
ANN develops the Africa Regional Advocacy Agenda of People Living with NCDs
Through a collaborative approach the Africa NCDs Network (ANN) is striving to ensure that People with lived experiences on NCDs are meaningfully involved and engaged as key stakeholders in advocacy and decision- making processes on NCD prevention and control in Africa and beyond. The Network in partnership with Global NCD Alliance (NCDA) has developed the Africa Regional Advocacy Agenda of people living with NCDs.
The Africa Regional Advocacy Agenda of people living with NCDs draws on the power of lived experiences and highlights the needs, concerns, challenges, and priorities of African people living with NCDs. The agenda also discusses the true meaning of meaningful engagement to all stakeholders intervening on key issues relating to NCDs taking a keen consideration of a people centered approach.
The agenda was composed by 238 people living with NCDs from the eight (8) countries (Malawi, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya), benching on the Our Views, Our Voices initiative to promote the meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs in Africa in the NCD response.
The purpose of the Africa Regional Advocacy Agenda of people living with NCDs is to crystallize and document ‘calls to action’ of people living with NCDs, provide a compass for NCD national and regional advocacy efforts, guide African governments and key stakeholders to strengthen NCD advocacy through prevention and control responses, meet agreed global and national NCD commitments and targets, and reframe the NCD narrative in a manner that puts people at the center of all.
It is wholly owned by and represents the needs and demands of the people living with NCDs in Africa. It is also intended to guide and support efforts of key stakeholders to improve NCD prevention and control. The agenda also serves to strengthen the NCD response not just at the regional level, but also at the community, national and global levels. It is a valuable reference for civil society and NCD Alliances in Africa, thus urging them to take action to meet the agreed upon global NCD targets, and to put people first! Nothing about us without us!
As a tangible expression of people’s first-hand compelling lived experiences and concerns, the Africa Regional Advocacy Agenda of people living with NCDs offers great potential to be leveraged at the global, regional and national levels and can be adapted and used strategically in different settings. The agenda can also be aligned with broader advocacy priorities of national/regional NCD alliances and civil society organizations as they help to contextualize systemic challenges in real terms.