About Platform

The Regional Platforms for Communication and Coordination were established in 6 regions of the world by the Global Fund within its Community, Rights and Gender Special Initiative (CRG-SI) which was implemented throughout 2014-2016.

The work of the Platforms was reaffirmed to be executed throughout 2017-2019 and 2020 – 2022 within a 2nd and 3rd phases of the now called CRG Strategic Initiative.

In 2014 – 2016 the EECA Regional Platform was hosted by the Regional Technical Support Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine and was implemented in consortium with Alliance Ukraine Consultancy, the Eurasian Harm Reduction Network (EHRN) and the East Europe and Central Asia Union of PLWH (ECUO). At the end of 2017 six civil society organizations were selected by the Global Fund to host the platforms and the region of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) has got a new host: the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA).

The regional platforms for communication and coordination are expected to have a key role in engaging civil society organizations and community networks in Global Fund processes. They are responsible to foster regional dialogue, exchange knowledge and good practices among civil society actors and networks, as well as to disseminating information on technical assistance opportunities across civil society and community groups across all countries where the Global Fund has grants and/or countries under Global Fund multi-country grants.

To progress towards these goals, the EHRA in its role as a regional platform is aiming to achieve the following objectives in EECA region:

Sub-objective 1: To enhance community knowledge of the Global Fund and its processes, through the regular bi-directional sharing of tailored and targeted information to a diverse audience.

Sub-objective 2: To strengthen the capacity and coordination of communities to engage in national and regional Global Fund grants and related processes.

Sub-objective 3: To improve community access to technical assistance through information-sharing, linkage to appropriate providers, support developing requests, and strengthening TA provider capacity and coordination.

Who may approach the Regional Platform and regarding what issues?

The Platform’s activities will cover the following EECA countries with active Global Fund HIV and/or TB grants: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania (TB), Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan (TB), Ukraine, Uzbekistan. Civil society organizations from these countries are eligible for technical assistance under the Global Fund’s Community, Rights and Gender (CRG) Technical Assistance Program. Civil society organizations from countries not eligible for Global Fund county funding but being included in regional grants can apply for CRG technical assistance as well.

The Platform is targeted at working with civil society organizations from the above mentioned EECA countries, including:

  1. Key population networks and organizations
  2. Youth-led networks and organizations
  3. Women’s networks and organizations
  4. Networks or organizations of people living with HIV or affected by tuberculosis or malaria
  5. Civil society networks and organizations led by or working with other affected communities (e.g. migrants, refugees, miners)

The Platform’s team will be happy to offer support in strengthening meaningful engagement of civil society and communities’ representatives in the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Global Fund-funded programs in EECA, including:

– support in accessing the technical assistance for engagement at all stages of the funding cycle, including country dialogue, development of the grant proposals, participation in monitoring and implementation of the grant program, etc.

– support in accessing the technical assistance for the engagement in the development, implementation and monitoring of the strategy for the transition to sustainable development of HIV, TB and malaria programs.

– support with issues related to the Global Fund’s structure and activities at the global, regional and country levels, its relevant procedures and policies as well as opportunities for civil society and community representatives to participate in relevant Global Fund’s processes.

– help to obtain the information on other issues important for ensuring meaningful participation of civil society and community representatives in the Global Fund processes in order to strengthen the efforts against the three diseases in the EECA region.

What is the role of the Platform in the context of the CRG Technical Assistance Program?

One of the tasks of the Regional Platform is to raise awareness of civil society and communities about technical assistance opportunities under the Global Fund’s CRG TA program, and to assist the interested parties in development of the quality TA requests for the CRG Technical Assistance.

Starting from 2021, applicants must contact the CRG Regional Platform in their region for assistance in shaping the request prior to submission to the Global Fund.

Therefore, if you have any questions about filling out the application form, or if you need advice on the possible content and/or quality of the request, please contact the Regional Platform.

At the same time, the Platform’s Team can’t influence in any way whether the request will be approved by the Global Fund Secretariat, to what extent and which organization – provider of technical assistance – will be assigned to your request.

Contact the Platform

Please address any questions regarding the work of the Platform or on the Global Fund’s CRG Technical Assistance Program to Ivan Varentsov, EHRA Sustainability & Transition Advisor: eecaplatform@harmreductioneurasia.org

Follow us on the Platform’s Facebook Page as well as join the EECA Regional Platform Facebook group.