The Global Fund’s 7th Replenishment: Fight For What Counts: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality

Women4GlobalFund (W4GF) and the Her Voice Fund have put this together so that you have everything you need to know about the Global Fund’s 7th Replenishment, how to engage, and why it matters for the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality. You can download a copy of this here and in French

Advocacy videos

Don’t miss W4GF advocates calling on their and other governments to step up their pledges in these short powerful videos here

What are we reading…

Calling on the European Union
Dear Germany….. W4GF, Speak Up Africa and Her Voice Fund letter
W4GF and Her Voice Fund letter to the United Kingdom
W4GF and Her Voice Fund Call to Action
W4GF Letter to Sweden, Response from Sweden – and then W4GF’s follow up response to Sweden
An open letter to Chancellor Scholz, advocating for Germany to make a pledge to the Global Fund for the 7^thReplenishment consistent with the minimum US$18 billion objective. The letter already has 58 signatories, listed on the website, and is still open for endorsements!
An open letter to the hosts of the second COVID-19 Summit, which took place last week. We asked for more meaningful civil society involvement in pandemic preparedness and response, and for the focus on new and emerging diseases not to eclipse the importance of HIV, TB and malaria.
The European Commission must scale up its contribution to the Global Fund

1. What is the Replenishment?

The Global Fund raises funds in three-year cycles known as Replenishments. 92% of the total funding comes from donor governments and the remaining funding comes from the private sector, foundations and innovative financing initiatives. The Global Fund is currently in its 7th Replenishment cycle that will cover its implementation for the period 2023-2025. There are two important events that mark the replenishment process. These are the preparatory meeting and the pledging conference.

The preparatory meeting

At the preparatory meeting (a two-day high level event held on 23–24 February 2022) the Global Fund announces the amount of money it intends to raise and releases its Investment Case, which is a detailed description of the amount of money to be raised, provides the rationale for that amount, and explains how the money will be used over the next three years.

The Global Fund Investment Case is the key document that will help the Global Fund partnership to mobilise towards a successful 7th Replenishment. Read the Investment Case at a Glance, which provides an overview of key elements to know about. It is based on the ambition laid out in the Global Fund new Strategy. This will take significant resources. The target for the 7th Replenishment is to raise at least $18 billion.

The pledging conference

The second meeting is called the pledging conference. It takes place several months after the preparatory meeting, in September 2022, with specific dates and venue to be announced. At this meeting the Global Fund announces the amount of money that donors have committed to giving over the next three years.

Most donors announce their financial commitments to the Global Fund as ‘pledges’, during the months between the preparatory meeting and the pledging conference. During this time, the Global Fund and its many partners, including communities and civil society groups, conduct advocacy activities and outreach to raise as much money as possible.

Most contributions to the Global Fund come from governments around the world. For example, on 28 March 2022, President Biden’s budget request for the fiscal year 2023 included a request for US$2 billion for the Global Fund replenishment and an intended total pledge of US$6 billion from the U.S for the 7th Replenishment. Contributions or solidarity pledges also come from low income countries, but grants are received from the Global Fund (known as ‘implementing countries’). Contributions from such a wide range of countries help to ensure that all partners have a direct stake in making HIV, TB and malaria programmes strong and successful. Keep an eye on the Global Fund Advocates Network(GFAN) pledging tracker.

Why it is important for you and other women and girls to support the 7th Replenishment?

The Global Fund has explained in its investment case that it needs at least US$18 billion to deliver the new Global Fund Strategy (2023–2028) and get back on track in the responses to HIV, TB and malaria.

The at least US$18 billion target for the 7th Replenishment is US$4 billion greater than what the Global Fund raised during the previous replenishment. With at least 18 billion, the Global Fund will be able to:

Save 20 million more lives between 2020 and 2026, reducing the mortality rate by 64% across the three diseases.  
Avert more than 450 million infections or cases of HIV, TB and malaria, reducing the incidence rate by 58% across the three diseases by 2026  
This means that the Global Fund could reduce the annual death toll across the three diseases to 950,000 in 2026, down from 2.4 million in 2020, and 4 million in 2005.  
Reduce global inequality in life expectancy (where people in low-income countries live much shorter lives than in high-income countries) by 9% in 2026.

The target of at least 18 billion is envisioned to get the world back on track towards the global targets on the three diseases, but even in raising that, a funding gap would remain to ensure full coverage. As such, the target of at least 18 billion is truly the minimum that must be raised. Now more than ever, increased funding is needed to overcome the global setbacks confronting HIV, TB and malaria programmes due to the added burden of COVID-19 as well as an economic crisis. This is even more relevant in countries where women and girls are at high risk and especially vulnerable.

