Civil society organisation support

By the end of 2010, GAVI had committed over US$ 21 million to involve local CSOs in the planning and delivery of immunisation services, and to encourage cooperation and coordination between the public sector and civil society.

Approximately US$ 700,000 of type A support had been allocated to 10 countries;

Seven countries had received support through type B funding: Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia and Pakistan. To date, US$ 20.4 million has been approved through this funding stream.

Examples

Examples of how CSO funding has been used include:

• raising community awareness to improve maternal and child health in Ethiopia and Pakistan;
• engaging the scout movement in Indonesia in immunisation activities;
• collaborating with the private sector to reach rural communities in Afghanistan.

GAVI second evaluation

According to GAVI's second evaluation report, published in 2010, GAVI has encouraged the participation of CSOs in developing countries' health sector coordination committees (HSCC), which bring together Government representatives and bilateral/multilateral agencies. This has successfully promoted better coordination between the government and CSOs for immunisation and public health programmes.

The report cites the example of Pakistan, which received type A CSO funding: the government only started to involve CSOs in planning and implementing its programmes after a series of CSO workshops/meetings highlighted CSOs' work in immunisation.

Case studies

In order to support the momentum of GAVI's funding support for CSOs, GAVI has published Case Studies, documenting experiences and lessons learned under the GAVI CSO Type B support.

Evaluation

Most type A and type B activities will conclude between the end of 2011 and mid-2012, with GAVI undertaking an evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme.

The GAVI Alliance Board's Evaluation Advisory Committee will oversee the evaluation, with conclusions due in the second half of 2011.

The results of the evaluation will help inform decisions on future support.

More on this topic

From the GAVI site

Civil society

 

Civil society constituency

The health systems goal

 

Strengthening health delivery systems

 

Civil society organisations (CSOs), which include non-governmental organisations, community-based groups, academic institutions, faith-based groups and women's initiatives, have a long history of involvement in public health in developing countries.

Beyond the reach

They are particularly adept at delivering health services to people who, for geographical, socio-economic or cultural reasons are the hardest to reach - the last 10-20% of a county's population that are beyond the reach of direct government services and, all too often, remain unimmunised

In many GAVI-eligible countries, CSOs provide a large proportion of health services. For example, hospitals managed by CSOs take on 43% of medical work in Tanzania, 40% in Malawi, 34% in Ghana and nine percent in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 15% for India (with over 200 CSO hospitals), 13% for Bangladesh and 12% for Indonesia.

CSOs are also heavily involved in vaccination, delivering up to 60% of immunisation services in some countries.

Mobilise and advocate

CSOs also mobilise populations to create demand for immunisation and other child health services, and provide technical assistance to national immunisation and child health programmes.

At global and national levels, CSOs play a key role in putting immunisation on the agenda, advocating to decision-makers, donors and the media. Very often, they hold governments and international organisations accountable to their promises.

Best practice

Within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals, Global Health Partnership engagement with CSOs is cited as a best practice in pursuit of national and community ownership and sustainability.

However, all too often, developing country governments do not involve CSOs in planning and implementing their immunisation and health service programmes

More on this topic

From the GAVI site

Civil society

 

Civil society constituency

The health systems goal

 

Strengthening health delivery systems

 

GAVI is strengthening its engagement with civil society at all levels: governance, advocacy, public policy and fundraising. In particular, the Alliance is providing funding to encourage the public sector and civil society to work together to plan and deliver sustainable health care.

From November 2006 to December 2010, the GAVI Alliance Board piloted a civil society organisation (CSO) funding window to support the role of CSOs in:

• increasing immunisation coverage/access to marginalised and unreached populations;
• providing technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation, implementation and operational research;
• mobilising communities to increase demand for immunisation and health services.

The pilot, which is coordinated with existing national health sector activities rather than creating new stand-alone projects, offers two types of support.

Type A

Type A offers support for all GAVI eligible countries to strengthen coordination and representation of CSOs involved in immunisation, child healthcare and health system strengthening at the national level, and enhance cooperation between civil society and the public sector.

Type B

Type B offered support for 10 selected pilot countries to direct CSO involvement in countries' HSS proposals and multi-year immunisation plans.

The 10 pilot countries are: Afghanistan, Bolovia, Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia, Mozambique and Pakistan.

Support for CSOs through the Health Systems Funding Platform

In 2010, GAVI also consulted with its CSO partners on how best to engage CSOs in the Health Systems Funding Platform.

CSOs will be able to access GAVI funding providing through the Platform in support of national health plans. The funding will be aligned with national plans and strategies on the understanding that these will have been developed in consultation with civil society.

This work is guided by the GAVI Alliance Board's Policy and Programme Committee and involves close collaboration with GAVI's Civil Society constituency.

Wider collaboration

In addition to funding support for CSOs, the GAVI Secretariat engages closely with CSOs across advocacy, public policy and fundraising.

CSOs are influential policy advocates on broader health issues, such as women's health, health system strengthening and aid effectiveness as well as on more specific issues like vaccine price.

More on this topic

From the GAVI site

Civil society

 

Civil society constituency

The health systems goal

 

Strengthening health delivery systems