Strengthening civil society organizations' capacity and coordination to accelerate HIV epidemic control in Uganda by implementing comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for key and priority populations under PEPFAR | CDC RFA JG 25 0045

Opportunity Information: Apply for CDC RFA JG 25 0045

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), through PEPFAR, is offering a cooperative agreement opportunity titled "Strengthening civil society organizations' capacity and coordination to accelerate HIV epidemic control in Uganda by implementing comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for key and priority populations under PEPFAR" (Funding Opportunity Number: CDC RFA JG 25 0045). The opportunity is positioned within the health funding category (CFDA 93.067) and is meant to advance Uganda's progress toward HIV epidemic control by 2030, with an explicit emphasis on human rights and the PEPFAR principle of "leaving no one behind." The application deadline listed is February 18, 2025, and CDC expects to make two awards under this announcement.

The funding profile signals a large, centrally managed investment rather than a fixed per-award cap. Although the Year 1 award ceiling is stated as 0 (meaning no maximum is specified in the announcement), CDC indicates an anticipated total of approximately $10,000,000 in Fiscal Year funding for Year 1, contingent on the availability of funds. As a cooperative agreement, the model implies substantial involvement by CDC during implementation, typically including collaborative planning, performance monitoring, and alignment with PEPFAR technical and reporting expectations.

The core purpose of the NOFO is to improve HIV prevention, care, and treatment outcomes among populations in Uganda that face the highest HIV risk and the greatest barriers to services. The announcement prioritizes groups commonly referred to as key populations: female sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, and transgender persons. It also includes priority populations that experience elevated vulnerability and service access challenges, specifically fisher folk and truckers, as well as adolescent girls and young women. The rationale is that national progress toward the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets cannot be achieved if these sub-populations remain underserved; in practice, gaps in testing, treatment initiation, and sustained viral suppression among these groups can keep transmission going even when overall national indicators improve.

A central message in the opportunity is that current interventions aimed at key and priority populations are "missing the mark" in Uganda. This framing points to persistent disconnects between services and the realities these communities face, such as stigma, discrimination, criminalization, mobility, economic pressures, and fear of exposure, all of which can reduce uptake and continuity of prevention and treatment. In response, the NOFO focuses on strengthening civil society organizations (CSOs) as a way to bring services closer to affected communities, improve trust and acceptability, and ensure services are delivered in ways that are safe, rights-affirming, and responsive to lived experience.

The NOFO is designed to support CSOs to provide or facilitate comprehensive HIV services that increase access for key and priority populations across the prevention-to-treatment continuum. While the summary does not list every allowable activity, the intent is clear: CSOs should be able to help close gaps in HIV prevention and clinical care linkage by improving outreach, demand creation, navigation, and coordination with clinical providers and national systems. This includes strengthening the ability of CSOs to engage populations that may avoid formal facilities due to prior negative experiences, concerns about confidentiality, or fear of legal consequences.

A major implementation emphasis is addressing legal, policy, and structural barriers that limit access to services. This is important because even strong clinical programming can stall when people cannot safely seek services or remain in care. "Structural" barriers can include stigma and discrimination in health settings, violence and exploitation, lack of safe transportation, unstable housing, food insecurity, and mobility patterns (for example, truckers and fisher folk). "Legal and policy" barriers can include punitive laws, law enforcement practices, and administrative hurdles that make it difficult for community-led approaches to operate or for clients to access services without fear. The NOFO signals that successful applicants should be prepared to engage in practical, coordinated barrier-reduction work that improves service access and continuity without compromising client safety.

Another key goal is capacity building and coordination: improving CSOs' ability to work effectively with CDC-funded implementing partners, Uganda's Ministry of Health (MoH), and other relevant government ministries. This points to an expectation that CSOs will not operate in isolation, but instead will be integrated into the broader PEPFAR and national response. In practical terms, this usually means strengthening organizational systems (program management, monitoring and evaluation, financial management, compliance, and safeguarding), aligning referral pathways and reporting, participating in coordination structures, and ensuring CSO-led efforts complement facility-based and government-led service delivery. The emphasis on coordination also reflects the reality that key and priority populations often need seamless movement between community entry points and clinical services, and that data, referrals, and follow-up need to function reliably across partners.

The NOFO explicitly builds on lessons from earlier efforts, including the Local Capacity Initiative and the Key Populations Investment Fund. That reference suggests CDC wants applicants to draw on proven approaches from those programs, avoid repeating earlier shortcomings, and scale what has been shown to work in Uganda's context. In effect, this opportunity is not starting from scratch; it is intended to strengthen and refine community-led and community-connected models, improve coverage and quality, and tighten coordination so that gains translate into measurable progress toward 95-95-95 among the populations most likely to be left behind.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S. and non-U.S. entities as listed in the notice: state and local governments, special districts, eligible tribal governments and tribal organizations, public and private institutions of higher education, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status, for-profit organizations, and small businesses, with the eligibility field marked as "Unrestricted." The combination of broad eligibility and a two-award expectation suggests a competitive process where CDC is likely seeking applicants with strong technical HIV programming capacity, demonstrated experience working with key and priority populations, credible community partnerships, and the ability to manage a large, coordinated effort under PEPFAR requirements.

Overall, this grant opportunity is a targeted PEPFAR investment aimed at accelerating Uganda's HIV epidemic control by strengthening CSOs to deliver and connect people to comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment services for key and priority populations. The work is grounded in a rights-based approach, is driven by the need to reach 95-95-95 across all sub-populations, and places heavy emphasis on reducing structural and legal barriers while improving coordination between community actors, CDC-funded partners, and the Government of Uganda.

• The Centers for Disease Control-GHC in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Strengthening civil society organizations' capacity and coordination to accelerate HIV epidemic control in Uganda by implementing comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for key and priority populations under PEPFAR" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.067.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-12-02.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-02-18. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Unrestricted.

Apply for CDC RFA JG 25 0045

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: