Civil Society Advisory Group for the GAP

© 2018 Kanika Campbell/JHUCCP, Courtesy of Photoshare

In October 2018, a consortium of 11 global health institutions formally launched a new initiative with the release of Towards a Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All: Uniting to Accelerate Progress towards the Health-Related SDGs. Led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the institutions are responding to a request from the governments of Germany, Ghana and Norway.

The Global Action Plan (GAP) framework was drafted solely by the institutions themselves, without the participation of civil society or other sectors. Thus, the Civil Society Engagement Mechanism for UHC2030 (CSEM) and the Global Fund Advocates Network (GFAN) organized a two-day strategy session on the GAP in December 2018 to consider how, where, when and with whom civil society will engage in the GAP (also referred to by some as the SDG3 Action Plan).

At this meeting, the session resolved to form an advisory group, hosted by the CSEM and made up of eight individuals, that would focus on the following objectives:

  • Design and implementation of virtual and face-to-face civil society consultation processes for the GAP
  • Consolidate, publish and disseminate civil society inputs to the GAP
  • Provide oversight of and facilitating the engagement of civil society in all GAP processes
  • Serve as a liaison to WHO and other partners as part of its oversight role
  • Establish small working groups for each accelerator and/or different types of engagement

 

GAP Civil Society Advisory Group Activity Updates:

In May 2019, the Civil Society Advisory Group for the GAP wrote a letter to request an opportunity for communities, civil society and other non-state actors to provide feedback on the draft GAP before it is released during the United Nations General Assembly in September. Read the full story, including the response from WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyseus here.

 

At the 72nd session of the World Health Assembly, the GAP Advisory Group hosted a side event titled ‘Community and civil society engagement for the Global Action Plan on Health and Well-being for All’.  The meeting report is accessible here.

 

In April 2019, the GAP Advisory Group consulted with non-state actors on the Global Action Plan (GAP) For Healthy Lives and Well-Being for All. Read the report here.