Unlocking the value of lived experiences of NCDs in policy, programming and decision-making.
The Global Charter on Meaningful Involvement of People living with NCDs rallies all actors such as governments, international institutions, civil society and the private sector to put people at the centre and leave no one behind.The ‘Global Charter on Meaningful Involvement of People Living with NCDs’, is based on the principle that people living with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – including care partners (also known as carers or care givers) – should be meaningfully involved in every step of decision-making that affects their lives.
The aim of the Global Charter is to have meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs embedded into organisational practices and mobilises all actors such as governments, international partners, private sector and civil society organisations.
The Global Charter calls on organisations and institutions to publicly endorse the Charter – and commit to fundamental principles and ten core strategies. These strategies will enable the meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs in decision-making at all levels - from the first stages of design, implementation to monitoring and evaluation and scale-up of NCD policies, programmes and services.
Meaningful involvement is when organisations or institutions recognise the value of the lived experience and of the community. It ensures that people living with NCDs are actively involved in all aspects of the NCD response that affect them, including governance, policies, programmes, and services.
It requires an enabling environment to leverage this value and put people living with NCDs and communities at the centre to access their knowledge, skills, and expertise. It avoids tokenism by building a reciprocal relationship between organisations or institutions and people living with NCDs, as equal decision-making partners, whereby power is redistributed and shared, contributions are valued, and people living with NCDs also benefit from the experience of being involved.
The Global Charter was created following an extensive consultation including nearly 500 voices in 50 countries - people, communities and organisations - half of whom were living with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). It builds on the momentum of an increasingly mobilised NCD movement, rallying key stakeholders to co-design policies, programmes and services that put people at the centre.
The process to build the Global Charter was launched in early 2021.
Key activities included:
A series of four virtual regional multi-stakeholder dialogues in the African, Latin America & Caribbean, South-east Asia & Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean regions on the theme of putting people first. These were attended by a wide list of multi-sector actors from the government, civil society groups, private sector, and people living with NCDs. These meetings facilitated a dialogue between the stakeholders and highlighted regional priorities for people-centred approaches to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), good practice, and achieving social impact.
A series of four virtual regional Our Views, Our Voices civil society-only meetings in the African, Latin America & Caribbean, South-east Asia & Western Pacific and Eastern Mediterranean regions.. These meetings gathered insights on strategies and barriers to meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs tracking progress on meaningful involvement and advocacy opportunities for civil society. They provided a safe space for civil society and people living with NCDs to discuss their experiences, challenges and opportunities for promoting a people-centred NCD response.
A grant programme to support in-country consultations on meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs, particularly with hard to reach communities. NCD alliances around the world conducted key informant interviews and focus group discussions with around 450 people.
A multi-stakeholder survey, receiving around 250 responses collected from civil society (including community-based organisations and civil society), private sector, government, multilateral/bilateral, academia and research, and philanthropic organisations.
A final opportunity to receive public comments and expressions of early interest for organisational endorsements on the near final version of the Global Charter.
The Global Charter launched in September 2021 during the Global Week for Action on NCDs - but the story does not stop here. Discover how your organisation can endorse the Global Charter!
The Our Views, Our Voices website launched today aims to serve as a comprehensive hub for resources, commentary and advocacy to promote the meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs in the NCD response.
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