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Q. What was the CORE Initiative and what did it do?
A. The CORE Initiative was a USAID-funded, global program whose mission was to support local responses to the causes and consequences of HIV/AIDS in developing countries. The CORE Initiative was a partnership of five organizations with complementary expertise, skills, and resources.
The CORE Initiative's primary approach was to leverage existing efforts, while catalyzing and encouraging new initiatives. This was accomplished through innovative partnerships in the areas of community-based prevention, stigma reduction, and care and support for people living with HIV/AIDS and their families. To further the HIV/AIDS efforts of community and faith-based organizations, the CORE Initiative provided grants, capacity building assistance, and networking support to grantees.
One CORE Initiative Associate Award is still active although Leader Award activities have ended.
Q. What is a Leader Award?
A. The term Leader refers to the fact that there is one single lead cooperative agreement funded by USAID, under which multiple Associate Awards can be initiated.
Q. What is an Associate Award?
A. An Associate Awards consists of funding from a U.S. Government agency. This could include USAID missions and regional bureaus, or agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control.
An Associate Award is a stand-alone agreement or grant for the CORE Initiative to carry out a specific scope of work. An Associate Award is not a sub-award but is a new agreement between a U.S. Government agency and the recipient of a Leader Award.
A USAID mission, regional bureau, or other government agency that issues an Associate Award develops and negotiates a specific program description. The Associate Award is managed directly by the awarding agency which maintains full technical and financial oversight of the program.
Since the CORE Initiative secured the Leader with Associate Cooperative Agreement via a competitive process, USAID missions or other U.S. Government agencies are able to create their own Associate Awards without going through a competitive process.
Q. What does the acronym “CORE” stand for?
A. COmmunities Responding to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic
Q. Which organizations comprised the CORE Initiative partnership?
A. CARE USA led this Initiative in partnership with the International Center for Research on Women, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs, and the World Council of Churches.
Q. What made the CORE Initiative unique?
A. The CORE Initiative promoted a multi-sectoral approach in its programming to encourage each sector in a community, country, or region to address the epidemic’s root causes, including access to education, food security, health services, and income-generating opportunities. A multi-sectoral approach recognizes that vulnerability to HIV can be inextricably linked to socioeconomic, demographic, and socio-cultural factors that may enhance or discourage risk behavior. Poverty, livelihood insecurity, gender inequality, migration, wars and civil conflicts shape individual and community vulnerability to HIV.
Each of the global partners of the CORE Initiative consortium --- through extensive country offices, complementary expertise, and formation of other strategic partnerships ---was able to deliver services through local organizations. While the CORE Initiative was a global partnership, its impact was local.
The CORE Initiative promoted south-south learning and exchange so that local organizations benefited from the lessons and experiences of others. Learning and exchange were fostered through capacity building, creation of partnerships, and extensive networking.
Q. How may organizations access CORE Initiative funding and resources?
A. The CORE Initiative is no longer accepting applications or funding new programs
Q. What are small and large grants?
A. Small Grants: Grants of $5,000 or less were awarded to community and faith-based groups implementing activities consistent with the CORE Initiative's mission. Activities and projects may have been implemented by a single organization or through a partnership of several organizations.
Large Grants: Grants of more than $5,001 but less than $250,000 per year were awarded for replication and scale-up projects. These grants funded organizations engaged in the direct implementation of activities or which sub-granted to secondary recipients. These grants helped to build capacity and/or provided technical support to community- and faith-based organizations implementing programs for people affected by HIV/AIDS.
Q. In which countries did the CORE Initiative Leader Award work?
A. The CORE Initiative supported activities in 24 countries in Africa and Asia. Countries included Angola, Burma, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, Sudan, Angola, Botswana, Madagascar, Cameroon, Liberia, Nigeria, and Armenia.
Q. Is the CORE Initiative a part of CARE?
A. CARE provided the leadership for the partners in the CORE Initiative, a consortium of five global organizations. The CORE Initiative was a separate entity with staff from CARE and the other partner organizations.
Q. Where is the CORE Initiative located?
A. The CORE Initiative no longer has a central office.
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