HIV/AIDS forthe first tim

Things changed for two reasons. Firstly, the process leading up to the Heads of Government Summitof the Association of South East Asian Nations in November 2001, which was discussing HIV/AIDS forthe first time, required an in-country consultation bringing together many NGOs, governmentdepartments and the private sector. MAC played a leading role in organizing the consultation.Secondly, before and during the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June2001, MAC worked closely with the MoH and Malaysia’s Permanent Representative in New York. As aresult of these two events, the MoH grew to appreciate and depend on MAC to assist in many issuesrelated to HIV/AIDS in Malaysia.
The MoH invited a MAC representative to attend the Global Fund consultations in Beijing in February2002. After the Beijing meeting, Malaysia decided that it would apply to the Global Fund for funding
specifically for NGO programs. Because the Global Fund strongly encourages countries to set up a
CCM, the MoH decided that the fastest way to do this was to convert the NCCA into the CCM and toincrease the membership of the CCM to include more diverse groups. Thus it was decided that themembership of the CCM would be 18, of which one-third would be government, one-third NGOs, andone-third from other sectors such as business, academia, and religious bodies. It was also decided that
the NGO representation would not be limited to MAC members and would include people living withHIV/AIDS. The proposal submitted to the Global Fund by Malaysia was prepared by MAC (inconsultation with its affiliates) and was reviewed and endorsed by the CCM.
The Global Fund CCM process has thus fast-tracked the process of involving NGOs in a more equitableway in the national HIV/AIDS policymaking body. Although the CCM has only met once, to approvethe proposals to be submitted to the Global Fund, NGOs nevertheless have high hopes that thisdevelopment will bode well for the future and will lead to a day when NGOs can serve on an equalfooting with government on all matters related to HIV/AIDS in Malaysia.
– Marina Mahathir, Malaysian AIDS Council
Mozambique NGOs in Mozambique were generally pleased with their level of participation in
the CCM. At the outset of the process, NGOs participated in a broad consultation meeting organized
by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the National AIDS Council (NAC). At the meeting, the
composition of the CCM was openly discussed and was decided in consensual manner. There are three
seats for NGOs on the Mozambican CCM (out of 13): one for the national NGOs, one for the
international NGOs, and one for the organizations of persons living with HIV/AIDS. At the meeting, in
order to meet the deadline for the submission of the country coordinated proposal, it was decided to
create different workgroups to elaborate the various components of the proposal separately.
Due to the time pressures, the operations of the workgroups were a bit chaotic. There was no time
for formal invitations or for the preparation of a clear agenda. For the most part, discussions picked
up from where participants had left them the meeting before. Often, at the end of a workgroup
session, a decision would be made to continue the next day.
MoH and NAC officials organized another large meeting five days before the proposal deadline. At
this meeting, the results of the different workgroups were presented and discussed. Comments from
the meeting were used to adapt the final proposal.