From 10-12 July 2013, more than 35 individuals with extensive experience on gender equality, from over 20 countries, met in Geneva to focus on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund).
Twenty-three of the participants were women’s rights advocates working primarily at the community level, with grassroots organisations; over three-quarters of those advocates are openly living with HIV, including several from key populations. They were joined by representatives from the Global Fund and United Nations agencies. The meeting was supported by the Secretariat of the Global Fund, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with some additional support from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenareit (GIZ). The overarching aim was to strengthen women’s engagement with the Global Fund.