Advocacy & Strategic Alliances

An Expanded View
In 2005, Firelight made a strategic decision to strengthen our advocacy efforts on behalf of orphans and vulnerable children. We have invested in additional staff and other resources to build an Advocacy Program that results in increased awareness of and support for the needs and rights of children affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, we seek to help donors understand the importance of strengthening community responses and family-based care. Firelight’s advocacy activities extend the impact of the foundation’s work by documenting and sharing knowledge, leveraging resources, and building relationships to promote collaboration. The goals and activities of our Strategic Alliance initiative, once a separate program, are now part of Firelight’s Advocacy Program.

Publications
The Promise of a Future
In its first advocacy effort, Firelight worked with three partners: the Bernard van Leer Foundation, American Jewish World Service and the Pan African Children’s Fund to publish The Promise of A Future: Strengthening Family and Community Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Sub-Saharan Africa. The 12-page informational brochure describes the advantages of community-based solutions to addressing the challenges faced by orphans and vulnerable children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Completed in July 2005, The Promise of a Future has been distributed to grantees, donors, peer organizations, and individuals. As a result of this advocacy tool, Firelight is receiving recognition as a key resource for information on the care of orphans and vulnerable children.

From Faith to Action
Building on The Promise of a Future, Firelight developed a more comprehensive publication, From Faith to Action: Strengthening Family and Community Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Sub-Saharan Africa. From Faith to Action is particularly directed to the faith-based community in the U.S. and Europe, who have a long history of building and funding orphanages in developing countries. As the number of faith-based groups interested in helping children orphaned by HIV/AIDS grows, From Faith to Action can serve as a guide for directing resources to the most effective responses at the community level. The publication highlights the role of community and faith-based organizations in Africa. It draws on the experiences of organizations working on the ground to describe the many different strategies that help strengthen family and community care for the growing numbers of children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.

Written and published by the Firelight Foundation, From Faith to Action draws upon the experiences of organizations working on the ground in Africa to describe the many different strategies used by community and faith-based groups to support families and communities providing care for the 13 million children affected by HIV/AIDS. Written and published by the Firelight Foundation, with financial support from American Jewish World Service, Bernard van Leer Foundation, the Pan African Children’s Fund, and UNICEF, From Faith to Action went through an extensive review process. Most notably, the publication brought together 23 organizations funding and working in Sub-Saharan Africa as endorsers and distributors, greatly extending the reach of this advocacy tool. If you would like to request From Faith to Action and Promise of a Future: info@firelightfoundation.org.

Memberships
Firelight is a member of and participates in meetings held by the Africa Grantmakers Affinity Group, the Council on Foundations, Funders Concerned About AIDS, Grantmakers Without Borders, and Northern California Grantmakers. In October 2004 at the Grantmakers Without Borders Conference, Jennifer Anderson-Bähr, Senior Program Officer and Grantmaking Coordinator, presented with Betty Makoni, Director, Girl Child Network (Zimbabwe) and other colleagues on a panel entitled Funding in Societies Coping with Conflict and Oppression. In addition, Firelight attended a biannual meeting of the Global Partners Forum at the World Bank that focused on children affected by AIDS.

Strategic Alliances Conference Call
In 2004, Firelight Foundation coordinated regular phone meetings with other foundations focused on children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2005, the core group, which included the American Jewish World Service, the Bernard van Leer Foundation, the Pan African Children’s Fund, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund expanded to include: the New Field Foundation, the Stephen Lewis Foundation, the Global Fund for Children, and the Association François-Xavier Bagnoud. The foundations share the coordination of this bimonthly phone call and our agenda ranges from updates on grantmaking and site visiting to regional developments and programmatic challenges. This forum has helped us to keep better informed of country-level developments as well as to leverage funding for grantees.

Coalition on Children Affected by AIDS (www.ccaba.org)
In April 2005 the Firelight Foundation, the Bernard van Leer Foundation, and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance came together with the Teresa Group, a Toronto-based AIDS service organization, to form The Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS (CCABA). The goal was simple: improve the visibility of children’s issues at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto, to be held in August, 2006. By expanding the coalition of funders and technical advisors, CCABA eventually took on the dual goals of holding a pre-conference two-day symposium on children and improving the quality of abstracts submitted for review at the main conference. Firelight’s contributions to the Coalition increased knowledge about the Foundation’s grantmaking work and enhanced Firelight’s network of contacts. Firelight made a two-year grant totaling $25,000 to the Teresa Group to fund the Coalition and pre-conference meeting.

Principles of Accountability for International Philanthropy
A Joint Working Group of the European Foundation Centre and Council on Foundations
In spring 2005 the European Foundation Centre and the Council on Foundations created a joint working group to develop a set of principles of accountability specifically related to philanthropy that crosses national borders. Firelight Executive Director Jennifer Astone serves on this working group, which is engaging in a series of consultative meetings with membership and civil society in order to develop the principles. The working group expects to complete their work in September 2006.