CVC: Influencing National Program Decisions on Behalf of ISPs
The Caribbean Vulnerable Communities (CVC) Coalition is a regional coalition of over 40 community leaders and non-governmental agencies working with populations especially vulnerable to HIV and AIDS, or often forgotten in access to treatment and health care programmes.
Formed in 2004 by Dr. Robert Carr, CVC is a constituency-based regional advocacy coalition of diverse civil society actors, which provides a platform for policy dialogue and comprehensive, coordinated responses addressing vulnerability, human rights and sexual health. CVC remains committed to continuing in consortium for the enhanced coordinated HIV and Human Rights response for Inadequately Served Populations (ISP) including Marginalized Youth (MY), Sex Workers (SW), drug users (PUD) and migrants.
In support of its regional members, in 2018, CVC recognized that Jamaica and Belize soon would be undertaking grant making processes with the Global Fund, and undertook supporting CSOs that work with ISP (ISP-CSOs) in these two countries to become influence leaders in decisions made for future funding. Besides ensuring better programming for ISPs, organizations were strengthened in their capacity for advocacy.
Belize
While ISPs are part of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) in Belize, their engagement has been unstructured and sporadic. There was no organized framework for consultations with ISPs to arrive at shared decisions on grant management and grant performance. To address this issue, CVC provided a sub-grant to the Belize National AIDS Commission to facilitate a series of capacity development sessions aimed at strengthening the engagement of ISP-CSOs. CVC’s intervention coincided with the period in which Belize entered into the grant-making phase to finalize its continuation grant under the Global Fund.
Five Belizean ISP-CSOs participated in two 2-day capacity-building workshops, which focused on Operational Management and Communications Strategy. Participation was transversal, and ISPs represented included PLHIV, MSM, trans persons and youth. Within the workshops, ISP-CSOs shared best practices for community involvement with the CCM, identified a mechanism for CSO collaboration that fosters engagement with the CCM, worked to improve the quality of communication between ISP-CSOs and their constituents, and presented sustainability mechanisms, including the use of social contracting.
Because of the collaboration that took place during these workshops, ISP-CSOs have increased their capacity to meaningfully contribute to CCM deliberations, advocating for better programming for ISPs, and for social contracting funds under transitions grants with the Global Fund. A CSO hub was established in November 2018 as a mechanism for CSOs to collaborate more effectively at many levels, including contributing to the CCM processes.
CVC and the Belize National AIDS Commission will provide ongoing technical assistance to ISP-CSOs to implement the actions under their communication strategy that will increase engagement between their constituents, representatives on the CCM, and the National AIDS Commission.
Jamaica
CVC provided a sub-grant to Jamaica AIDS Support for Life (JASL) to support strengthening the engagement of ISPs in CCM processes in Jamaica. JASL was selected as it chairs the HIV Civil Society Forum and is the lead Global Fund sub-recipient for ISP interventions. The HIV Civil Society Forum serves as the focal point for the CSO representation on the CCM. CVC’s intervention was timely as during that period Jamaica was engaged in the grant-making phase for its new Global Fund grant.
Six ISP-CSOs participated in key informant interviews to assess their prior level of engagement in the CC, and the extent to which they have participated in any knowledge-sharing activities or communications related to Global Fund processes. Participation was transversal, and included groups representing PLHIV, youth, women and trans persons. All respondents reported knowledge of the Global Fund grant making process; however, several recommendations were made for improving engagement with the CCM and Global Fund activities.
Data from the assessment was used to create a report for dissemination to the CCM and other key implementers in the HIV response. This report was used to inform the Global Fund grant-making process in Jamaica, as well as to continue strengthening the engagement of ISPs across CCM processes. Four of the six CSOs that participated in the assessment have become recipients under the new Global Fund grant and the findings have informed some of the refined interventions and resource allocations. Additionally, four ISP-CSOs now have community representatives representing their constituents on the CCM.
In the future, the report may serve as a platform for the ongoing dialogue on Global Fund transition and sustainability, as well as be utilized by the Ministry of Health’s HIV/STI Unit to inform the development and implementation of ISP-serving programmes across many level – governmental, technical partners, donors and other stakeholders.
It is because of CVC’s long-respected history with multiple levels of stakeholders, and strong technical knowledge on advocacy and working within the context of the Global Fund, that these results were able to be achieved. Not only are the ISP-CSOs are now more integrated into the CCM and Global Fund planning processes, they are poised to best advocate for their constituents, and sustainability of their future funding.