While the Global Fund’s new Strategy has more ambitious commitments around human rights, gender equality and equity than ever before, the replenishment needs to be successful in order to secure the financial resources that will enable the delivery of these commitments.

We need the replenishment to succeed because the health and well-being of millions of women and girls depend on the Global Fund’s resources and leadership. The Strategy includes many goals and targets related to gender equality and the involvement of communities and women in all their diversity.

What has happened so far?

The preparatory meeting at the end of February 2022 launched the overall process. This virtual meeting was hosted by a coalition of five African countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa), with high-level representation from four presidents. The importance of listening to and responding to the needs of women and girls was highlighted during the meeting by Ms Grace Ngulube, a young woman from Malawi. (Read her talking points here.) “We cannot continue like this anymore – we need real change and we need it now. As a young woman I want to live a full life with HIV and I see myself as an integral part of my country’s response to HIV.”

Since then, a series of advocacy and awareness-raising activities highlighting the perspectives of communities have taken place. Highlights include:

A statement at the preparatory meeting from the three civil society delegations to the Global Fund Board (Communities, Developing NGO and Developed NGO Delegations) urging the Global Fund and its partners to be ambitious and generous with financial resources. It underscored the importance for communities to have access to funding and called for inclusivity in the Global Fund grant processes, including decision-making about what and who to fund.
Global Week of Action, held between 7–11 March 2022, was a coordinated campaign involving communities and civil society groups around the world to raise awareness on the key messages of the

7th Replenishment investment case. A wide range of activities took place, including crafting and delivering letters to embassies, and holding meetings with key government decision-makers.

How you can get involved

There are many ways to get involved before the pledging conference in September 2022. The Global Fund is committed to supporting ongoing dialogue and information-sharing with civil society and communities, at national, regional and global levels. This includes supporting civil society and communities to advocate and amplify their key asks throughout the replenishment process.

Hold the Global Fund accountable to meaningfully engaging civil society and communities! Reach out if you need information, support or guidance on how to engage.

The Global Fund partnership must ensure its replenishment messaging is, at minimum, gender sensitive and inclusive of women and girls. As a woman’s rights and gender advocate, you can ask questions such as:

Has the Global Fund articulated what the replenishment can deliver for women and girls in all our diversity?
Are women’s rights and gender advocates being meaningfully included in the replenishment process?
Does their communications and social media messaging portray women and girls in all our diversity?
Do they use these channels to amplify the asks of civil society and communities, including women and girls?

In addition to holding the Global Fund accountable for a gender-sensitive replenishment process, you have a key role to play in helping mobilise the funds needed for a successful replenishment. For example, you can work with other advocates and networks to:

Lobby government policy-makers and parliamentarians to contribute to the 7th Replenishment to the fullest extent possible. This effort could include encouraging them to provide more domestic financial resources (e.g., in national budgets) for HIV, TB and malaria as well as general health needs.
Engage the media (newspapers, radio, TV, social media, traditional media etc.) to raise awareness about the Global Fund and how it benefits your country – including women and girls in all their diversity.
Be vocal and open about your experiences and needs as a woman or girl affected by HIV, TB or malaria in your community. Articulate what a successful replenishment will mean to you and your community.

Below are further ideas on how to ge involved – as well as updates of what is happening around the world:

The Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN) is tracking civil society work around the 7th Replenishment. It is also continuously developing resources to support communities and civil society advocates, many of which are part of its advocacy toolkit around the investment case. This toolkit has sample messages that can be used for advocacy purposes as well as many other resources providing information and suggestions, including recordings of briefing calls on key events and milestones related to the replenishment.
GFAN Asia-Pacific was one of the organisers of the Global Week of Action. It has many other ongoing activities that you can support and be involved in, including communicating key messages such as #PowerofMore, #FightForWhatCounts and #BetterTogether.
The Global Fund’s website has regularly updated information about the 7th Replenishment, including a ‘social media wall’.

Several global and regional events being held over the next few months offer important opportunities to raise awareness about the Global Fund and its ongoing 7th Replenishment – and to advocate for governments and other partners to contribute significantly as follows:

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2022, which will take place during the week of 20 June 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Group of 7 (G7) annual summit meeting, to be held on 26-28 June 2022 in Germany. This is a gathering of several of the world’s wealthiest countries, all of which have been donors to the Global Fund in the past.
24th International AIDS Conference (IAC), to be held in Montreal Canada from 29 July to 2 August 2022. Pre-conference meetings will be held ahead of the meeting, on 27 and 28 July 2022.

Together we can help raise money for the Global Fund to reduce inequities in health services by addressing gender-related and human rights barriers to access. To find out more about how you can get involved please keep an eye on the this page. We will be organising different sessions (see our webinar page for more information) and space around the replenishment. Please connect with the W4GF or the Her Voice Fund on the details below.