Since October 2013, AIDS Accountability International has been supporting countries to produce Civil Society Priorities Charters for the Global Fund New Funding Model. Based on the successes and impact of this tool, AAI was invited by the Zanzibar Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism (ZGFCCM) to facilitate a workshop to bring together a variety of different stakeholders including government, civil society, key populations, the private sector, academic, trade unions, people living with the diseases, among others. The objective was to gather input and set priorities for Zanzibar's upcoming concept notes for HIV/TB and malaria, to be submitted on 15 October 2014 to the Global Fund. At the Workshop, the Zanzibar Civil Society Priorities Charter, which AAI supported civil society in Zanzibar to produce, was presented by Omar Abdalla Ali with ZANGOC (Zanzibar NGO Cluster for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control) and used to guide the process. 

The outcome of this workshop is the Zanzibar Key Stakeholders Priorities Charter, which will be used to guide the Proposal Development Task Force in writing the Zanzibar concept notes to the Global Fund. The Charter represents a consensus of more than 95 individuals representing 77 different partner organizations in Zanzibar.

AAI commends Zanzibar on this good practice. When constituencies meet individually to set priorities and then come together to discuss and debate, this creates further transparency around country dialogue. The Zanzibar model of first creating a Civil Society Priorities Charter, then ensuring it feeds into a wider, more consultative Key Stakeholders Priorities Charter, should be seen as an example for other countries. 

CLICK HERE to read the Zanzibar Key Stakeholders Priorities Charter.