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Tuesday, 9 March 2004 |
 Partnership Forum |
GLOBAL FUND LAUNCHES PARTNERSHIP FORUM
Innovative foundation opens its doors for debate, comment and feedback
Geneva, Switzerland: Today, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria launches its Partnership Forum – an open opportunity for stakeholders to offer input on how well the Global Fund is doing and guidance on how it can do better in the future.
The Partnership Forum is identified in the Global Fund bylaws as one of its four governing, administrative and advisory bodies, alongside its Board of Directors, Secretariat and Technical Review Panel. The Forum provides a channel for feedback from stakeholders who are not formally represented elsewhere in the governance structure of the foundation.
“We encourage all stakeholders to add their voices to the Partnership Forum and to give us an honest assessment of how the Global Fund is working in your countries and communities,” said Helene Gayle, Global Fund Board Member and Director, HIV, Tuberculosis, and Reproductive Health, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, “as well as your guidance on how to maximise its impact.”
The Global Fund, established to mobilize and distribute new funding to address the three deadly diseases, represents a broad partnership that employs new, innovative structures to bring together civil society – including affected communities – governments, international and bilateral groups and foundations. The new Partnership Forum represents one of these innovative structures.
In collaboration with Health & Development Networks (HDN) , the Global Fund has launched a dedicated online discussion forum called PartnersGF to promote and support multi-stakeholder participation, particularly that of civil society. Supported by GTZ BackUp Initiative, the discussion allows all stakeholders to communicate ideas and suggestions on how to improve the impact and operations of the Global Fund.
PartnersGF is managed by HDN, an independent network with previous experience in facilitating civil society input into the Global Fund. It focuses on themes that stakeholders and others have consistently brought to the Fund’s attention over the past two years. Syntheses and conclusions of the discussions will be considered by the Global Fund’s Board in due course.
“Our commitment is to use your wisdom to the best of our abilities, and to respect fully the formal position, authority and principles of the Partnership Forum,” said Dr. Richard Feachem, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria. “In doing so, we recognize that transparent and frank discussion is key.”
On July 7-8 this year the Global Fund will also organise a physical meeting of the Partnership Forum in Bangkok, Thailand just before the XV International AIDS Conference.
To access the online discussion go to www.theglobalfund.org/en/about/forum
or send an email to: join-partnersGF@eforums.healthdev.org
Press inquiries should be referred to Jon Lidén, Director
of Communications
Tel: +41 22 791 1723, mobile: +41 79 244 6006, e-mail:
