Gates vist: At the Gates of AIDS funding

[Guest guest]

At the Gates of AIDS funding

GEETANJALI PATOLE

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 07, 2002 06:42:40 PM ]

RUPEES 22 crore is what the health ministry of Maharashtra is aiming

to get from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for HIV/AIDS work

in Maharashtra.

Speaking exclusively to PT from Kolhapur, state health minister

Digvijay Khanvilkar told PT that the ministry was going to make an

extensive proposal to Bill and Melinda Gates, when the couple visit

India from November 11 to 14.

Gates is visiting India to see how his foundation, one of the

biggest funders of AIDS prevention, research and awareness

programmes, can get involved here.

Mr Richest Man In The World hopes to study, first-hand, challenges

and initiatives underway to prevent the spread of HIV in India. A

top source at the Maharashtra State Aids Control Society (MSACS),

the central body that oversees all AIDS work in the state, told PT

that their proposal was looking for a grant in the region of Rs 22

crore, for various HIV/AIDS-related work.

Ironically, while the state ministry will be trying to impress the

Gates Foundation with its proposal, MSACS will organise a major

seminar for NGOs involved with HIV/AIDS-related projects at the

Central Institute of Road Transport at Bhosari from November 13-15.

One of the key aims of the workshop is to teach NGOs to make

effective proposals for grants in the future.

Playing down the fact that the workshop is coinciding with Bill

Gates's visit, Dr V L Kulkarni, director, MSACS, says, " Many NGOs

don't know how to go about making proposals. Apart from this,

however, we will deal with several other aspects of running an NGO

involved with HIV/AIDS work. The representatives will be presented

with a prototype, complete with a social worker, peer-educators, STD

clinics, condom promotion activity etc. Established NGOs will also

share their experiences with the participants. "

Swami of the Pune-based ' Slum Development Project',

who will be one of the instructors, said, " The whole exercise has

been developed to genuinely help NGOs. Bill Gates's visit happens to

be a coincidence. Besides, he won't be coming to Pune personally to

see if the NGOs are doing a good job. "

Out of 200 NGOs that applied for the workshop, Dr Subhash Dodwad,

project director, MSACS, said that only 40 have been

shortlisted. " The final 40 were picked after months of scrutiny.

After the workshop, these NGOs will be asked to re-submit proposals

to MSACS. Their proposals will then be sent to an executive

committee for further sanction. We're looking at funding close to 10-

12 organisations at the end of it, " Dodwad said.

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