Friends Africa carries out Advocacy to effectively increase awareness and funding for HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. We mobilize resources through international and traditional donors, as well as on a national and community level.
Friends Africa’s Advocacy also influences policy change to allow for a favorable environment to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Friends Africa conducts effective advocacy to the north for increases in overseas development assistance (ODA); we also engage the African private sector in the design and development of specialized programs that leverage a company’s assets, business skills, and networks to tailor a unique response to the three diseases.
Finally we engage African-based media to maximize exposure of the fight against the diseases and the role of the Global Fund. We also carry out advocacy on African governments to increase spending in the health sector, particularly in line with their pledge in Abuja 2001 to commit 15% of their annual budget to healthcare and in providing the counterpart funding required for accessing Global Fund grants in middle income countries.
Some Activities include:
•Nigerian Private Sector 2006 : Friends Africa engaged Nigeria's top 50 CEOs in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria by hosting a dinner where they met with the Global Fund to discuss areas of engagement in Global Fund projects through in-country co-investment, cash contributions, and e.t.c. Friends Africa also facilitated the signing of a $49 million grant between the Global Fund and three Nigeria Civil Society Organizations and arranged site visits for the Global Fund delegation to Global Fund projects in Lagos Nigeria.•Pre-G8 Japan 2008: Friends Africa participated through speaking engagements at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development with the theme “From Okinawa to Tokyo: Dealing with Communicable Diseases as a Global Human Security Threat” organized by Friends Japan. The symposium gathered key stakeholders from government, the private sector and civil-society to discuss future international contributions that Japan can make to improve global health and fight the three diseases. Friends Africa also formed part of the Global Fund delegation at the conference held from 28-30 May 2008.
•Advocacy Visits: are made by members of the Board of Friends Africa as well as major stakeholders such as African governments, private sector and the public sector. These visits are an opportunity to evaluate the progress of the work of the Global Fund in various African countries as well as to observe the areas that require more funding.
•Text Messaging Fund-raising: this projects involves a partnership between Friends Africa, MTN and UAM (United Against Malaria Campaign), where the 2010 World Cup event will be used as a platform to effectively create awareness as well as raise funds via text messaging for the fight against Malaria in Africa.