Strengthening Civil Society and Community Engagement in Global Fund Country Dialogue and Concept Note Development in the Middle East
Beirut, December 16, 2014
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Stop TB Partnership, and the Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA) organized a regional workshop to support countries in the Middle East and North Africa under the theme “Strengthening Civil Society and Community Engagement in Global Fund Country Dialogue and Concept Note Development in the Middle East.”
The workshop is taking place from 16 to 18 December 2014 at the Gefinor Rotana Hotel in Beirut, Lebanon. The workshop is consists of fifty-five participants, who are active in the parameters of the objectives representing the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, Palestine, Syria, Switzerland, Tunisia, the United Kingdom, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
The main objective of this workshop is to strengthen the capacity of civil society in order to actively participate in country dialogues in the development of project proposals on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in the region for 2015.
The MENAHRA Executive Director, Mr. Elie Aaraj, opened the workshop by saying “this meeting is different from others in that it brings together people representing civil society and people living with HIV/AIDS to support them. We are here discussing AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and we hope that the results of this meeting will further cooperation in the region.”
In turn considered the Global Fund representative, Ms. Marion Gleixner, stated that “we look forward to closing the gap in the Middle East and North Africa. Through this meeting, we have an opportunity to create new commitments and consider the new funding and major changes that are occurring in this region.”
Ms. Ntombekhaya Matsha-Carpentier, representing the Stop TB Partnership stated that they are working to ensure that civil society and communities who work on TB are seen as equal persons in the TB response.”
The first day included several discussion sessions that included, “encourage debate on the diversity of the epidemic in the region and on challenges of responding to the diseases in different setting” and “sharing experiences with country dialogue and concept note development,” and “the prominent challenges that countries face in the development of concept notes .”
