Communities Delegation Communiqué: 17th Global Fund Board Meeting
28 May 2008
17th Global Fund Board Meeting, 28th-29th April 2008
Geneva, Switzerland
INTRODUCTION
The 17th Global Fund Board Meeting was held on 28th-29th April in Geneva, Switzerland. The Communities Living with HIV, TB and Affected by Malaria Delegation attending the meeting comprised nine people, accompanied by their new Administrator.
The 17th Global Fund Board Meeting had a large focus on malaria, with the Board agreeing in principle for the Secretariat to host and manage the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria (AMFm) as a business line within the Global Fund. This, along with the other key decision points from the meeting, is described in more detail as follows:
BOARD COMPOSITION
Board Seat Allocation for Public Donors
The Board recognised the importance of establishing a transparent framework for seat allocation among public donors which attributes rights based principally on contribution levels, and which helps achieve higher levels and timely payment of contributions. The Board therefore requested the Board Members representing donor constituencies, in consultation with other donors, to determine a framework for donor seat allocation, within the existing eight public donor seats and guided by a threshold, and to report to the Board on their conclusions at the 18th Board Meeting.
The Communities Delegation supported this decision point.
Non-Voting Seats for Malaria and Tuberculosis
Prior to the Board Meeting, the question of how to better accommodate the voices of malaria and TB constituencies on the Global Fund Board was scheduled only to be a discussion point for Board input, rather than a decision point. As a result of our pre-meetings, the Communities Delegation, with the support of the Developing Country NGO Delegation and the Developed Country NGO Delegation, decided to propose a decision point. We originally hoped to persuade the Board to approve the inclusion of malaria and TB constituencies within the non-voting Board seats, but, on learning that this would face opposition from other Board Delegations, we opted to ask the Policy and Strategy Committee (PSC) to look again at the issue and present a way forward at the 18th Board Meeting.
The Board therefore passed the following decision point:
“Recognizing the need for equitable representation of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria within the Global Fund, the Board decides that the follow up work and decisions on the Five Year Evaluation should include action to ensure the effective participation on the Global Fund Board of malaria and tuberculosis constituencies. The Board requests the PSC to discuss the issues and present outcomes at the Board Retreat in October 2008 so that a recommendation can be presented at the Eighteenth Board Meeting in November 2008.”
AFFORDABLE MEDICINES FACILITY FOR MALARIA
Following discussions at the 16th Global Fund Board Meeting and the Board Meeting of the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) Partnership, the Board agreed in principle for the Secretariat to prepare to host and manage the Affordable Medicines Facility for malaria (AMFm) as a business line within the Global Fund, subject to final approval at the 18th Board Meeting of a policy framework and implementation plan, which will offer practical solutions to remaining technical issues.
To oversee and guide the work by the Secretariat, the Board will establish an ad-hoc committee: the “AMFm Ad-hoc Committee”. The ad-hoc committee should include relevant partners and potential donors, including UNITAID. The Board opened the call for nominations for the members of the AMFm Ad-hoc Committee and has requested the submission of nominations by midnight CET Wednesday 15th May 2008. The Finance and Audit Committee will work with the AMFm Ad-hoc Committee to review the AMFm design and business plan.
The launch of the AMFm will be phased, starting with a group of pilot countries which will be selected according to criteria developed by the Secretariat and agreed at the 18th Board Meeting. Subsequent operational research, M&E efforts and an independent technical evaluation of the roll-out in the pilot countries will be commissioned by the Global Fund Secretariat. At its first meeting in 2010, the Board will consider findings from this evaluation in order to decide whether to expand, accelerate, terminate or suspend the AMFm business line. Unless clear failures in the AMFm design are observed, expansion from the initial phase to a full roll-out in all eligible countries will occur within a year of launch.
The Communities Delegation was strongly in support of this decision point, given secured provision of funding for supporting interventions to enable safe and broad access to ACTs. This condition was included in the annex to the decision point.
