24 September 2020 · Sasakawa Health Foundation

Grant Program for Organizations of Persons Affected by Leprosy/Hansen’s Disease During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Sasakawa Health Foundation with support from The Nippon Foundation is implementing a grant program for organizations of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease to support people who have been severely impacted by the unprecedented crisis caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus and the social changes that have accompanied it. The support project consists of the following four pillars:

I. Responding to the direct needs of the community

Offer relief supplies (food, medicine); provide small loans/support for livelihood creation; provide materials for children affected and/or children of persons affected to enroll in school; provide materials to enable self-care practices to be maintained, provide information on COVID-19 prevention/information on leprosy; establish hotlines, offer counselling

II. Advocacy with government

Request local governments/authorities to guarantee access to existing support schemes, consider new support schemes to solve any other problems that persons affected are currently facing

III. Information dissemination

Disseminate information about activities via SNS and/or any other media for the purpose of widely sharing information about project activities with various stakeholders for the purpose of raising the profile of the organization, acquiring new supporters, and strengthening PR capabilities

IV. Capacity-building training lectures

Take courses to learn about fundraising, crowdfunding, social business to increase the sustainability of the organization. (This is scheduled to start around January 2021 in cooperation with the training program provider.)

Under this grant program, organizations of persons affected by leprosy/ Hansen’s disease are not merely recipients of aid but gain a sense of ownership by being involved in community support, directly contributing to problem-solving and strengthening their organizational capacity. If you agree with the objectives of the grant, please check the following before applying:

Application Guidelines

Application period: Thursday, September 24- Sunday, October 4, 2020 (Japan time)

Target organizations: Organizations of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease applying jointly with organizations capable of proactively supporting their activities. We encourage partnerships between organizations of persons affected and their support organizations to effectively execute the above activities, such as planning good advocacy strategies and disseminating information in English.Organizations of persons affected by Hansen’s disease wishing to apply on their own should contact us in advance.

• Organizations of persons affected by Hansen’s disease wishing to apply on their own should contact us in advance.
• Applications can also be made by branches of a national organization, up to a maximum of three branches.
• Applications from individuals or commercial organizations will not be accepted.

Initiatives supported: Projects that implement activities based on the above four pillars, led by organizations of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease, in countries or regions where leprosy is endemic and that have been seriously impacted by COVID-19.

Program A (Pillars 1-4): Up to US$50,000; November 2020 – October 2021 (1 year)

Program B (Mainly Pillars 1 and 4): Up to US$10,000; November 2020 – February 2021 (4 months)

• We are going to select about 5 applicants for Program A and 10 applicants for Program B.
  In regards to Program A, priority will be given to applications that are in line with our examination criteria shown in Section 7 below and will also be based on the capabilities of the applicants (including track record, financial management capacity, implementation capability, etc.).
• Applicants for grants under Program A may end up receiving a grant under Program B.
• Organizations that apply for Program A are basically not allowed to apply for a regular SHF grant in FY2021.
• Program B will be offered again after March 2021, and it will be possible to reapply.
• The unused balance of the grant must be refunded.

What the support covers

Relief supplies, emergency aid money, transportation expenses of beneficiaries; funds for livelihood creation; materials for children to enroll in school; self-care materials; cost of creating awareness-raising materials; money to set up hotlines; volunteer training (on COVID-19, etc.), volunteer transportation expenses, daily expenses; transport expenses and personnel expenses of those in charge; advertising and communication fees.

• As a general rule, management costs should account for no more than 10% of project costs.
• Please contact us in advance regarding purchase of equipment such as personal computers
• Please retain proof of all expenditures
• Non-applicable items: Personnel costs not related to the project, management costs exceeding 10% of the total grant, expenditures for which there is no justification, purchase of assets such as motorcycles, cars, and land

Please apply using the online application form.

Only applications that have passed the initial screening will receive notification by Tuesday, October 6 of a request for a budget. The deadline for submitting the budget is Sunday, October 11. Online interviews are to be scheduled if necessary.

Drat Application Form（Excel）

Budget Sheet（Excel/To be submitted after initial screening)

Examination criteria

Priority will be given to projects that meet many or all of the following conditions:

1. A country/region where leprosy/Hansen’s disease is endemic and persons affected by Hansen’s disease have been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. (The total number of infections/deaths, the number of infections/deaths per day, the number of unemployed of the country will be used as indicators.)
2. Government/local authorities have no support scheme for persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease or, for whatever reason, persons affected are not able to access them.
3. There are no support activities by international NGOs or international organizations for persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease.
4. The organization of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease has regal status or aims to be registered in the near future, and has daily activities where members gather regularly to improve their circumstances, fight to defend their rights, etc.
5. The organization of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease does not have legal status, but the support organization does.
6. The organization of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease or its support organization has a bank account that can be used to receive the grant.
7. The organization of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease has a detailed understanding of the actual situation of the intended beneficiaries.
8. The organization of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease or its support organization has experience of activities related to the project, such as the equitable distribution of relief supplies and provision of self-care services.
9. Ability to send reports, communicate information in English (either the organization of persons affected by leprosy/Hansen’s disease or its support organization)
10. Organizations willing to sustain the activities after the project ends by keeping plans and structures in place, and seeking funding.

Outline of Grant Implementation

Grant Application: September 24 (Thursday) – October 4 (Sunday), 2020 Notification of results of initial screening: October 6 (Tuesday), 2020 Deadline to submit budget documents: October 11 (Sunday), 2020

Online interview: October 7 (Wednesday) – October 22 (Thursday), 2020 (Online interview is to be scheduled if necessary.)

Notification of results of second screening: October 29 (Thursday), 2020