Communities, Rights, and Gender PLATFORM IN Middle East and North Africa

The MENA Platform on Communities, Rights, and Gender is a communications and coordination platform for civil society groups, key population networks, non-governmental and community-based organisations that are involved in the response to fight HIV, TB, and malaria. It is one the six regional platforms that were established with the support of the the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria (the Global Fund) under the Community, Rights, and Gender Special Initiative (CRG SI).

There are currently six platforms, three of which are in Africa – one for Anglophone Africa, hosted by EANNASO, Francophone Africa, hosted by Réseau Accès aux Médicaments Essentiels (RAME) and Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) hosted by International Treatment Preparedness Coalition MENA (ITPC-MENA).

The creation of the Regional Platforms reflects the urgency of including Communities, Rights, and Gender -related interventions in HIV, TB, and malaria programmes. Specifically, the platforms hope to:

• Improve the knowledge of civil society and community-based organizations on the Global Fund and on how to access technical assistance to improve the inclusion of CRG-related interventions in their HIV, TB, and malaria programmes;
• Coordinate with other technical assistance providers in the region;
• Improve understanding on the technical assistance and capacity gaps of civil society and community-based organizations to promote and/or implement Communities, Rights, and Gender -related interventions; and
• Promote strategic Communities, Rights, and Gender -related capacity-building initiatives in the region.

THE WORK OF THe MENA GLOBAL FUND REGIONAL PLATFORM

As a coordination and communications platform, ITPC MENA supports initiatives to help civil society groups, key population networks, non-governmental and community-based organisations to push for the inclusion of Communities, Rights, and Gender -related interventions in different HIV, TB, and malaria programmes across the region. Our work includes the following:

• Coordinating and facilitating communications among different stakeholders from civil society and partners for relevant and up-to-date content and materials on Communities, Rights, and Gender;
• Facilitating a deeper understanding of Communities, Rights, and Gender issues among HIV, TB, and malaria civil society groups, donors, development partners, and technical assistance providers as well as  improving awareness of how support can be provided to mainstream Communities, Rights, and Gender interventions;
• Providing information to civil society groups, key population networks, non-governmental and community-based organisations on how to access support from the Global Fund CRG Technical Assistance Programme, or via other TA providers;
• Developing Communities, Rights, and Gender resources, among them documents to capacitate civil society members of Country Coordinating Mechanism on how to engage at the CCM and in different NFM processes in order to advocate for Communities, Rights, and Gender -related interventions;
• Through country partners and partners, conducting Needs Assessment workshops to map out Communities, Rights, and Gender needs and priorities at the country level;
• Producing community-friendly resources online and engaging in social media engagements to broaden awareness on Communities, Rights, and Gender among key populations; and
• Developing resources to unpack disease-specific Communities, Rights, and Gender issues. 

You have a question ? Reach us at : regional.platform@itpcmena.org