7 civil society organisations win award for driving advocacy on NCD financing
12th December 2022
Award winners from Cameroon Civil Society NCD Alliance Alianza ENT Uruguay
The Campaign Fuel Awards, which began in 2019, recognise national and regional member alliances of the global NCD Alliance for inspirational activities that leverage the momentum of the Global Week for Action on NCDs to activate communities, demand action and push for progress in their local contexts.
In 2022, the Global Week for Action on NCDs focused on the theme of NCD investment and the urgent need for increased NCD financing to prevent and treat NCDs and build resilient health systems that leave no one behind.
The 2022 winners hail from three continents - Asia, Africa, and the Americas - representing the diversity of campaign action, innovation and context. Here is an overview of their activities:
Bangladesh NCD Forum
The campaign activities of the Bangladesh NCD Forum focused on awareness, advocacy and capacity development. These included workshops, multistakeholder discussions, open letters to government and a story-a-day initiative shared by people living with NCDs to demand more investment.
“NCDs are preventable and all about making a conscious effort to support underfunded NCDs, marginalized communities, and the country’s systems that guarantee these investments are equitable. The Campaign Fuel Award helped BNCDF to amplify the voice of both the forum and people living with NCDs as we urge governments, development partners, and the private sector to invest in preventing and controlling NCDs,” said the Forum.
Burundi NCD Alliance
The Burundi NCD Alliance mobilised civil society and communities for strengthened advocacy and awareness-raising by forming a partnership with patient group Cadre d'Expression des Malades du Burundi for joint advocacy to sensitise the public and hold governments accountable. They also held a conversation with 15 journalists to discuss NCDs and shared stories, solutions and challenges faced by the NCD community.
“The NCD Campaign Fuel award recognises our efforts to prioritise people living with NCDs in our advocacy agenda and serves as a catalyst to keep our government accountable to its promises to invest in NCDs. We will continue to fight for social justice and health equity.”
Cambodia NCD Alliance
The Cambodia NCD Alliance’s campaign involved creating media awareness on NCD investment. The group produced a campaign video that included interventions by a person living with NCDs, the Director of the Preventive Medicines Department in the Ministry of Health, Chief of the Civil Society Working Group for NCDs and the Executive Director of the Cambodia NCD Alliance.
“We will use some of the award money for increasing public awareness on NCDs here in Cambodia and to generate more active involvement of people living with NCDs by providing food support to them and by producing a video documentary that will raise the voices of people living with NCDs in the response,” said the Health Action Coordinating Committee, the Secretariat and fiscal agency for the Alliance.
Cameroon Civil Society NCD Alliance
The campaign of the Cameroon Civil Society NCD Alliance focused on mobilising community and civil society to drive advocacy on NCDs. The activities included a high-level webinar on NCD Financing in Cameroon co-hosted with the Ministry of Public Health, a civil society-led panel discussion about challenges and recommendations for advancing the NCD cause, and health-promoting activities including public sensitisation and social media.
“This award is a sign for us. It is a sign that our work has the greatest prospects for the intended impact, as we still have a long way to go in the Cameroon NCD response. The burden of NCDs, especially risk factors, remains high. We will use this award to fuel our advocacy efforts, meaningful involvement, coordination and promotion of healthy lives for all.”
Egyptian NCD Alliance
The Egyptian NCD Alliance focused its campaign activities on advocating for a healthy lifestyle and highlighting the importance of collaboration to curb the epidemic of NCDs.
“It is an honour for us to be among the winners because it means that you have recognised our efforts to combat the NCD problem in Egypt. The award will give us a push to continue our work in strengthening the health system through partnerships, advocacy and capacity-building for health workers to serve people living with NCDs. We will join hands with you to work collaboratively on universal health coverage and build upon global strategies to have the best outcome for our work.”
South East Asia Regional NCD Alliance
The approach of the South East Asia Regional NCD Alliance was to leverage its membership to raise awareness and advocate for increased NCD investment in the region. Activities included a social media campaign, video testimonials by people living with NCDs, use of Voices of Change cards and infographics, an in-person round table discussion that included participants from other health areas like HIV and TB in dialogue with those working on NCDs to discuss and learn from each other.
“The Award will support activities to strengthen the voices of people with lived experiences and civil society organizations for advancing the prevention and management of NCDs at the regional and national levels. It will build the skills of people living with NCDs and CSOs for community outreach and to approach the government to prioritize NCD investments.”
Alianza ENT Uruguay
The campaign of this South American civil society group focused on addressing nutrition policy and protecting young people. Activities included meeting with parliamentarians to discuss banning unhealthy food in education centres and a public awareness campaign to promote healthy eating in the centres.
“For the NCD Alliance Uruguay, it is very important to receive the support of the international community represented by the global NCD Alliance, in order to advance policies that protect the health of our population. We will focus mainly on protecting the health of our children, getting the approval of the ban on the sale of unhealthy food in schools.”