Re: Call for Proposals - GFTAM round 8

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

The national CCM has requested concept notes from civil society for inclusion

into the country coordinated proposal to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tb and

Malaria, in response to its 8th call from proposals. In guiding the response to

its call, the CCM has also set out key areas for CSO participation.

The call for engagement of CSO’s is an affirmation of the role that civil

society will and has to play in the response to AIDS, TB and Malaria in India.

The inclusion of civil society organisations, is a fundamental requirements

placed upon the CCM by the Global Fund in preparing national proposals.

There is a concern among indigenous service delivery NGOs and CBOs in the

country, that the scope and capacity of their inclusion is often overshadowed by

International agencies projecting themselves as representation of CSO’s in India

in the submission of proposals to the CCM

There is a strong concern that the key areas for engagement by the CSO’s in HIV/

AIDS, TB and Malaria sector is not the felt needs of the NGO’s in addressing

the epidemic. The existing thematic and focus areas of priority is a clear

duplication of the efforts of the existing national AIDS control program

(especially NACP 3)

It must be pointed out that for the Global Fund round 8 call for proposals has

an relatively large budgetary allocation for the region; in this context the

existing guidance note and the specific focus on a few north eastern states may

not be sufficient to justify a relatively large CSO proposal component.

There is also a singular exclusion of among the key areas outlines of the need

to build / strengthen community systems that will provide accountability /

oversight mechanisms, and information sharing systems at the community level to

better utilise resources available for the control of the 3 epidemics.

Given these gap areas in the guidance note set out by the CCM, the CCM should

reconsider its key focus areas, and allow non-governmental stakeholders to bring

forward innovative ideas in all aspects of the combat against the 3 diseases,

including the areas set out by the CCM. This would allow greater range and

freedom to the non-governmental efforts to be complementary to the ongoing

government led efforts against the 3 diseases.

Yours Sincerely

Dr.Ashok Rau

Executive Trustee/CEO

Freedom Foundation-India, Nigeria, and Botswana

(Centers of Excellence- Substance Abuse & HIV/AIDS)

Head Office: 180, Hennur Cross, Bangalore - 560043, India

Senior Research Fellow, TheTerry Sanford Institute of Public Health,Duke

University(USA)

Visiting Faculty, Yale University (USA)

Phone (O) +91 80 25440134, 25449766, 25430611

Fax (O) +91 80 25440134

email:freedom@...