Author: Secretariat

By Ha Cassell, Program Officer, APCASO Kuala Lumpur – Understanding how community-inclusive financing mechanisms works in Asia Pacific has not been fully explored especially in countries that will soon be transitioning out of The Global Fund and other external donors. This was the basis for the two-day regional forum held from September 5 to 6 in Malaysia. Hosted by Malaysian AIDS Council (MAC), SHIFT country sub-recipient, the forum aims to discuss existing financing models, its prospects and opportunities, and explore new financing models in supporting advocacy and service delivery responses of civil society and communities through domestic funding. Around 35 participants from four SHIFT countries, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, attended the forum. These include representatives from key population networks and civil society, Ministry of Health, Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanisms, Regional UNAIDS and FHI 360 representatives. At the forum, a SWOT analysis was conducted and presented to show how countries such as Malaysia and Thailand financing models for CSOs work. Consequently, similar approaches for other SHIFT countries, Indonesia and the Philippines will be explored. The forum also served as a venue to show best practices across all partners and explore areas and models that can be replicated, as well as potential strategies for advocacy within SHIFT country partners. In my perspective, I did find this forum beneficial, especially, the sharing of good practices of approaches from other countries...