Latin
America and the Caribbean meet in Panama
Despite
being invited by the Secretary of the Global Fund, a low
participation index of People living with AIDS was registered |
 Questions,
concerns and recommendations were brought forward by Delegates
of the Latin America and the Caribbean Country Committees (CCM)
Meeting, and Main Beneficiaries (MB) of the winning proposals
for rounds 1, 2 and 3 of the Global Fund, that took place in Panama
from November 17th-24th.
According to the report made by Manuel Mancheno, Coordinator of
the Sectional Network HIV/AIDS-GTZ-LAC, the participants expressed
the need to clarify the technical review process for the proposals.
To that effect, it was explained that managers of the Global Fund
perform an initial review, after which they request some clarifications
related with the operation of the proposal to the CCMs and MBs.
Once the clarifications are received, the established process
continues.
In
this sense, the Fund’s management recommended that blind
proposals shouldn’t be made, that communication with the
Fund’s secretary improve and that technical services for
drawing it up be taken advantage of.
On the other hand, delegates expressed their solidarity with those
countries that are not eligible as Fund’s beneficiaries
(Mexico and Panama) and requested that such decision be reconsidered
and to modify the eligibility criteria for the countries. It was
also asked to keep in mind the human and technical capacity of
some of the non-qualifying countries that can offer advice to
those that have approved proposals ad require technical assistance
to implement the. For example, the Caribbean counts with extensive
experience in networking that can be useful for the other countries
in the region.
According to the Fund’s management, regional proposals exclude
ineligible countries and there will not be any chances to this
decision.
Participation, delegation and representativeness
According to what delegates proposed, this aspect needs to be
analyzed in depth because it is a conflict factor and a barrier
for the strengthening of the networks and the CCMs.
The report poins out that along with REDLA+ it has been proposed
to start a process to develop instruments and tools that allow
to better define the participation mechanisms of the networks
and the CCMs, as well as monitor participation.
It adds that six committees manage the Global Fund and each region
can participate in three. It follows to say that the Latin American
region and the Caribbean participate in three committees, that
is not possible for it to participate in all, but that it is possible
to make integration changes to other committees.
Themed Workgroups
For the development of the Meeting three groups worked in the
following themes: 1) The relationship between the CCM and the
BP, 2) The participation of vulnerable groups in the management
of the Global Fund, 3) Harmonization with national programs and
international cooperation, and 4) the acquisitions system.
Needs in themes such as technical support in the prevention of
HIV/AIDS were raised to the CCMs for the tuberculosis and malaria
components as well as the Monitoring and Evolution component.
Also
raised were the needs in the Networks and for the care, treatment
and support in HIV/AIDS.
The report concludes that delegates of the networks’ CCMs
had the space to present and discuss their difficulties in management
and execution of the Global Fund’s projects. Likewise, they
informed the international cooperation of their proposals to improve
them and the technical support required to implement them, although
the answer of the international cooperation to these requests
falls short, the report points out.
Immediately afterwards, Mancheno’s report specifies that
“the document presented by the horizontal technical cooperation
group did not meet the needs proposed by the delegates of the
countries (…) The proposal presented is of technical assistance,
very valid to improve the efficacy and impact of the national
control programs for malaria, tuberculosis and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The answer shouldn’t be a recipe for the solution of the
identified needs, but the development of skills for the implementation
of the proposals made by the same performers that represent the
different areas that participate in the management of the GF”.
At the conclusion of the event, a letter was signed and addressed
to the Fund’s President, asking for reconsideration in the
Panama situation. In addition, the reduction of available funds
for the ARV for the country proposals was questioned.
Download
the report written by Manuel Mancheno / Document in spanish
PDF format, q0 pages. 45 Kb/Back
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