We are happy to bring you a recap of our powerful workshop held during #AIDS2024 in Munich with RISE Initiative. The room was full with women in all of their diversity advocating for gender-transformative programming in Global Fund. You can find a quick summary of the speakers interventions with the links to key documents and resources.
Date: July 24th
Location: Hotel H4 Munchen Messe
Time: 9h00 – 10h10
Part 1: Introduction:
Lesley Odental start the session thanking the attendance in the middle of a busy week of conference. Later, she informed the attendees about the structure of the session, and ask them to sign the attendance register, as well as a consent form for recording purposes.
Part 2: Presentations
Jennifer Sherwood – amfAr & RISE Member: Jennifer Sherwood began by presenting the key results of the RISE report, focusing on the availability of data on HIV and TB grants. She emphasised the importance of having detailed information on fund absorption, which is crucial for reprogramming unspent funds to address previously unfunded community needs. For instance, she highlighted that in Benin, only 86% of the allocated budget had been spent, indicating significant opportunities for reprogramming these unused funds. Jennifer underscored the necessity of evidence-based tools that enable communities to ask the right questions within the Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM), thereby improving decision-making and accountability. She illustrated how understanding grant data at a granular level could empower communities to advocate for their priorities effectively.
Alana Sharp – Rise Steering Group: Alana Sharp followed up on Jennifer’s presentation by explaining that the CCM Data Dashboard project was the first time all such data had been made available and easy understandable in one place. She stressed that transparency and accessibility of data are crucial for empowering communities. Alana pointed out that previously, data was scattered across various sources, making it difficult for communities to access and utilise it effectively. By centralising the data, communities can now better understand how funds are being spent and where adjustments are needed. She also emphasised the ongoing efforts to ensure that this data remains updated and accessible, which is vital for enabling effective advocacy and decision-making.
Anushiya Karunanithy – Rise Steering Group: Anushiya addressed the challenges related to gender representation in the CCM. She noted that the participation of women and gender-diverse groups in the CCM is typically less than 20%, which severely limits the diversity of voices in decision-making processes. Anushiya explained that recommendations within the CCM often face discrimination, with women’s voices being drowned out by the male-dominated decision-making environment. She highlighted specific instances where conflicts of interest were misinterpreted to exclude community members unjustly. Anushiya stressed the need for continuous training and empowerment to ensure that women can effectively participate and make their voices heard in the CCM. She also discussed the need for increasing the number of seats allocated to key populations, ensuring that women and gender-diverse individuals are adequately represented.
Andrea Guillem – W4GF Communications Lead: Andrea Guillem introduced various resources developed by Women for Global Fund to assist in navigating the grant cycle, including guides and digital dossier. She elaborated on the gender assessment methodology, describing it as a participatory process that helps identify gender disparities and advance gender equality through transformative actions. Andrea emphasised the importance of the community priority annex as a mandatory accountability document that should be included in every funding request. This document ensures that community priorities are considered and integrated into the funding process. She also discussed the gender equality marker, a tool used to assess the integration of gender equality in funding requests, and how it ranks proposals based on their effectiveness in addressing gender disparities. Andrea highlighted the need for women-led organisations to take the lead in these processes to ensure that interventions are gender-sensitive and tailored to local needs.
Lesley Odental – W4GF Steering Group Chair: Lesley Odental spoke on the importance of following through after the funding request stage, particularly during budget decision-making and the selection of Principal Recipients (PRs). She explained that the Technical Review Panel (TRP) report is essential for holding countries accountable and ensuring that gender equity programmes are enhanced according to TRP recommendations. Lesley provided examples of how countries can use fund absorption data to reprogramme resources and address unmet needs, stressing that it is crucial to follow these steps to maintain accountability and transparency. She highlighted the significance of the portfolio optimisation process, which reallocates unspent funds, often towards the end of a grant cycle. Lesley shared anecdotes of how some countries, like Kenya, misallocated unspent funds to unnecessary meetings, underscoring the importance of vigilant monitoring and advocacy to ensure funds are used effectively.