As international funding for HIV declines, the question of who will pay for Zimbabwe’s HIV response is becoming urgent. In September, My Age Africa attended the Transition Initiative Stakeholder Dialogue on Health Financing, which focused on the Social Contracting Programme.
Social contracting is a mechanism through which government funds civil society organisations (CSOs) to deliver health services, especially to communities that public systems struggle to reach. It is central to domestic resource mobilisation: making sure Zimbabwe can sustain its HIV prevention gains with its own resources, in partnership with CSOs.
For My Age Africa, the dialogue links directly to our work. Our CAP under COMPASS focuses on HIV prevention, and COMPASS played a key role in supporting Zimbabwe’s final grant submission to the Global Fund. According to that submission, Zimbabwe has qualified for matching funds, an important opportunity to strengthen the national response.
The dialogue brought together government, CSOs and partners to review how social contracting is working and where it needs to improve. Two key issues stood out:
1. Youth-led organisations need a fair chance to qualify. The current requirements for social contracting funds are too strict for many youth-led organisations, which may not yet have all the systems and documents required. Yet these organisations are often best placed to reach young people with HIV prevention services. Participants called on government to make room for them.
2. Key population-led organisations must be prioritised. Organisations led by key populations are not part of the current social contracting grant. Leaving them out creates a critical gap in reaching the communities most affected by HIV.
Why does this matter? Young people, particularly adolescent girls and young women, remain at the centre of new HIV infections in Zimbabwe. A sustainable HIV response must invest in the organisations young people trust and that reach them where they are.
My Age Africa will keep advocating for inclusive, transparent social contracting that leaves no one behind. Through platforms like this dialogue and our work under COMPASS, we will continue to push for funding systems that recognise the value of youth-led and community-led responses.
