30 October, 2008
With the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria now issuing its Ninth Call for Proposals, it is imperative that ICEM affiliates involved in the fight against the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic respond now. The application form and support documentation are available in six languages at www.theglobalfund.org.
Proposals Have to Reach the Global Fund by 21 January 2009
All proposals submitted by the closing date of 21 January 2009 will be reviewed by the Secretariat to ensure that they meet the eligibility criteria. Eligible proposals will then be forwarded to the Technical Review Panel (TRP) for consideration. The TRP will make recommendations to the Global Fund Board, which will then decide.
How Does the Global Fund Work?
The Global Fund, itself a public/private partnership, is a funding mechanism. Since it was registered in January 2002 and up to December 2007 the Global Fund has approved grants with a total commitment of US$14.5 billion, more than half of it designated for HIV/AIDS.
The Global Fund is based in Geneva. It does not have any country representation. The proposal process and the implementation of grants are devolved to the national level. The Global Fund gives the policy framework and issues guidelines on various aspects of its operations. It raises money, spends it and proves it – the Global Fund is performance based.
All proposals have to go through the Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM). The composition of the CCMs is supposed to be representative of all stakeholders in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including civil society, the private sector and organisations of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).
How Can Unions Get Involved?
The role of the workplace in the fight against HIV/AIDS is officially recognised. The workplace is an important entry point for HIV/AIDS services and no workplace activities can be efficiently implemented without unions. The role of national unions and their international bodies, including the Global Union Federations, is acknowledged by international organisations such as the ILO, the World Health Organisation, and UNAIDS.
The Global Fund is supportive of public/private partnerships or co-investment arrangements. Without the involvement of the private sector, universal access to voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), and to anti-retroviral treatment (ART), is not possible or will be further delayed. The private sector is business and trade unions as workers’ representatives. The Guidelines for R9 proposals mention unions under eligible organisations of the private sector.
The manpower capacities of unions are limited. They have to attend to other day-to-day business. Unions are not single-issue NGOs. They have to look for partners and build alliances with companies and NGOs.
Very few CCMs include unionists. While we continue to call for union representation on CCMs, in the short term, it is vital that unions work through members of the CCMs who are sympathetic to their cause. It is important that unions find cooperating partners who can develop their project ideas into proposals for the CCM.
The German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) operates the BACKUP Initiative (Building Alliances – Creating Knowledge – Updating Partners), which provides support. GTZ is represented in more than 130 countries. Many USAID offices have HIV/AIDS Coordinators and certain embassies, notably of Nordic countries, the Netherlands, the UK, and the European Union, may be able to give assistance. Global Unions and the WHO have agreed to use the potential of unions in up-scaling and accelerating access to VCT and ART. The ILO and its workplace programme ILOAIDS has focal points on HIV/AIDS in a number of offices.
The most significant feature in recent Rounds has been that the Global Fund recommends that applicants specify one (or more) Principal Recipients (PRs) from the government sector and one (or more) from the various non-government sectors, including the private sector which includes unions (dual-track financing).
What are Your Next Steps?
• Put down your ideas about a workplace programme on one page and prepare a draft budget.
• Get to know the members of your country’s CCM and lobby those who are potentially sympathetic to union causes for the inclusion of workplace programmes in Round 9 proposals. Country-specific information is accessible at www.theglobalfund.org.
• Contact GTZ, USAID, the ILO, UNAIDS and WHO offices in your country.
• Build alliances with companies; remind them of their social responsibility.
• Cooperate with NGOs and organisations of PLWHA.
• Access the website www.aidspan.org/guides on which a guide to Round 9 applications is available.
How Can the ICEM Help?
The ICEM Global Coordinator has good working relations with all the organisations mentioned. He can help you with contacts and links to materials. Send your ideas about a workplace programme and mail inquiries to the ICEM Coordinator below. The ICEM has Global Agreements with a dozen multinational companies, which can be engaged in the fight against the pandemic.
Above all
• Start today if you want to do something.
• Remember that the private sector includes business, and unions as the legitimate workers’ representatives.
• Remember that you have allies who can be mobilized and who can give assistance.
• Write to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator at [email protected] for further information and help.