a call for funding applications from community-based organisations (CBOs) in the gender-based violence (GBV) sector that stand to benefit from a one-off grant of between R50 000 and R250 0000 from the fund.
This call marks the beginning of the second phase of the fund’s GBV intervention, which falls under the humanitarian response pillar. This phase has been allocated R75-million to be disbursed across about 360 organisations, with 75% going towards community-based support and 25% targeting programmes achieving systemic change.
Applicants should be CBOs that perform or support critical activities and services related to addressing GBV across the country.
A call for organisations targeting programmes achieving systemic change in GBV will be opened on November 4.
REPORTS
The fund was started as a Covid-19 rapid response vehicle to cater to the immediate and urgent needs of the country. As such, the majority of its projects are designed to have limited duration.
A number of projects have already closed, which means that figures on impact and reach, along with the final disbursements made are starting to come in.
The fund notes that as part of its commitment to ongoing transparency and accountability, it has pledged to issue reports as and when the necessary information becomes available.
In the last month, the fund has issued six new reports and a number are in the process of being compiled. The six new reports can be found on the website at https://solidarityfund.co.za/reports/.
Four more reports are scheduled to come out before the end of October – three focusing on the fund’s Citizens in Solidarity campaign, which falls under the behavioural change pillar, and one that falls under the humanitarian pillar.