Women4GlobalFund (W4GF) brings together women’s rights advocates, especially women living with HIV, and directly affected by TB and malaria — to advance gender equality through the Global Fund. W4GF mobilises women in all their diversity to ensure that the world’s most important finance mechanism for the HIV, TB and malaria supports programmes that meet the rights and needs of women and girls.
W4GF is a global movement, a virtual network with a small team working virtually across Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Our Fiscal hosts are EANNASO in Tanzania and ICASO in Canada. The direction of W4GF is overseen by its Steering Group, and informed by Key Collaborators taking action at national level as well as other key stakeholders from sister networks and organisations. W4GF works closely with networks of women living with HIV and women from key affected populations, including through The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) and the International Network of People Who Use Drugs (INPUD), as well as with the three civil society Delegations to the Global Fund Board and the Community, Rights and Gender Regional Communication Platforms and other allies.The first phase of organising was been supported by the Global Fund secretariat and facilitated by ASAP, through projects commenced with the ATHENA network.
We are not an organisation – rather we are building a movement. W4GF is mobilising activists, especially from community organisations in implementing countries. At the start our goal was to make sure that the Global Fund’s Gender Equality Strategy (GES) is put into action, and achieves real impacts. Women4GF is a space to mobilize more action so that the Global Fund resources go where they are most needed and where they will change lives. We need to finance gender transformative programmes, to meet the needs and rights of women and girls in all their diversity. Women4GF is designed to make sure that diverse voices are central to the conversation about what the Global Fund does, and where the money is spent, to have the greatest impact on our world and our communities.
Those of us who started this idea share a hope to live in a world where no woman or girl is marginalised and all women – in all their diversity – are able to access the services and treatment they need.