The New Partners Initiative (NPI)

The New Partners Initiative (NPI) is sponsored by the Government of the United States and aims to identify and strengthen new partner organizations around the world with the potential to contribute to the achievement of the goals set by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Emergency Plan/PEPFAR). Through a combination of funds and technical assistance, the Initiative seeks to strengthen the ability of faith- and community-based organizations fighting HIV/AIDS in any one of the 15 PEPFAR focus countries to reach people affected by HIV/AIDS with prevention and care services. The Initiative also seeks to develop indigenous capacity within host nations to combat HIV/AIDS and ensure the sustainability of these efforts.

The NPI was announced by President George W. Bush on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2005. Under the Initiative, the Emergency Plan will award a series of grants totaling approximately $200 million to new partners to provide services in the Emergency Plan's 15 focus countries.

The Emergency Plan is reaching out to organizations through NPI, working to enable them to become new partners of the U.S. Government. The goals of the initiative are to:

• Increase the Emergency Plan’s ability to reach people with needed services, by identifying potential new Emergency Plan partner organizations, increasing their capacity to provide prevention and care services, and increasing the total number of Emergency Plan partners; and
• Build community ownership by developing the technical and organizational capacity of local partners to address HIV/AIDS and to promote the sustainability of host nations’ efforts.

Learn more about the newest PEPFAR NPI organizations.

How the New Partners Initiative Works

Administered primarily through USAID, PEPFAR’s New Partners Initiative plans to award a series of grants totaling approximately $200 million to new partners to provide HIV/AIDS prevention and care services in the Emergency Plan’s 15 focus countries. To ensure the sustainability of the response, NPI offers assistance to successful applicants, focusing on successful program implementation, needs analysis, and organizational growth and strengthening.

The Need for New Partners

• Many organizations have the capability to reach people who need HIV/AIDS services, but lack experience in working with the U.S. Government and its processes. Community- and faith-based organizations, in particular, represent vital but underutilized resources. Many such organizations are well-established within communities and well-placed to reach out to those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
• Building the capacity of organizations at the community level also helps to build local ownership of HIV/AIDS responses for the long term. In some countries, such organizations provide as much as 40-50 percent of all care for people living with HIV/AIDS – with little support from the U.S. Government. In some cases, existing U.S.-based organizations can serve as a “bridge” due to their relationships with these entities in host countries.
• The alliance between PEPFAR and new partners will promote better care for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, and give hope to stronger families and healthier communities.