The Importance of Civil Society Engagement for G20 Pandemic Preparation Fund Governance

KOMPAS.com – The role of civil society to be actively involved in the governance of financial intermediary funds or financial intermediary funds (FIF) G20 is crucial for the implementation of programs to anticipate future pandemics.

For information, the G20 countries have agreed to build a financial intermediary fund mechanism to anticipate future pandemics. This joint funding is part of strengthening the global health architecture which is one of the main issues of the G20 2022.

The FIF-raising commitment is targeted to reach US$12,5 billion within five years. Indonesia has contributed 50 million US dollars.

The founder of the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) Diah Saminarsih said that the vital role of the community is needed as a watchdog or custodians to ensure that financing management remains responsible, equitable, optimally impacted, and sustainable.

Diah believes that civil society is not necessarily involved in a concrete way in making decisions on the management of financial intermediary funds monitored by the World Bank.

This is because there is no agreement among FIF contributors on voting rights for civil society. In fact, continued Diah, civil society has a wealth of experience, innovative ideas, resources, knowledge, and data.

“The meaningful involvement of civil society is very crucial. From the design of FIF governance at the global level through the provision of seats and voting capacity, to the national and local levels to expand the impact and sustainability of the program," said Diah, at the forum. media briefings which was held online, Thursday (1/9/2022).

Diah highlighted that global health financing, which is limited by donor interests and is not participatory, has had loopholes. Namely, financing often does not represent the needs of the beneficiary country.

“Civil society engagement makes it possible check and balances starting from the process of planning, implementing, to expanding the reach of the program. Civil society also plays a role in ensuring that the program is right on target through monitoring and evaluation in beneficiary countries," he explained.

According to Diah, the involvement of civil society in the management of financial intermediary funds was previously effectively implemented in the structure of the Global Fund for AIDS, TB, & Malaria.

Innovation and ownership

In line with Diah, the Authorized Signatory Consortium Penabulu-Stop TB Partnership Indonesia (STPI) Nurul Nadia Luntungan also mentioned the importance of the role of civil society in the governance of global health funding.

“The role of the community (civil society) is very important. Given that the government has limitations, civil society has the capacity to provide input or feedback on findings in the field,” he explained.

Nurul gave an example, one of the efforts to reduce the number of drug-resistant TB by her organization is by innovating, not just educating patients to be willing to undergo treatment to completion.

“We are aware that in the field there are many findings that the side effects of this treatment are severe and the conditions are difficult. So many patients give up halfway, get depressed, and so on. For that, we are trying to collaborate with other organizations to provide additional nutrition,” he explained.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the Association Prakarsa and Sherpa Civil 20 Indonesia, Ah Maftuchan believes that the involvement of civil society in FIF management will have a positive impact on prevention, preparedness and response programs for future pandemics.

According to him, one of the important points of public participation in the management of pandemic financial intermediary funds is a sense of ownership. This mutual cooperation has proven to be effective in carrying out vaccinations during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We have seen that the role of civil society in Covid-19 vaccination is very large. The government only provides vaccines and health workers. Community organizations can organize, provide food and drink, to the location of vaccination. If FIF can involve civil society, it will certainly have more impact on handling the pandemic," he said.

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