Published on 11 March 2024 | Sarah Hand and Simon Moore

Transition blog 4 of 4. You can read here blog 1, blog 2, and blog 3 in this transition series.

As we entered the new year, our transition partners were fully equipped and ready to take forward the work we had carefully transitioned to them. OPHID, LVCT Health, and Kenya Comms Hub (KCH) had all stepped into their new roles with strong foundations in place and were ready to move forward.

However, just as we were gaining momentum, the sector was hit by a shockwave as USAID, the HIV sector's largest funder announced a stop work order as they carried out a review of all their overseas aid programmes. This review has already resulted in deep and damaging cuts to life saving programmes and a sector making progress. OPHID and LVCT Health, both heavily reliant on USAID funding, were immediately affected, while KCH, though not directly funded by USAID, now faces a significantly altered operating landscape due to its focus on gender, diversity, and reproductive health.

The challenges deepened in late February with further aid cuts announced by the UK government, adding to similar reductions made or proposed by Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. These shifts are reshaping the future of civil society organisations across Africa, making it increasingly difficult for our partners to prioritise and sustain their essential work.

Forging new paths

Despite this, all three organisations and Avert remain hopeful that they will be able to reform and rebuild, with the brands we have handed over being an important part of what they will be able to take forward. However, we recognise that the situation remains fluid and the environment they had anticipated scaling the products into is still in the process of reshaping.

Despite the challenges posed by the current global health system, we remain hopeful that the Himarika brand will continue to thrive driven by resilience, innovation, and an unwavering commitment to the communities we serve.

It is a testament to the commitment and resilience of all three organisations that there has still been concrete progress in their new ownership roles of Boost, Himarika, and Be in the KNOW.

Be in the KNOW

Alongside additional mentoring from Avert to support their management of Be in the KNOW, KCH has also been busy developing a more detailed strategy for the brand going forward.
Avert and KCH have been continuing plans for a Be in the KNOW donor roundtable to take place in April/May.
Avert ex-staffer Tinashe Madamombe based in Zimbabwe has joined KCH for the first six months of the year, providing additional capacity to the KCH team and brand understanding and insight.
KCH have been planning their first campaigns – watch out for them across Be in the KNOW channels soon!

Boost

OPHID have already been working with four new organisational adopters of Boost in Zimbabwe, supporting their plans to scale up the number of CHWs using Boost across their organisations.
OPHID are also taking forward a number of strategic strands for Boost scale, including a new Boost innovations incubator, a new marketing and promotional strategy, and new local collaborations that it’s hoped will soon fund the scaling of Boost to additional organisational adopters.

Himarika

LVCT has been carrying out internal piloting of Himarika which will help order the roll out of the app across its programmes.
LVCT has also secured additional funding from ViiV Positive Action to support the roll out of Himarika to four Positive Action grantee organisations in Kenya, kickstarting scale up. The grant will also fund learning exchanges between OPHID and LVCT Health to maximise opportunities for efficiencies and mutual support between Boost and Himarika.
LVCT have been working with local stakeholders and donors to identify other new partners for scale within Kenya and across East Africa.
Plans for a stakeholder meeting and donor roundtable in Q2 have been moving forward.

Finishing the process

Alongside this exciting work primarily being taken forward by the new brand owners, remaining staff at Avert have also been moving ahead with our final transition-related steps.

We have published a transition learning report pulling together in more detail the background context and learning from our transition process as a resource for the wider sector as inevitable change continues (available to download here from 14 March). We’ve also been preparing our final Annual Report and Accounts and updating our website Avert.info, which will remain live after the organisation closes to provide information about our work and easy access to key reports.

BOND is publishing a series of articles about the localisation agenda within international development, including a case study of Avert's transition experience, and some wider learnings for the sector. The article and case studies should be available on the BOND website in April, with a follow-up BOND webinar on localisation in May in which Avert’s CEO Sarah Hand will participate.

After the end of March, Avert will cease operations completely, but it will take a few more months for the official process of charity closure to be finalised. The Avert Board will continue to meet to steward the charity through its final year before all stepping down from their positions and responsibilities. Sarah Hand (CEO) and Jon Edgell (Finance Director) will continue in a very reduced capacity as caretakers as the close out work continues with the Board, likely through to November 2025. If you have any enquires you can still reach out on sarah.hand@avert.org.

In the meantime thanks for your support to Avert over the years and please do continue to support our mission in the future through our partners and friends OPHID, LVCT Health and Kenya Comms Hub.

Sarah Hand is CEO and Simon Moore is Director of Programmes and Digital Health Strategy at Avert

Photo credit: Kerstin Hacker. Photos are used for illustrative purposes. They do not imply health status or behaviour.