The New Partners Initiative (NPI) was created under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to provide grants for HIV/AIDS prevention and care in 14 of 15 focus countries. NPI operated under the Capable Partners Program, which is dedicated to enhancing organizational development, technical capacity and sustainability of local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and NGO networks working in any sector (such as health, environment, agriculture, microenterprise, education, information technology, gender equality, conflict mitigation, business development).

NPI worked to increase the number and involvement of nongovernmental partners to help achieve two of the three Emergency Plan goals: to support the prevention of seven million HIV infections and to support care for ten million people living with HIV or AIDS.

FHI 360 managed the provision of technical assistance to 29 NPI grantees in rounds 1, 2 and 3, through the NPI Technical Assistance Program. FHI 360’s primary purpose was to support grantees in strengthening institutional systems to enable successful management of their grants and improve their effectiveness in responding to HIV and AIDS. This was done through an array of skills-building activities which included: one-on-one support on site, cohort trainings, south-to-south study tours, mentoring, long-distance support through telephone and Internet, and the sharing of relevant tools and reference materials.