RESULTS Educational Fund Executive Director Joanne Carter Appointed to Global Fund Board!

Joanne Carter, executive director of RESULTS, was recently selected for the position of Board Member for the Developed Country NGO Delegation to the Global Fund Board. While an exciting moment in time for those that are a part of RESULTS, Carter’s appointment to the Board is an opportunity for all NGOs to have a tremendous impact in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, conceived just eight years ago, has already proven itself extremely effective in the fight against these epidemics. Due to the Global Fund, 2 million people living with HIV have received life-saving, antiretroviral treatment; 4.6 million people stricken by tuberculosis, the leading cause of death among HIV sufferers, have been put on effective TB drugs; and 70 million insecticide-treated bed nets have been delivered to families at risk of contracting malaria.

“In its short lifespan, the Global Fund has served as a critically important model of country-led, demand-driven, outcome-based health investment that has already saved millions of lives. With all its imperfections and challenges, no other institution has done as much in a short time to invest strategically in the public sector; help open the door for civil society and affected communities to participate as real partners in both implementation and agenda setting; and address populations and issues too often ignored by affected-country governments and bilateral donors,” stated Carter.

These results, however, would not have happened without the dedicated work of a vast network of advocates. Since the conception of the Global Fund, Carter has played an integral role in helping to mobilize civil society to call on their governments to contribute funding to the Global Fund. This work has resulted in billions of dollars in funding from the United States and other donor countries.

“The Global Fund has been a top advocacy priority for my own organization and in work we have helped lead with partner organizations in the South and the North. RESULTS has played an important role in an ambitious resource mobilization agenda for the Global Fund in the U.S. and in several other donor countries,” Carter wrote to the Board’s selection committee. “Our network of volunteer advocates in over 100 U.S. communities and international affiliates in Australia, Canada, Japan, and the UK have worked individually and collectively to build support for the Global Fund at all levels of government — leveraging their relationships with policymakers and utilizing the media.”

While the Global Fund has garnered significant results, the work to advocate for its continued funding is far from over. Year after year the Fund has seen increased demand from countries that are implementing effective programs for treatment and prevention of these diseases. In 2007 the Global Fund Board, including donor and implementing governments, agreed that the Global Fund should grow to a yearly size of $6–8 billion by 2010. The leaders of the Group of Eight that same year, at a meeting in Heiligendamn, reiterated this goal of tripling the size of the Global Fund. Although recipient countries have met that goal with increased proposals for transparent and effective programs, donor countries have failed to keep pace. In essence, the Global Fund now faces a significant shortfall in funding due to its success.

Carter’s appointment to the Global Fund Board offers her the ability to leverage North-South collaboration and coalition building for resource mobilization to address the Fund’s funding gap of US$4–9 billion. Filling the Global Fund’s multi-billion dollar resource gap will require a bold, coordinated resource mobilization strategy. While a seemingly daunting task, Carter brings to the Board over 17 years of experience directing advocacy campaigns that have mobilized billions of dollars for health and development programs.