GATE ‘s Community, Rights and Gender (CRG) Strategic Initiative (SI) project focuses on developing skills and building capacity of transgender communities to meaningfully engage with Global Fund processes in areas of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. This two-year project, beginning in January 2018, includes ten countries: Myanmar, Nepal, India, Thailand and Vietnam from Asia; and Belize, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Nicaragua, and Peru from Latin America.

The objectives include:

Developing skills and understanding of the Global Fund and related processes on human rights, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health services.
Ensuring that Global Fund supported projects address and include transgender issues and contribute to the UNAIDS Fast-Track targets for 2021 (especially the 90-90-90 targets on testing, treatment and viral load suppression) and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Strengthening the capacity of transgender people to participate in national strategic plan developments, country dialogues, concept note developments and budget allocation, and monitoring implementation of activities.
Protecting the gains made in transgender programming and supporting sustainable transition plans for transgender communities in middle-income countries and countries without generalized HIV epidemics.
Collecting strategic information and data on transgender people for evidence-based advocacy for trans-specific programming.
Strengthening capacity of global, regional and national transgender networks including peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and coalition building for increased investment in community-led transgender programming and responses.

It is intended that the project will give transgender communities in these countries the opportunity to develop links with each other and the broader set of key populations, as well as creating links with policy makers and service providers engaged in the HIV, TB and malaria responses and health systems. The project will also strengthen connections between the transgender community and the Global Fund’s Community, Rights and Gender Coordination and Communications regional platforms, hosted by APCASO in Asia and the Pacific, and CRAT VIA LIBRE-International HIV AIDS Alliance in Latin America and the Caribbean.

RESOURCES

Monitoring and Oversight Tool and Training Guide

This tool and accompanying training guide, which are a compilation and adaptation of various resources available to civil society and developed by key agencies providing support to communities and civil society organizations, aim to build the monitoring and oversight capacity of the transgender communities engaged in Global Fund processes.

Guidelines for Integration of Trans Community

This guide has been developed to facilitate meaningful inclusion of trans communities in Global Fund processes.

By equipping them with the necessary information and guidance, trans communities are better able to keep national mechanisms accountable to ensure that the populations that need the most support are meaningfully involved in the processes.

TRANSIT Smart Guide

The TRANSIT Smart Guide provides a shorter, more accessible version of TRANSIT, a tool that provides practical advice on implementing HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) programmes with transgender people.

The Smart Guide highlights content areas in TRANSIT that are of particular interest and importance to the trans community, and is intended to be used alongside the full TRANSIT document. It has been adapted for a community-based audience of trans individuals and trans-led organizations, developed collaboratively by IRGT and GATE.

Video Guide to Global Fund financing cycle

This video guide has been created by the Regional Platforms, with GATE as a supporting partner.

TESTIMONIALS

The workshops focused on strengthening local capacity; especially in support of transgender people in their regional and country-based constituencies to more effectively engage in, and contribute to, the development, implementation and oversight of Global Fund supported programs. As a result of the workshop, participants learned how to submit Technical Assistance (TA) requests, and in all countries, these were submitted after the workshops.

Dominican Republic

Guyana

Belize

Peru

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COUNTRY REPORTS

The country reports came from the workshops held by GATE throughout the duration of this project, broken down into 6 month sections, as per Global Fund reporting periods.

For all workshops, the goals were:

to improve understanding and ensure meaningful engagement of transgender persons in Global Fund activities at the national level;
to strengthen the capacity of national transgender organizations and build peer-to-peer knowledge sharing;
to encourage evidence-based programmatic interventions and policies based on the needs of the transgender community; and
to inform funding transition preserving investments made in strengthening transgender communities.

Each consultant was required to submit a report on completion of the workshop, which have been shared with the local organizations and are also available to download below. GATE will be working with each organization to provide guidance on how to use the findings of the reports for advocacy and resource mobilization. GATE has committed to continued work with the local organizations beyond the workshops. The workshops in Asia Pacific were contracted out to Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN)