Gender equality advocates, including women living with HIV, have limited engagement in the process of Concept Note (CN) development and during the country dialogue process according to a survey commissioned by Women4GF (with the support of ASAP associates) among women advocates. This includes women’s advocates who are members of Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs) and other related mechanisms at country level.
Proactive involvement by gender equality advocates prior to the development of the CN can have a substantial impact on the quality and gender sensitivity of proposals, and this can happen through activities such as reaching out to the CCMs, being part of the CN writing team, and engaging other developmental partners for support during conversations at country level around Global Fund grant making activities. These should all be priorities for W4GF Advocates in countries that have not yet submitted their CNs. While most countries have already submitted their CNs some will do so in early 2015. A tentative list of countries expected to submit CNs to the GF in the next window in 2015 (across all components: HIV, HIV/TB, TB, Malaria and HSS) is here:
Please see window 5 through window 8 found on page 12 and 13 in this document for clarity
The Community, Rights and Gender (CRG) division of the Global Fund has established a technical assistance (TA) programme to support community groups including key affected women groups, women’s movements, positive women’s networks, and other gender equality advocates and CBOs working at country level. This TA is designed to secure greater access to the resources necessary to influence the grant related processes, including concept note development, and creating space during the country dialogue for gender and human rights perspectives. Requests from CCMs will also be considered, if developed in collaboration with the above groups.
The CRG TA scheme focuses on stages up to concept note approval only, so requests for grant making falls outside the scope of the programme. Three main areas of support are covered, and they are (
1) situational analysis and needs assessment,
(2) engagement on country dialogue; and
(3) supporting country design.
For more details, and to request support through the CRG Technical Assistance programme, please visit the Global Fund Website.