GFAN will invest in its website and online platforms to serve as a central place for advocates to post and share perspectives globally and also to communicate in decentralized and as-needed groupings, such as in working groups that might be South-South, thematic, population-specific, or region-specific. The GFAN website and communications platforms will remain highly accessible and open, to encourage any advocate to sign up for information and access invitations to calls and meetings.
GFAN will organize regular global gatherings and will convene and facilitate regional and multi-country collaborations.
More than 200 Global Fund advocates currently meet and communicate through GFAN-sponsored calls and meetings every year. GFAN is recognized as a trusted convener through which regional GFAN partners, Global Fund technical partners, the Global Fund Secretariat, Global Fund Board constituencies, and advocates working at global, regional, country and local levels can strategize about advocacy.
During 2021-2025, GFAN will continue to serve in this role to allow advocates to share information, develop collaborations, reinforce relationships and discuss, develop and agree on globally aligned advocacy strategies, messages, targets, and campaigns.
GFAN will foster inclusive and diverse participation in global advocacy. Diversity is a strength in global advocacy. The quality and effectiveness of advocacy improves when advocates working in diverse contexts, regions, languages, and thematic issues come together to share and align efforts.
In 2021-2025, GFAN will encourage further expansion of this diversity, working actively to include and encourage leadership by young people, key populations, and from a balance of regions, languages, demographics and the three diseases.
GFAN will specifically invest in new programming to build on the successes of the 2010-2014 Here I Am campaigns and the Speakers Bureau, operating since 2015. GFAN commits to developing an expanded initiative to help new leaders to be visible and vocal in health advocacy and to further amplify the voices of people affected in support of the Global Fund.
GFAN will work with GFAN regional partners and global partners to maintain a global strategy committee to review and affirm collective priorities and workplans each year.
Since its creation in 2011, GFAN has been guided by an international committee of experts from the GFAN regional partners and other global partners such as StopAIDS UK and Results Educational Fund (US). This committee has helped GFAN and its partners to be aligned in strategies and workplans, broadly transparent and accountable to each other and to the annual global gathering of advocates and reinforcing of each other in pushing into strong leading-edge advocacy.
[the following to be updated in April 2021 to reflect updated arrangements for governance] During 2021-2025, GFAN will maintain and expand this to an international strategy committee to include 10-15 individuals representing GFAN regional partners, Global Fund technical partners, and advocates working at global, regional, country and local levels on responses to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. Members in this GFAN global strategy committee will serve for three-year terms and will be recruited in an open transparent annual process among the organizations that participate regularly in GFAN’s annual gatherings. The committee will meet at least annually to review, discuss and affirm GFAN’s priorities and workplan and will be on call for strategic and technical advice as needed.
During 2021-2025, GFAN will connect and convene leaders in global advocacy against HIV, tuberculosis and malaria by organizing regular gatherings and facilitating collaborations to encourage advocates to share information, engage in dialogue, and reinforce relationships for effective advocacy.