ABOUT AFRICAN CONSTITUENCY BUREAU FOR THE GLOBAL FUND (ACB)

The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) has two constituencies representing Africa namely the Eastern and Southern African (ESA) and West and Central Africa (WCA) constituencies. The two constituencies took a joined-up approach in 2012 with a twofold intent: to ensure that constituency priorities are reflected in Global Fund strategy and operational plans; and to strengthen the presence, voice and contributions of the constituencies, through their delegations, in all Global Fund governance deliberations and processes. The constituencies adopted a new governance framework that amongst other things, established a joint ESA and WCA Bureau – the African Constituencies Bureau, ACB – a policy think tank that support ESA and WCA Global Fund board members, committee members and delegations. Its primary functions include ensuring effective engagement, representation and participation of African constituencies in Global Fund processes. It also seeks to enhance the capacity of the African constituencies to shape Global Fund policies and processes. The constituencies comprise a total of 47 countries.

The ACB, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, ensures effective engagement, representation and participation of African Constituencies, ESA and WCA, in Global Fund Board processes.

Background to this Opportunity

The Global Fund, the biggest multi-lateral mechanism, is at the centre of the global community’s efforts to end AIDS, TB and malaria by 2030. The fund is in the process of developing its post-2022 strategic plan. There is so much at stake for this plan given it will be the last before the 2030 goal of ending the three epidemics. It cannot be business as usual and the margin for error is therefore extremely limited.

Africa bears the biggest share of the global burden of malaria and HIV and a considerable burden of TB. As the epicenter of the epidemics, it is critical that the continent is at the forefront of developing evidence-based interventions that will turn the tide of these epidemics and engage in discussions on the Global Fund’s next strategy. This will be a huge demonstration of the continent’s ownership of global strategies towards ending the three epidemics in 2030.

Responses that are led by and based in communities – and the systems and structures needed to support them – are central to ending the Malaria, TB and AIDS, including other components like maternal and child health, adolescent health, etc. This objective will not be attained without the engagement and central involvement of communities and the systems that underpin community responses. Increased planning, coordination between communities and formal health services is a key opportunity for the advancement of integrated, people-centered care, reducing the demands on the formal health system and strengthening country’s overall system for health.

Community systems strengthening (CSS) includes interventions that support the development of informed, capable, coordinated and sustainable structures and mechanisms through which community members, community-led and community-based organizations and community groups interact, coordinate and deliver their responses to the challenges and needs affecting people in their communities.

In the Africa’s Common Position on the UNGA Special Session HLM on AIDS (2016), African Ministers of Health were concerned that progress continues to be undermined by various factors such as weak health systems including inadequate human resources for health, weak drug and commodity supply chains, insufficient quality control, inadequate integration of HIV services with tuberculosis, MNCH, Hepatitis C, Cervical Cancer and other health and development services.  The Ministers recommended to Member States to strengthen health systems to achieve treatment and prevention targets by, inter alia, rapidly scaling up efforts to build a robust and expanded community health workforce, fully integrated into comprehensive inter-disciplinary service delivery teams and financially compensated, trained, equipped with mobile technologies, supported and supervised. Volunteerism should also be welcomed, where appropriate, as an additional element of efforts to strengthen community systems.

Community systems strengthening has become even more paramount given the Covid-19 which threatens to roll back the enormous but fragile gains achieved vis-à-vis HIV, TB and malaria. The need to shore up these gains is often dependent on a variety of community actors including, but not limited to community-based volunteers, civil society actors, etc. providing a myriad of services including demand creation, provision of last mile services including treatment adherence, social mobilization, community monitoring and reporting, etc.

Global Fund’s CSS priorities for the Global Fund’s 2020-22 allocation period include:

• Community-based monitoring (CBM): CBM increases community engagement and buy-in through collaborative processes identifying and addressing bottlenecks and gaps in service provision and providing feedback to decision makers using short local feedback loops. It provides a unique source of data to inform programmatic decision making and oversight and for policy review and development.
• Community led advocacy and research: service providers, national programs, policy makers, and local and national leaders are held accountable by community led and based organizations for the effective delivery of services and programs and the protection and promotion of human rights and gender equity.
• Social mobilization, building community linkages, collaboration and coordination: communities are required to engage in activities to improve their health and well-being and to create an enabling environment. This may include the creation or strengthening of national community platforms that improve coordination, joint planning and effective linkages between communities and the formal health systems, other actors and broader movements such as human rights and women’s movements. Strong informal and formal relationships between communities, formal health systems and other stakeholders enables them to work in complementary and mutually reinforcing ways, maximizing the use of available resources and avoiding unnecessary duplication and competition.
• Institutional capacity building, planning and leadership development: activities that support the establishment and sustainability of community led and based organizations and networks is necessary for these organization and networks to more fully leverage the comparative value of communities and enabling them to be more equal partners in the co-production of health. Strengthening capacity is key to underpinning and promoting quality services, social mobilization, community-based monitoring and advocacy.

As can be seen from the foregoing, therefore, strengthening community systems is an important priority for Africa if the region is to end the epidemics or achieve UHC by 2030. The ACB is therefore seeking to hire a consultant that will support the organization to conduct a deep dive into community systems in Africa and provide evidence-informed guidance on how the region, with support from the Global Fund, can be more strategic in this area during the post-2022 Global Fund strategy.

Qualifications: