NCD Alliance announces 2021 winners of Civil Society Solidarity Fund in Response to COVID-19
13th July 2021
©️ Image taken from the mini-documentary The hidden pandemic: How COVID-19 impacts people with NCDs in Cambodia produced with support from the 2020 Solidarity Fund
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday 13 July 2021, Geneva (Switzerland) – 19 NCD alliances from Africa, Asia, Europe, Eastern Mediterranean and Latin America and the Caribbean will be awarded grants to accelerate the response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the second phase of the Civil Society Solidarity Fund on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) and COVID-19 in 2021. The winners were announced today by the NCD Alliance. The 2021 Solidarity Fund totals $335,000 and competitively awards grants of up to US$15,000.
Anne Lise Ryel, President of the NCD Alliance, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has placed many challenges on NCD civil society, including financial sustainability. It is key to support alliances to ensure a vibrant and strong NCD civil society that can elevate the voices of communities and people living with NCDs and enable them to mobilise resources, advocate for political action and health policy reform, and hold governments and other stakeholders to account. The 2021 Solidarity Fund aims to do this.”
People living with NCDs have been at the epicentre of the pandemic since it began, due to their heightened vulnerability to severe symptoms or death from COVID-19 as well as to the health system disruptions experienced in most countries around the world. This means that the need for NCD action and investment – and for advocacy and pressure by NCD civil society – has never been greater. COVID-19, however, has challenged the financial sustainability of NCD civil society, and the difficulties of adapting to a virtual context has stalled its advocacy efforts on the ground. The Solidarity Fund aims to address these challenges, supporting NCD civil society in continuing its important work as countries and health systems endeavour to rebuild better and fairer, leaving no one behind.
The recipients of the Civil Society Solidarity Fund on NCDs and COVID-19 in 2021 are:
Category 1 - Strengthening of NCD alliances’ infrastructure, governance and sustainability
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Aliança moçambicana de luta contra doenças não transmissíveis (Mozambican Alliance of fight against NCDs)
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Trinidad and Tobago NCD Alliance
Category 2 - Developing comprehensive and cohesive NCD advocacy and communications strategies towards resilience and recovery
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East Africa NCD Alliance
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Coalición Latinoamérica Saludable CLAS (Healthy Latin America Coalition)
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NCD Alliance Nigeria
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South African NCDs Alliance
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Burundi NCD Alliance
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ACT Promoção da Saúde (ACT Health Promotion - Brazil)
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Healthy Caribbean Coalition
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Cambodian NCD Alliance
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Slovenian NCD Alliance
Category 3 - Supporting people living with NCDs and promoting community engagement and resilience
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Alliance MNT Benin (NCD Alliance Benin)
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Bangladesh Non-Communicable Diseases Forum
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Cameroon Civil Society NCD Alliance
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Coalition des ONG et Associations Contre les Maladies Non Transmissibles au Togo (Coalition MNT-Togo)
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Egypt NCD Alliance
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Uganda NCD Alliance
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UK Working Group on NCDs
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Zambia Non-Communicable Alliance
Katie Dain, CEO of NCD Alliance, said “The NCD Alliance launched this Solidarity Fund in 2020 as a first-of-its-kind fund to support exemplary efforts from NCD civil society organisations to respond to the pandemic, including advocating for the integration of NCDs into governments’ COVID-19 response plans. Building upon its successes and due to the continuation of COVID-19, we are now launching a second phase of this Solidarity Fund to make the case for prioritising and investing in NCDs within the context of an equitable COVID-19 response and recovery, advocating for the needs of people living with NCDs, with the aim of advancing towards Universal Health Coverage, and NCD prevention and control.”
The 2021 Solidarity Fund has been made possible thanks to generous financial contributions of NCD Alliance’s supporters: The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Access Accelerated, AstraZeneca, ECOBANK Foundation and Viatris.
ENDS
Further information:
Michael Kessler
NCD Alliance Media Relations
Mob: +34 655 792 699
Email: [email protected]
About the NCD Alliance Civil Society Solidarity Fund on NCDs and COVID-19:
The 2021 Solidarity Fund received 45 submissions from national and regional alliances across all regions, which were reviewed by a selection committee, and of which 19 were selected for a grant. The Solidarity Fund recognises the essential work of NCD advocates, which has now become even more critical than ever in the context of COVID-19 and the need to build back better and fairer.
About NCD Alliance
The NCD Alliance (NCDA) is a registered non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Geneva, Switzerland, dedicated to supporting a world free from preventable suffering, disability and death caused by noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Founded in 2009, NCDA brings together a unique network of over 300 members in more than 80 countries into a respected, united and credible global civil society movement. The movement is unified by the cross-cutting nature of common risk factors including unhealthy diets, harmful use of alcohol, tobacco smoking, air pollution and physical inactivity, and the system solutions for chronic NCDs such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, mental health and neurological disorders.
The NCD Alliance thanks the members of the Selection Committee who reviewed the grant proposals submitted: Dr. Alexey Kulikov, Secretariat of the UN Task Force on NCDs (UNIATF); Leslie Rae Ferat, Executive Director at Framework Convention Alliance; Prachi Kathuria, advocate with lived experience of NCDs and member of the Healthy India Alliance; Lea Kilenga, advocate with lived experience of NCDs and member of NCD Alliance Kenya; and Carina Alm, Special adviser at the Norwegian Cancer Society.