Action for Global Health reflects on progress after a year of activities
29 January 2008
In December 2007, all 15 partners in Action for Global Health – a network of European NGOs conducting advocacy work on the health Millennium Development Goals – met in Madrid to review progress in 2007. At the meeting, which discussed the results of an external evaluation of the network, participants (including the Alliance) also planned how to expand the network’s membership, and discussed implementation of the 2008 advocacy strategy.
According to an external evaluation, Action for Global Health has made a great deal of progress in its first year of operation. Successes include establishing a good foundation for future advocacy work on the health Millennium Development Goals, identifying a clear niche by advocating for improvements to global health as a cross-cutting issue, and achieving all of the key objectives in its first year – including a policy report on the actions Europe needs to take to rescue the health Millennium Development Goals.
The evaluation also identified areas for improvement for the network to function as effectively as possible. Some efforts to address these challenges are already underway, with the development of a clear strategy for cross-European advocacy and policy work, and plans to improve internal communications and decision-making.
Priority activities for 2008
Action for Global Health plans to open up membership of the network to a wider range of partners, and has developed a charter for this purpose. The charter articulates Action for Global Health’s beliefs, aims and ways of working, including the belief that Europe has an important role to play in improving health and reducing mortality in developing countries. The Alliance emphasised that the new charter should articulate that Action for Global Health’s advocacy on wider health issues is complementary to organisations’ advocacy on disease-specific issues.
The meeting also focused on Action for Global Health’s advocacy strategy for 2008. Its primary objective will be to ensure that there is more aid for health, better spent. Key activities to move this strategy forward will include the production of a policy report on aid effectiveness and health that will include case studies from six developing countries.
Additional activities will include:
- a briefing paper on the different aid coordination mechanisms currently being supported by EU member state governments;
- a European Union round table meeting on aid effectiveness and health;
- participation in the World Health Assembly and the 30th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration celebrations, including organising a panel discussion on new aid coordination mechanisms;
- participating in the Accra High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, and in the Doha meeting on financing for health.
For more information on Action for Global Health or any of the activities mentioned above, please contact Elaine Ireland at: eireland@aidsalliance.org. T: +44 (0)1273 718940.
