Read our last action alert, published in April, for all background details

The 3rd and final drafting session for the Outcome Document of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) will take place from 15-19 June 2015.

In the current Outcome Document, which will inform the financing of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Global Fund, along with Gavi, is acknowledged as a successful multi-stakeholder partnership in the field of health.

But the Global Fund deserves more than this.

Help promote changes to the Outcome Document now!

The Outcome Document should encourage country pledges, increased financing and strengthening, just as it does for other helpful multilateral institutions such as the Green Climate Fund, Global Environment Facility and Global Partnership for Education. With a replenishment year ahead and over a decade of innovative and life-saving work behind it, why have countries not included similar persuasive language for the Global Fund? We cannot allow a complacent attitude when it comes to fighting the world’s deadliest infectious diseases.

While all initial civil society responses to the call out for feedback on the original “Zero Draft” have already been taken into account in the latest draft, there is still time for civil society to make a difference before June 15th.

Advocating for the Global Fund in the Sustainable Development Agenda

• Are you a member of a post-2015 working group?
• Have you ever been in touch with a civil servant or politician who has attended or is attending consultations?
• Is your or a partner organization working directly in negotiations?
• Will you attend the civil society events in Addis?

We need you to take action now to share and promote Global Fund messaging within your circles and networks.

Take our letter template and adapt it for your audience. This letter includes all suggested changes and key messages that you can share with decision-makers, other civil society active on climate change issues or other global health issues and FfD, the media and the public. Share and push this language in all of your interactions on FfD advocacy.

Download our letter template and use it now in your advocacy!

Overview of key message suggestions for supporting and strengthening the case of the Global Fund

• The Global Fund as a financing mechanism is widely considered, alongside Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to be among the great success stories of progress made towards the Millennium Development Goals. If we are to find sustainable ways to finance the SDGs, countries should be looking to re-commit and scale-up the Global Fund to achieve the end of the pandemics and to ensure that the global framework for financing the SDGs reflects that.
• We want to end AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. We can only do this if we scale up financing. The suggested changes from civil society engaged in fighting the world’s deadliest infectious diseases aims to ensure that governments commit to financing through 2030 to do just this.
• The advances made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are widely considered to be one of the few successes of the MDGs – but there is still so much to do. Significant increased financing is needed to maintain current treatment regimens, to find new ways to address the changing nature of the diseases including drug-resistance, to develop vaccines to prevent future infections and to scale-up to reach those still without access to community and health systems.

Key moments in the lead up to the conference

• Additional Consultations on the Outcome Document, 1-5 June (UN HQ, NYC)
• Final Drafting Session on the Outcome Document of 3rd Conference on FfD, 15-19 June (UN HQ, NYC)
• Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD), 13-16 July (Addis)

References

• Outcomes Document (updated May 6th)
• Zero Draft (from March 16th)
• Sachs/Schmidt paper (April 8th Working Draft)
• Civil society
  • Rapid Response Group – Civil Society Response to Zero Draft
  • CONCORD document (EU CS position)
  • Canada/CCIC (Canadian CS position)
  • InterAction G7 Policy Paper
  • A New Policy for Global Justice: Civil Society’s Demands for the German G7 Presidency 2015

A number of other interesting reports can be found on the Sustainable Development Solutions Network’s website and the official UN event page.