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Special Programs to Address the Needs of Survivors
Program Description
Special Program to Address the Need of Survivors (SPANS) Grant Solicitation and Management (GSM) was an umbrella grant making mechanism that supported services that assist vulnerable populations.
The program funded service delivery, training, and related activities to assist groups including displaced children and orphans, war victims, and persons with disabilities in over 40 countries and territories.
World Learning awarded grants on behalf of USAID under five congressionally mandated funds:
- Center on Children in Adversity/Displaced Children’s and Orphans Fund:Prevented inappropriate institutionalization of children; assisted formerly institutionalized children to integrate into communities; worked with ministries to develop appropriate child protection methods; provided emergency child protection measures in conflict situations; and promoted early childhood development for vulnerable children.
- Disability Program: Supported activities related to disability issues that could not be included in the above categories but still fit with the overall SPANS/GSM objective of improving health for vulnerable populations.
- Leahy War Victims Fund: Improved data and information about the use and utility of prosthetic and orthotic devices and physical therapy as part of a rehabilitation continuum; provided vocation and economic strengthening for people with disabilities; and strengthened disabled people’s organizations.
- Victims of Torture Fund: Assisted in the treatment and rehabilitation of individuals, families, and community members who suffered from the physical and psychological effects of torture and trauma.
- Wheelchair Program: Supported wheelchair provision, including research, testing, and developing international standards.
Under SPANS/GSM, World Learning administered a comprehensive grant-making process from identifying potential grantees, to soliciting applications, to monitoring project implementation, to closeout. As necessary, World Learning provided targeted capacity development support to grantees to strengthen their performance. On behalf of USAID, SPANS/GSM also convened stakeholder engagement events, administered short-term technical contracts, and produced multimedia pieces that highlighted the work of grantee organizations.
Grantees of the program included:
Albanian Disability Rights Foundation, Al Hussein Society, Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya, Buckner International, Catholic Relief Services, The Center for Victims of Torture, Christian Blind Mission International, Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise, CURE International, EveryChild, Friends International, Global Communities, Handicap International, Health Volunteers Overseas, International Nepal Fellowship, International Rescue Committee, Leonard Cheshire Disability, Mobility India, Motivation Charitable Trust, Motivation Romania Foundation, St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, United Cerebral Palsy Wheels for Humanity, University of Iowa, University of Pittsburgh – International Society of Wheelchair Professionals, Whirlwind Wheelchair International, World Institute on Disability, and World Vision.
