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The past quarter has been challenging for STiR, with the announcement of the complete withdrawal of funding from one of our major funders in Uganda. Our partner systems also continue to battle Covid-19, and our thoughts in particular are with our stakeholders across India as the country fights against a deadly second wave. We decided to close our own offices in India from 26 April to 3 May in the interest of the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues. However, we’re also working on some exciting projects over the next quarter as we refresh our 2025 strategy. In our latest newsletter, we’re pleased to share an update on how we are responding to our funding challenges in Uganda, as well as providing an insight into these new projects.
STiR has been funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO, formerly DFID) since 2018. So it was a significant shock to discover that this funding was to be cut in its entirety from the start of April 2021, as part of a wider reduction in development spending from the UK. This decision has had serious implications for our programmes and staff, and we outline our cost saving measures in our letter here. We’re hugely grateful for the support from so many of our other partners, and we’re delighted that our work in Uganda will be continuing despite these developments.
Although the current Covid situation in India might not reflect this, we continue to be optimistic about the year ahead. We therefore believe that this is an important time to discuss some of the key strategic questions facing our work today. Over the next two quarters, we will be undertaking a review of our 2025 strategy, exploring the idea of regional hubs, and engaging an expert to review how we can better promote gender and equity through our work. More information on these projects is also found in the letter here.
