ABOUT MOBILISING 4 MALARIA
Mobilising for Malaria (M4M) is an advocacy network supported mainly by GlaxoSmithKline’s African Malaria Partnership and led by Malaria Consortium. Its first activities began in January 2005, with the programme running officially until May 2009 and now extended until May 2010.
M4M worked to combat malaria by raising people’s awareness of the disease in Europe and Africa, in order to bring greater resources to bear against the disease. M4M addressed the shortfall in resources, and also recognised the unique role and urgently needed contribution of civil society, including the media, in the global malaria advocacy movement.
The programme established a common framework for mobilisation and coordination that strengthened the impact of malaria advocacy at global, regional and national levels. It fostered alliances of effective malaria advocates and activists both in the North and in the South and addressed the need for complementarity and magnifying effect of media coverage, policy debate and NGO action, and therefore the role of each of these elements in securing an effective and comprehensive advocacy response to malaria.
By promoting "Coalitions Against Malaria", the programme encouraged partnership working and collaboration between all civil society actors not only in their own countries but through North-South joint initiatives in order to increase public and political awareness and support for an effective and sustained response to Malaria at global, national and local levels. By helping partners work together in the developed and developing world, the programme broadened the partnership among those shaping the response and brought a new focus to the battle against the disease.
M4M Coalitions
Five Coalitions have been formed, two in Europe (France and UK) and three in Africa (Cameroon, Ethiopia and Mozambique). M4M's work within the Malaria Advocacy Innovation Grants has resulted in the Coalition model also being adopted in Burkina Faso and the DRC with further requests for coalitions to be built in Congo Brazzerville, Niger, CAR & Togo.
Although the Coalitions were formed through different processes and are set up differently in terms of organisational structure and decision making process, they all aim to strengthen the role of civil society and acknowledge the need for complementarity between the business sector, academics, trade unions, NGOs, faith groups and other Non-State actors (including the private sector).
Coalitions were chosen as one of the models by which to implement the programme, as they encourage partnership working, coordination, networking and information-sharing with its members, to ensure that messages reach wider audiences.
M4M Malaria Advocacy Innovation Grants
The Malaria Advocacy Innovation Grants were launched in May 2007 and were allocated over three rounds. The Grants aimed to boost advocacy efforts to improve Africa-to-Africa accountability for response to malaria suffering on the continent as well inspire African civil society organisations and media to become “leaders” in the fight against malaria in Francophone and Anglophone African countries.
The Innovation Grants supported ideas and partnerships that aimed to reach new audiences in creative ways and tackle difficult issues such as equity, transparency and accountability in Africa. Audiences include decision makers at national or regional levels, politicians, media persons, ministries, international organizations or local leaders. These grants also aimed to encourage the engagement of artists to amplify advocacy messages in African countries.
To find out more about their individual successes please click on the below links to the individual grant pages.
Seven projects were supported by the Grants in the following countries/regions: Nigeria, Western and Central Africa (a 10 country project in Congo, RDC, Gabon, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali, Togo, Djibouti, Cameroon and Benin), Tanzania, Ghana, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo & Burkina Faso.
For more info about M4M, contact either Karl Deering or Sarah Pickwick in the Malaria Consortium Advocacy team at k.deering@malariaconsortium.org or s.pickwick@malariaconsortium.org
