Consultation on defining EECA strategic priorities for 2023-2025 allocation period took place on 3 October 2022 in Geneva in the offices of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The event was organized by the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Team within the Global Fund Secretariat with a consultative support from the EECA Regional Platform for Communication and Coordination being hosted by the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association. The Consultation brought together Global Fund implementers, key population networks, technical partners, and Secretariat staff to discuss strategic EECA priorities for the 2023-2025 allocation period.

This past May, the Global Fund Board approved a new allocation methodology for coming allocation period. Following the conclusion of the Seventh Replenishment in September and towards the end of the year, countries will receive allocation letters from the Global Fund Secretariat and will start preparing their funding requests for the new cycle of Global Fund grants.

The Consultation was intended to help the Global Fund colleagues to define new strategic priorities, taking stock of the progress already achieved over 2020-2022 and identifying areas that require further adjustment in order to achieve maximum programmatic impact for national programs. The discussion was guided by the new Global Fund Strategy 2023-2028: Fighting Pandemics and Building a Healthier and More Equitable World. Additionally, the consultation was aimed to help the participants to achieve a shared vision of the epidemiologic contexts, existing programmatic challenges, and best ways forward.

During the consultation the EECA Strategic Priorities 2023-2025 were presented and discussed. The conceptual framework presenting the HIV and TB EECA Strategic Priorities 2023-2025 is available here.

One of the sessions of the Consultation was jointly organized by the regional civil society and communities’ networks and organizations – Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA), Eurasian Coalition on Health, Rights, Gender and Sexual Diversity (ECOM), Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+) and Center for Health Policies and Studies (PAS Center). The aim of this session was to present the key messages and recommendations resulted from the Vilnius civil society consultation including those to the Global Fund Partnership on how to better adapt its approach to the support of HIV and TB responses in EECA in the new circumstances caused by the full-scale war started by Russia against Ukraine since early 2022 within the new funding cycle 2023-2025.

Here you may access the Communique “Surviving war and growing authoritarianism: How to ensure sustainability of civil society and community-led responses by people affected by HIV & TB and key populations” as well as the Community recommendations to the Global Fund partnership: war-affected circumstances in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. The latest document was jointly developed by over 20 regional KAP networks and civil society organizations.

Additionally, key recommendations on the needs for further support and technical assistance for TB response in EECA region resulted from the evaluation of the TB REP 2.0 regional project implementation were presented to the participants of the Consultation as well within this session.

Presentations form this session are available for download:

• During and after the war: rethinking the role of community networks of PLHIV and key groups and other civil society organizations meeting results

• Community Recommendations to the Global Fund Partnership: War-Affected Circumstances in Ukraine and Eastern Europe

• Priorities and needs for TB response in EECA region