In November 2016, the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening the voices of communities in Global Fund processes by renewing the Community, Rights and Gender (CRG) Special Initiative which was implemented 2014-2016. This new phase, now called the CRG Strategic Initiative, will be implemented during 2017-2019, and aims to provide communities support in three areas:

  1. Short-term technical assistance (TA) to civil society and community organisations
  2. Long-term capacity development of organisations and networks of key and vulnerable populations
  3. Regional platforms for communication and coordination

From 20-22 February 2018, the Global Fund’s CRG team convened a Learning Event for the new Strategic Initiative. The three-day meeting brought together over 50 individuals, representing 30 Strategic Initiative partners, the Global Fund’s CRG team and technical partners, UNAIDS, Stop TB Partnership, PEPFAR, Roll Back Malaria, Expertise France and the Robert Carr Civil Society Networks Fund. The meeting was hosted by the Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations (APCASO).

ASAP was represented at the meeting by Director, Sue Perez, who presented in a Session entitled, “Reflecting on successes and challenges in short-term TA provision for broader CRG responses in funding request development, grant-making and implementation.” Sue shared ASAP’s experiences to date in providing short-term TA in Chad, Ghana, Mauritania and Sierra Leone as well as reflections from ASAP’s participation as a short-term TA provider in the previous Special Initiative. The Session panel also included representatives from the Canadian HIV Legal Network, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association and the Community Leadership and Action Collaborative (CLAC) housed at the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF).

More information on the Global Fund’s CRG Strategic Initiative can be found here.