Global Fund Key Populations Pilot 2014-2015
NEW ROLE FOR AAI AS GLOBAL FUND WATCHDOGS
From 2014-2015, AAI will be accepting financial resources from the Global Fund to provide technical assistance to the CCM in Swaziland; in the interests of transparency we need to emphasize that we remain committed to maintaining our position as a watchdog of the Global Fund, and ensuring greater accountability to women, girls and key affected populations. Since 2011, AIDS Accountability International (AAI) has been working to achieve greater accountability from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and malaria, especially for women, girls and those marginalized by their sexual orientation and gender identities (SOGI) in Africa. Our project “Strengthening Africa’s Country Coordinating Mechanisms” includes original qualitative and quantitative research on the accountability of CCMs in Southern Africa (see “Who is really affecting the Global Fund decision making process?”). Based on the findings of this research, AAI’s key recommendation for the Global Fund’s New Funding Model (NFM) is a more coordinated civil society response. To support civil society to engage meaningfully AAI hosted five capacity building workshops in Swaziland, Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania to support partners in country to produce advocacy roadmaps for the NFM (see “Civil Society Priorities Charters for the Global Fund New Funding Model”). As this project will be completed in August 2014, AAI is committed to our continuing role as Global Fund watchdogs. We would also like to acknowledge the efforts of the Global Fund to be more accountable to marginalized groups, which is why AAI finds it timeous to provide technical assistance on the KP/PLWD engagement pilot. AAI has accepted an invitation to be part of the Global Fund’s two-year pilot project to increase the engagement of civil society, key populations and people living with HIV, TB and malaria in the Global Fund’s New Funding Model. For this pilot, AAI will be providing guidance and oversight to the CCM in Swaziland, helping to make sure that programming through the pilot is supporting marginalized groups to participate more meaningfully in Global Fund decision making. AAI will also be reporting to the Global Fund Secretariat on Swaziland’s successes and challenges throughout the pilot. The amount designated for this work is USD 5000/year for two years. AAI has carefully considered this potential conflict of interest and has deemed our ability to ensure accountability to key affected populations in Swaziland as a greater benefit than not participating. The amount of money received will cover AAI’s time and travel costs during the pilot project.ABOUT THE PILOT
For the purposes of this pilot, resources will be made available to 10 CCMs. The funds will be managed by CCM members representing people living with HIV and/or affected by HIV, tuberculosis and malaria and used to achieve increased and more meaningful involvement of key populations in Global Fund related country processes i.e. country dialogues processes, concept note development and CCM participation. During the pilot, these CCM members will be supported by a regional civil society partner organization or network of their choice. These organizations will provide ongoing support throughout the pilot and document its effectiveness. For Swaziland, AAI is the regional partner to:- Provide on-going support and documentation to the implementation of the pilot in Swaziland, by advising the CCM members on their key population engagement plans and monitoring that resources are used to appropriately;
- Identify areas that require immediate attention and liaise with the Country Team and other relevant teams at the Global Fund Secretariat in order to identify appropriate actions, including leveraging of technical assistance;
- Provide interim reports to the Global Fund Secretariat (maximum one page), documenting progress and challenges toward to objective of the pilot.
PROJECT CONTACTS
Phillipa Tucker, Research and Communications Director, Email: phillipa at aidsaccountability.org, Tel no +27 21 424 2057.