AID grant no. 615-0236-G-00-3028-00 to Samburu Aid in Africa (SAIDIA) to provide support for a project that will enable SAIDIA to achieve sustainability for core health costs and enhance its managerial capacity

SAIDIA provides integrated community services, centered around health care, to the pastoral communities of Ndoto and Ngilai in Kenya"s arid Samburu District. The grant will fund SAIDIA"s efforts to develop a strong funding base within the communities it serves. Currently, SAIDIA has seven dispensary committees who are responsible for recruiting members for SAIDIA; at a fee of Ksh. 200 a year, members and their families are entitled to free medical services. SAIDIA plans to increase the number of its committees to 15 and overall membership from 300 to 1,000, to introduce full drug charges for non-members, and to improve access to service by equipping an already built dispensary and initiating mobile clinic operation in Ngilai. In addition, SAIDIA will carry out a baseline survey in Ngilai and upgrade its staff"s management capacity. It is expected that by the end of the project an endowment fund of GBP 100,000 will be in place.