06 June 2017 - The Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH initiative recently convened a capacity-building workshop designed to strengthen grantees’ ability to measure the impact of their projects following the latest round of funding (Wave 5). More than 110 people from over 20 countries representing 38 projects participated in the meeting which was organized last month in Bangkok, Thailand.
The diverse group of implementers included TB survivors, community-based organizations, NGOs, faith-based organizations, universities, National TB programs and the private sector. With two-thirds of the grantees receiving their first-ever TB REACH grant, the workshop proved important for all participants to fully immerse with the different TB REACH M&E concepts and operationalize these for their respective project interventions.
"This meeting lays the foundation for how partners track progress and think about how their innovative work is reaching people with TB who are missed by the traditional systems. We are focused on trying new approaches, and we need to help those that are successful to scale-up. It is essential for us and all partners to be able to see the impact of our work on the people we serve," said Dr Jacob Creswell, Head of Innovation and Grants, who is leading the work on the Stop TB Partnership’s TB REACH initiative.
The workshop provided an opportunity for each project implementer to meet one-on-one with the independent Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) team to tailor the M&E framework to the specific needs of their project. This tailored approach is essential to address process indicators and targets for the diverse portfolio service delivery interventions which include new diagnostic tools, treatment adherence technology and other technological devices and aiming at key populations, such as children, elderly, tribal populations or transgender people.
The grantees meeting was further used to orient grantees to TB REACH’s new online grant management portal which all funding recipients will use for quarterly reporting, tracking finances and storing key documents. This new initiative is an essential knowledge platform, to track spending efficiencies and evaluate project successes.
In Wave 5, TB REACH is formally partnering with the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center to provide technical assistance to grantees for knowledge generation, translation and dissemination. A team led by Dr Madhukar Pai organized the fourth and final day of the workshop. The workshop showcased the importance of results dissemination strategies and project advocacy so that successful interventions can scale their approaches and impact the national TB response. The Stop TB Partnership is also working with partners to ensure that scale-up and sustainability is an achievable goal.
In April 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Executive Directors of Stop TB Partnership and the Global Fund, Dr Lucica Ditiu and Dr Mark Dybul, to intensify their relations for improved quality and impact of Global Fund TB investments. The Stop TB Partnership and the Global Fund will more systematically facilitate promotion, continuation and scale-up of TB REACH interventions that improved case detection, linkage to treatment and reporting of TB or improved treatment adherence and outcomes. The Global Fund and TB REACH will share experiences and best practices of TB REACH interventions and facilitate their sustainability and scale-up, such as through the inclusion in Global Fund allocations and catalytic funding as well as by linkage to country coordinating mechanisms, country dialogues, and (sub-) recipients. More information on the MoU can be found here.