15 Member GFF Nigeria CSOs Working Group inaugurated and trained

By Ndidi Chukwu

Through an open and rigorous process of selection, Fifteen (15) Civil Society Organizations were inaugurated and trained on Thursday 27^th and Friday 28^th July 2017 respectively as the Nigeria’s Global Financing Facility (GFF) CSOs Working Group. This is to improve CSOs involvement in the GFF process in Nigeria which targets to scale-up Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescents Health (RMNCAH) services

The members of the Nigeria’s GFF CSO working group were carefully selected from different civil society organizations working in the health sector including the media and they include the following:

1. Women Advocates for Vaccine Access (WAVA) representing Women Group
2. Association of Nigeria Health Journalists (ANHEJ) representing Media
3. Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) representing Health Professional organizations
4. Center for Social Justice (CSJ) representing Health Care Financing Group
5. PRHI/FP2020 Reference Group Youth Leader representing the youth
6. Education as a Vaccine representing the youth
7. Civil Society for MNCH in Niger (COMiN) representing Niger State CSOs
8. Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria (FOMWAN) representing Osun State CSOs
9. Foundation for Environmental Rights Advocacy and Development (FENRAD) representing Abia State CSOs
10. Islamic Youth League of Nigeria representing Faith Based Groups
11. Catholic Youth Organization of Nigeria representing Faith Based Groups
12. Chair of HERFON Board of Trustees as Co- chair
13. Chair of Health Sector Reform Coalition as Co- chair
14. CSOs representative to Nigeria GFF Core Team as convener
15. GFF Engagement Programme Officer serves as secretariat

The Working Group key functions are:

1. Advocacy to support the implementation of GFF investment case and national health financing policy and strategy.
2. Support effective representation in the Nigeria GFF Core Team by the CSOs representative and facilitate communication with broader CSOs
3. Promote and exchange information and experiences between Working Group (WG) and other national, regional and international platforms.
4. Expand CSOs access to information about GFF through various communication channels (i.e. webinars, telephone calls, written materials and tools etc.)
5. Support the implementation of the CS Engagement Strategy in Nigeria.
6. Mobilizing financial resources for the implementation of its work plan.
7. Providing regular feedback to HSRC through multi-media platform including community of practice.
8. Support the development of country led GFF scorecard that tracks the implementation of GFF investment case

Speaking during the inauguration, Chairman of the Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC), Dr. Ben Anyene, expressed concern over the worrisome health statistics in the country. He said “It is worth noting that the burden of disease in Nigeria is very high and 70 per cent of these are at the Primary Health Care (PHC) level, a great challenge for every woman and child in Nigeria”

To reverse this challenge in the health sector, the World Bank and partners have provided a breakthrough financing model that integrates resources from countries, international donors and the private sector to accelerate advancement in the health of every woman and every child. The GFF, according to him, was launched to provide support to countries with high disease burden in low and lower middle income countries including Nigeria adding that it also aim to elevate community voices, policy advocacy, resource mobilization, monitoring and independent accountability and results.

The Nigeria Civil Society Organizations will play a critical role in providing unique and diverse knowledge, expertise and connections to communities that GFF aims to serve with the objective to elevate community voices, policy advocacy, resource mobilization, monitoring and independent accountability and results.

Health Sector Reform Coalition (HSRC) being the largest CSOs network in Nigeria with broader representation of civil society organizations all over the country is hosting the working group in HERFON Office in Abuja while Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR) provides technical and financial support to the working group to function effectively.