Authors: Samir Ibisevic, Uliana BakhAssociation PROI (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

HIV Burden

Level of

income

Active GF

grant

PR

Albania Low UMI Ended Mar 2015

MOH

BiH Low UMI Till Dec 2015

UNDP

Kosovo Low ULMI Till 2016

Community Development Fund

Macedonia Low UMI Till 2016

MOH

Montenegro Low UMI Ended June 2015

UNDP

Serbia High UMI Ended in 2014

MOH

ALB BIH KOS MNE MK SRB0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

PWID numberCoverage

All Balkans countries (except Serbia) managed to keep low prevalence in PWID populations

What now?

Budget for Transition period includes remaining funds, savings and government contributions.

• Transition plan must be developed by the local key stakeholders, not by external/international experts.

• A clear transitional guideline must be provided by the GFATM.

• The timeframe must follow the country progress and cannot be prepared in the last year of grant implementation.

• International stakeholders in the field of HIV/AIDS, other than GFATM must be involved and/or informed about the preparation of the plan.

• Advocacy measures should be more explicit – why? who? how? and when?

• Focus should be put on local ownership and building of local capacities (including advocacy).

• Role and engagement of international stakeholders should be described in details.

• Local governments must be engaged in planning with clear commitments.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is at high risk to become

an area without harm reduction services as

other Balkan countries.

“Next year the project supported by GFATM will end in Macedonia. Bearing in mind that the chances for government funding of harm reduction is not great, more than 10,000 people who inject drugs can be left without harm reduction services. I think that middle income classification is only the economic criteria, it is not fear and just and need to be changed. The middle-income classification is in fact a distortion of reality and does not accurately reflect the income level of the majority of people in these countries.“Vlatko Dekov, NGO

HOPS, Republic of Macedonia

"The Global Fund should assess country’s willingness and ability to transition to national funding and provide transitional funding until existing programs can be sustained without Global Fund support. Whereas, countries should develop cost-effective and fully budgeted sustainability plans and secure necessary financial resources to ensure a successful transition from donor to domestic financing."

Jovana Arsenijević NGO Re-Generacija, Serbia

“The program of GFATM in Montenegro was finished on June 30, 2015, and since then only one drop-in center remains open in the capital city Podgorica. Geographic coverage shifted from national level to the level of one city and comprehensive services are reduced to pure needle and syringe exchange, support of social worker and peer-to-peer counseling. Sadly but the funding for the only drop-in center ended on October 1, 2015, and at the moment, the services are offered on the voluntary basis till the end of stock of needles and syringes.We believe it is necessary to ensure a regional support for harm reduction programs in Balkan region in following years aiming development of countries capacity to sustain services.”Tijana Žegura

NGO Juventas, Montenegro

• The GFATM should revise countries eligibility based on WB income criteria.

• The low prevalence should be advantage to maintain not the exclusion standard.

• Transition plan must be long-term, country owned and drived by a clear recommendation provided by GFATM.

• Requirements set for Regional Applicants should be revised to reflect real needs of specific region like in case of Balkan countries.

• Other international stakeholders must take into consideration Balkan region for their future engagement.

• Specific attention should be given to underrepresented Balkan region in all spheres of international HR movement.

The 2015 International Harm Reduction ConferenceKuala Lumpur, MalaysiaOctober 18 – 21, 2015

Contact me: e-mail: sibisevic@proi.basibisevic.proi@gmail.comSkype: sibisevicTel +387 61 250 656