LAUNCH OF ROUND 9
Following the submission of a last-minute decision point by the USA Delegation, and subsequent amendments suggested by the Developed Country NGO Delegation (and supported by the Communities Delegation), the Board determined to scale up the Global Fund's response to HIV, Tuberculosis and malaria, by deciding in principle to announce, after the 17th Board Meeting, an extra Call for Proposals for funding in 2008. This can be seen as an early launch of Round 9 funding. The extra call will employ the same proposal form and guidelines as Round 8 and will take place on, or about, 1st October 2008, in order to provide time to review proposals before the 19th Board Meeting in April 2009.
As this was a decision point “in principle”, the Secretariat is requested to submit to the Board, for approval by email, a final decision on announcing Round 9, together with a description of resources available and forecasted and proposed changes to existing policies necessary to implement this decision point, by no later than 15 May 2008.
The Communities Delegation was strongly in support of this decision point and pleasantly surprised by its late addition to the agenda.
DELEGATION UPDATE
The Communities Delegation held pre-meetings in the days prior to the Board Meeting. The following points arose from these meetings:
The structure of the Communities Delegation is one that constantly needs to be improved and adapted to ensure that it reflects and meets the needs of the diverse communities and issues that it represents. With this in mind the Communities Delegation at the 17th Board Meeting decided that terms of Delegates will be extended from two years to three years. Current delegates will now serve until April 2010. Delegates who meet their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will now be allowed to apply for a second consecutive term. There will be a call in May 2008 for new delegates. They will serve from spring 2008 until April 2011. In order to improve continuity and institutional memory, a mentoring or buddy system should be established so that older delegates can pass on knowledge and expertise to newer delegates.
The Communities Delegation is keen to encourage active participation of all of its members. In order to generate this, a M&E system will be developed by the Communities Delegation Administrator to assess whether or not members are meeting their KPIs. Those not doing so will be contacted and offered help to start doing so. If no improvements are made however, members consistently not meeting their KPIs will not be able to remain on the Communities Delegation.
The Communities Delegation wants to increase knowledge of itself amongst key partners and stakeholders. Various ways in which to do so were identified, including publicising ourselves at key events, such as the upcoming IAC in Mexico and the ICASA Meeting in Senegal. All Delegates are encouraged to use every opportunity to highlight the work of the Communities Delegation. The Delegation wants to improve coverage of Delegates from Latin American, Asia and women and encourages Delegates to “spread the word” to these target communities.
A brief review of the Regional Communication Focal Points (RCFPs) was conducted. Michael Gwaba was identified as the new RCFP for East and Southern Africa. The RCFP for Central Asia has resigned, so the Delegation is looking to incorporate this role with that of the RCFP for Eastern Europe and Southern Asia. There is currently a vacant position for the role of TB RCFP and Delegates were encouraged to give nominations for this position.
Challenges facing the RCFPs were discussed and ways in which to improve their function suggested. One challenge facing the RCFPs is the low response rate they receive from their constituencies. Lack of internet access was identified as a key factor in this. Therefore, other communication technology options, such as the WIKI, are to be investigated. It is also hoped that minimising the amount of material that has to be read and digested by constituencies might improve the response rate. Therefore the Delegation’s Administrator will develop an executive summary for all committee papers and identify 3 key questions to be answered. These will then be sent to RCFPs, who will send to their contacts for feedback and then relay feedback back to CFP.
In keeping with the Board Meeting’s focus on malaria, the Communities Delegation devoted time to improving their understanding of the disease. Dr Esther Tallah gave the Delegation an excellent presentation on the science behind malaria, which was considered very useful by all present.
The Communities Delegation discussed its vision. The Delegation sees its role as communicating evidenced-based voices of people living with HIV, TB and malaria to the Board of the Global Fund. The Delegation should aim to become experts in the field and in lobbying. It should be more pro-active as a civil society delegation and it should raise the voices of TB and Malaria. As all this is achieved, the Board Members should feel more supported.
