With the Global Fund (GF) 6th replenishment set in 2019, activists working on tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV & AIDS are asking donors to give $14 billion. Leading this campaign is the Global Fund Advocates Network Asia-Pacific (GFAN AP), a platform of community and civil society advocates that advocate for a fully funded Global Fund. GFAN AP supports community and civil society mobilisation in the areas of increased domestic financing for HIV, TB, and malaria responses; increased donor contributions towards the Global Fund; and ensuring that policy frameworks on health financing consider community, rights, and gender issues.
Love More, Give More
To strategize how to get the Global Fund to mobilize this money to support work in different countries, the GFAN AP organized a civil society planning meeting in India back in 2018. During the planning meeting, somebody suggested reaching out to the embassies of donor countries, urging them to consider the urgent need for this replenishment and its critical role in achieving the 2030 target.
It was then decided to capitalize on the forthcoming Valentine’s Day in February 2019, giving birth to the Love Letter Campaign. Admirably, it took only two to three weeks to get everything together. The plan was for partners in different countries and regional organizations to schedule meetings with donor country embassies across various countries in the region. A master template letter with key messages was prepared and given to the embassy representatives.
The embassies were encouraged to make early announcements of their pledges to invest in fighting the three diseases, HIV, TB, and Malaria, that are currently affecting millions across the world.
The campaign’s “Love More, Give More” message was essentially saying that in order to “Love us more, you (the donor country) have to give more money.” The campaign wasn’t merely asking for funding; it also thanked countries for their continued support.
A global campaign
As this is a global campaign, several unique strategies were applied by the organizations that went to embassies in different countries. In Thailand, organizations gave the embassies Valentine’s Day cards with love messages. In Vietnam, a bouquet of roses came with the letter. For Niluka Perera, the communications and coordination officer of GFAN AP, “The campaign was successful despite being low cost. It was designed to be flexible, as there are different ways of implementing it. It also allowed the organizations to build connections with the embassies.”
Why embassies? The campaign took advantage of these embassies’ influence on their home countries’ policies. Embassies are expected to inform their governments about these engagements. This brings traction.
This campaign was implemented in over 45 countries worldwide. It started in the Asia-Pacific region, where about 540 letters were sent to about 30 donor countries. The selection of the date helped the success of this campaign, as it is widely celebrated worldwide.
Moving forward, GFAN AP envisions that the campaign doesn’t have to stick to Valentine’s Day alone. This requires continuous round-the-clock engagement with donor countries and civil society organizations, as the dream of a fully funded Global Fund is on the horizon.
