AFRO-NETS> Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB and Malaria (GlobalFundATM)

[Melanie Zipperer <Melanie.Zipperer@tss-twg.be>]

Global Fund to Fight AIDS TB and Malaria (GlobalFundATM)
--------------------------------------------------------

New Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria seeks to 
Strengthen Partnerships with NGOs and Civil Society

NGO consultation brings community realities to fund design

BRUSSELS, 14 November -- The rich experience of NGOs and civil soci-
ety organizations facing the challenges wrought by AIDS, TB and ma-
laria must be taken into account in any new initiative to fight these 
diseases, according to participants in a two-day meeting in Brussels 
organized to involve NGOs in the development of the new Global Fund 
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria. Representatives from NGOs 
and civil society organizations from different regions, including Af-
rica, Latin America, Asia, Europe, and North America, met on Monday 
and Tuesday, 12-13 November, to discuss how the new Fund should be 
designed to best meet country needs. 

"This has been a very successful meeting. We brought together over 70 
representatives from NGOs and networks of people living with 
HIV/AIDS, working in all regions of the world, and elaborated con-
crete recommendations for the Transitional Working Group (TWG)", said 
Mick Matthews, Coordinator of the UK AIDS Consortium who organized 
the meeting in collaboration with the Technical Support Secretariat 
of the TWG. "NGOs are among the primary delivery mechanism for the 
three diseases and must be involved and represented at all levels of 
the Funds activities. In our view, NGO participation must be ensured 
in decision-making at all levels", he said. 

This consultation, sponsored by the government of Italy, is one of a 
series of consultation meetings being arranged to garner the input 
and relevant insight of representatives from stakeholders crucial to 
the implementation of the Fund. Other meetings are being held with 
delegations from countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin 
America and the Caribbean. Rounding out the consultation process has 
been a meeting with representatives of academia. 

"The consultations are an essential feature in the process to set up 
the parameters of the Global Fund", said Paul Ehmer, Team Leader of 
the Technical Support Secretariat of the Transitional Working Group 
(TWG). The TWG has been tasked with building the foundations and 
working principles of the Fund. "This is not business as usual. We 
want to use the lessons learnt from past experience. This is why the 
TWG will base its decisions on thorough consultations with all stake-
holders, and in particular with those who will benefit from the 
Fund," he said.

The TWG, comprised of nearly 40 representatives of developing and de-
veloped countries, UN agencies, the World Bank, the private sector, 
foundations and NGOs, will next meet in Brussels on 22-24 November. 
At this meeting - the second of three - the participants will need to 
make final decisions on a number of issues that include governance, 
country implementation processes, accountability, fiduciary and legal 
arrangements, and frameworks for technical review of country propos-
als. 

At its first meeting in October, the TWG reached consensus on the ba-
sic principles, purpose and scope of the Fund. At its third and final 
meeting in mid-December, the TWG intends to have made all the neces-
sary arrangements to be able to hand over operational responsibility 
to the ultimate Board of the Global Fund.

One of the Fund's principle is to strengthen the participation of 
people living with these diseases. "The active involvement of people 
living with HIV & AIDS, TB, and malaria in this consultation process 
indicates the intended commitment by the Fund to involve people liv-
ing with and most affected by these life-threatening diseases at all 
levels," said an HIV-positive participant. "This ensures that our 
needs and concerns are heard, and that the Fund will focus on the 
most effective programs."

Melanie Zipperer
Technical Support Secretariat of the Transitional Working Group 
mailto:Melanie.Zipperer@tss-twg.be
http://www.GlobalFundATM.org

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