Advocacy Institute drives civil society action on NCDs and Universal Health Coverage
19th July 2022
Yagazie Emezi/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment
The third and final virtual training of the Advocacy Institute’s NCDs and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Accelerator Programme took place this May and June 2022. It trained 31 representatives of 10 participating Programme alliances from Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Rwanda, Tanzania and Vietnam. Based on the results of the post-evaluation, the training increased alliance representatives’ knowledge and skills for NCD and UHC advocacy.
The annual training is a key component of the programme which coupled with grants, technical assistance, networking and peer exchange, looks to increase capacity of established NCD alliances to drive effective in-country NCD and UHC advocacy.
The NCDs and UHC Accelerator Programme Virtual Training 2022 aimed to:
- Increase alliances’ knowledge of the global and regional NCD and UHC landscape and opportunities, to consolidate national advocacy and civil society action.
- Increase alliances’ knowledge on relevant themes related to the NCD and UHC agendas: 1) scaling up cross-health advocacy to support integration of NCDs within UHC; 2) advocating for health budgets and increased fiscal prioritisation of NCDs within UHC; 3) supporting social accountability and community-led monitoring initiatives; 4) ensuring access to NCD medicines and care through strengthening of Primary Health Care.
- Consolidate knowledge and skills in strategic advocacy with a specific focus on UHC for NCDs and people-centeredness, particularly recognising opportunities in the COVID-19 recovery context.
- Consolidate alliances’ efforts towards meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs, including in alliances’ advocacy and communications efforts, and advocacy for an NCD response that puts people first.
The interactive training was delivered virtually and included four modules on the NCD and UHC themes listed above. Each module included recorded expert presentations, advocate conversations and case study discussions. Training live sessions were used to stimulate peer exchange. Through a Creative Lab, participants completed course work drawing on training themes and relevant to grant activities of their alliances.
The 2022 training built on the curriculum of the previous trainings held in 2020 and 2021, which focused on building knowledge on health system building blocks and UHC as well as developing skills in strategic advocacy for NCDs and UHC.The training included faculty and expert speakers drawn from the NCDA’s global network of national and regional NCD alliances, members and supporters. Faculty and expert speakers included the co-chairs of UHC2030, representatives from the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (PHCPI), Union for International Cancer Control, UNAIDs, Center for Studies for Equity and Governance of Health Systems (Guatemala), NCD alliances and advocates with lived experience from multiple geographies including Mexico, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Malawi.
Overall, 96% participants rated their experience of the training as good or excellent. Furthermore, after completing the training, 100% of the participants felt more confident in their knowledge on strategic advocacy and advocacy planning for NCDs and the integration of NCDs within UHC. In addition, 100% of the participants felt more confident in their ability to support the implementation of their alliance’s strategic advocacy plan on NCDs and the integration of NCDs within UHC.
“[The training offered] great exposure and insight[s]!” commented a participant from Ghana, “[The training is] continuing in the spirit of encouraging alliances to share their success stories with other participants”. “We appear to have a lot in common in terms of our political landscape, working environment, and experience” a participant from Rwanda added.
Participation of alliances in this Programme is possible thanks to NCDA’s partnership with Access Accelerated, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Viatris, and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation.
