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NGOs accuse ACHAP of unfair dealings

Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Tuesday October 27, 2015 15:21

 

This comes after ACHAP chose only four local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to be sub recipients of the $16.7 million GF funding for a three-year project in the fight against diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
ACHAP was selected by the GF as the principal recipient to manage the funding for a three-year project in the country.
ACHAP, who had called for proposals from community-based organisations for the funding to undertake the project, selected Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA), Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Programme (BOCAIP), Kagisano Women Shelter and Tebelopele after 89 CSOs responded to their call.
Now, a Selebi-Phikwe CSO is challenging ACHAP’s decision to disqualify 85 CSOs and select the four saying their selection criteria was flawed. In a letter penned by the organisation’s chairman, Molefhi Kamela, the CSO says the criteria to select only four organisations was not guided by public interest. The CSO has also written a complaint letter to the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM).
“The forum is mostly concerned that all said and done the various instruments, undertakings and rules by the principal recipient, the committees involved in the processes for whatever good reasons they may have had, be it prudential considerations or other justifications were not guided by the public interest and consequently deprives Botswana of the most opportunity to effectively fight the pandemics,” he said.
The organisation argues that by disqualifying 96% of applications, ACHAP had turned this into a proposal writing competition disregarding what is at stake.
“Public interest demands that Batswana and most importantly people living with diseases, people living with disabilities, the key population communities should be considered whether on the basis of affirmative action or other mechanism to be complete citizens endowed with the right to participate in the affairs of their lives.”
The CSO further argues that ACHAP has shown its incompetence to manage the GF implementation project.
They argue that ACHAP has failed dismally to recruit implementing partners that will make a difference in Botswana and says if the CCM does not remove ACHAP as the principal recipient of the GF, then its objective will have been misdirected. They state that Botswana has a high disease burden and four CSOs will struggle to achieve the intended results of the GF but the funding will be directed into ACHAP’s coffers for its benefit.
However, ACHAP says most organisations were disqualified for failing to follow the evaluation checklist when writing proposals. ACHAP spokesperson, Joshua Ntsuke, says the checklist was shared with the CSOs before they applied.
He said that of the 89 CSOs that submitted proposals, 26 qualified for further screening until they ended with six after rigorous evaluations done by the internal and external evaluators. The six were further evaluated through verification visits, which entailed assessment capacity of the organisations.
Ntsuke said ACHAP as the principal recipient bears the ultimate responsibility for management and implementation of the grant funds.
This includes ensuring technical quality, adherence to financial rules, selecting sub-recipients, direct implementation and ensuring that implementation meets the target. On their competence to manage the grant fund, Ntsuke said they have the capacity and experience and that is why they were selected as the principal recipient.
He said as the principal recipient, they are expected to implement where the sub-recipients are lacking. He said the CCM was impressed with their work hence they gave it the thumbs up.
“As an organisation we have strong governance and compliance systems and a strong history of responsible grant management which is why we were selected as the private sector principal recipient,” he said.
“The grant is not yet out. We are expecting it in January. We are not yet done, but we are working with the GF now to finalise things.” Ntsuke said the beneficiaries of the grant are Batswana not CSOs adding that pocketing of donor funds cannot be tolerated. He added that the GF has strong audit functions including requiring detailed evidence of all funds spent.
When contacted for comment CCM coordinator, Lefetogile Bogosing, said they have not received any complaint letter regarding the GF grant.
She said if there is any organisation that has a complaint, they will deal with it once it reaches their office. She said ACHAP were contracted by the GF to manage the grant and hold the responsibility to select sub-recipients.
“They have reported to us that they have finished the selection of recipients. I think we have no doubt they followed the right criteria as guided by the GF. It is an open and transparent process and they nominated these organisations based on the GF guidelines,” she said.
Bogosing said if there was a complaint regarding how ACHAP handled the process, the CCM board will deal with the matter accordingly once it is reported to them.

This comes after ACHAP chose only four local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to be sub recipients of the $16.7 million GF funding for a three-year project in the fight against diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

ACHAP was selected by the GF as the principal recipient to manage the funding for a three-year project in the country.

ACHAP, who had called for proposals from community-based organisations for the funding to undertake the project, selected Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA), Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Programme (BOCAIP), Kagisano Women Shelter and Tebelopele after 89 CSOs responded to their call.

Now, a Selebi-Phikwe CSO is challenging ACHAP’s decision to disqualify 85 CSOs and select the four saying their selection criteria was flawed. In a letter penned by the organisation’s chairman, Molefhi Kamela, the CSO says the criteria to select only four organisations was not guided by public interest. The CSO has also written a complaint letter to the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM).

“The forum is mostly concerned that all said and done the various instruments, undertakings and rules by the principal recipient, the committees involved in the processes for whatever good reasons they may have had, be it prudential considerations or other justifications were not guided by the public interest and consequently deprives Botswana of the most opportunity to effectively fight the pandemics,” he said.

The organisation argues that by disqualifying 96% of applications, ACHAP had turned this into a proposal writing competition disregarding what is at stake.

“Public interest demands that Batswana and most importantly people living with diseases, people living with disabilities, the key population communities should be considered whether on the basis of affirmative action or other mechanism to be complete citizens endowed with the right to participate in the affairs of their lives.”

The CSO further argues that ACHAP has shown its incompetence to manage the GF implementation project.They argue that ACHAP has failed dismally to recruit implementing partners that will make a difference in Botswana and says if the CCM does not remove ACHAP as the principal recipient of the GF, then its objective will have been misdirected. They state that Botswana has a high disease burden and four CSOs will struggle to achieve the intended results of the GF but the funding will be directed into ACHAP’s coffers for its benefit.

However, ACHAP says most organisations were disqualified for failing to follow the evaluation checklist when writing proposals. ACHAP spokesperson, Joshua Ntsuke, says the checklist was shared with the CSOs before they applied.

He said that of the 89 CSOs that submitted proposals, 26 qualified for further screening until they ended with six after rigorous evaluations done by the internal and external evaluators. The six were further evaluated through verification visits, which entailed assessment capacity of the organisations.

Ntsuke said ACHAP as the principal recipient bears the ultimate responsibility for management and implementation of the grant funds.

This includes ensuring technical quality, adherence to financial rules, selecting sub-recipients, direct implementation and ensuring that implementation meets the target. On their competence to manage the grant fund, Ntsuke said they have the capacity and experience and that is why they were selected as the principal recipient.]

He said as the principal recipient, they are expected to implement where the sub-recipients are lacking. He said the CCM was impressed with their work hence they gave it the thumbs up.

“As an organisation we have strong governance and compliance systems and a strong history of responsible grant management which is why we were selected as the private sector principal recipient,” he said.

“The grant is not yet out. We are expecting it in January. We are not yet done, but we are working with the GF now to finalise things.” Ntsuke said the beneficiaries of the grant are Batswana not CSOs adding that pocketing of donor funds cannot be tolerated. He added that the GF has strong audit functions including requiring detailed evidence of all funds spent.

When contacted for comment CCM coordinator, Lefetogile Bogosing, said they have not received any complaint letter regarding the GF grant.She said if there is any organisation that has a complaint, they will deal with it once it reaches their office. She said ACHAP were contracted by the GF to manage the grant and hold the responsibility to select sub-recipients.

“They have reported to us that they have finished the selection of recipients. I think we have no doubt they followed the right criteria as guided by the GF. It is an open and transparent process and they nominated these organisations based on the GF guidelines,” she said.

Bogosing said if there was a complaint regarding how ACHAP handled the process, the CCM board will deal with the matter accordingly once it is reported to them.