APCOM launches summary of Guidance for Community Engagements ahead of PEPFAR Asia Region meeting
17 March 2023, Bangkok – PEPFAR kickstarted the annual Country/Regional Operational Plans (COP/ROP)* 2023 process in February 2023. As COP/ROP23 progresses to the next stages with the Asia Regional Operational Co-Planning Meeting taking place in person in Bangkok 20-29 March 2023. APCOM releases FACT SHEET: PEPFAR COP/ROP23. A summary of 2023 Country Operational Plans/Regional Operational Plans Guidance, Including Community Advocacy Points. The Fact Sheet is developed to support and assist key populations and communities in PEPFAR Asia Countries* to effectively engage in the COP/ROP Processes, as we develop implementation plans for ROP23 and PEPFAR Five-year Strategy. This is the newest addition to APCOM’s series of COP/ROP Fact Sheets (2021, 2022) which serve as a tool to support the engagements of key population and the community at the country level. This is a useful companion document to APCOM’s summary of 13 National Strategic Plans for COP/ROP.
This Fact Sheet is a concise, and community-friendly resource about COP/ROP23, including the changes for this year’s process. This also contains the main Community Advocacy Points resulting from the previous COP/ROP22. To guide our partners in their respective engagements and advocacy, the Fact Sheet also lists down the Recommendations for Key Population Services. These recommendations were based on the documentation and synthesis of various inputs from the community across the COP/ROP22 consultations and APCOM Community Summit 2022. With the release of PEPFAR’s new 5-Year Strategy and COP/ROP23 planning requirements, APCOM aligns the Community Advocacy Points and Recommendations with PEPFAR’s strategic pillars and enablers.*
“Key population engagement is crucial to inform the design of the country’s HIV response. Through this fact sheet, we bring new information about COP/ROP23 to our community partners and increase the quality of their participation. For a sustainable HIV response, key population and community engagement in the COP/ROP23 processes must be scaled up to ensure programs are person-focused and community-led,”
says Midnight Poonkasetwattana, APCOM Executive Director.
The Asia Regional Operational Co-Planning Meeting convenes the U.S. government, partner governments, civil society and regional key population networks, and multilateral organizations, as well as public and private sector partners – to work together to reach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 HIV treatment target by 2025.
APCOM, as a regional key population network, continues to provide technical support to our community partners. We continue to be proactive in developing and disseminating these resources needed to impart our community partners with knowledge and skills to raise their voices and communicate their needs in this particular forum.
Notes:
*The purpose of the COP/ROP process is to review, in a transparent process, policy requirements, key activities, data and progress to reach HIV epidemic control to develop a joint strategic plan for PEPFAR’s investment. The process allows PEPFAR country and headquarter teams, governments, private sector partners, and CSOs to convene and collaboratively respond to COP/ROP proposals and agree on critical solutions and effective means to advance each country’s ability to sustain epidemic control.
*PEPFAR Asia countries are Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Tajikistan, and Thailand. Vietnam has a bilateral program with USAID.
*PEPFAR’s 5 strategic pillars: Health Equity for Priority Populations, Sustaining the Response, Public Health Systems and Security, Transformative Partnerships, and Follow the Science. These strategic pillars are supported by 3 cross-cutting enablers––community leadership, innovation, and data.
