Designup

Category: 2018

  • Closing Project: Tuberculosis Community Systems Strengthening in Georgia

    The Curatio International Foundation has fulfilled a Tuberculosis Community Systems Strengthening (TBCSS) Project in Georgia, funded by the Stop TB partnership in the frame of Challenge Facility for Civil Society (CFCS) round 7 program. The goal for the project was to strengthen community response that is integrated and a part of a comprehensive response to TB in Georgia.

    The Curatio International Foundation studied CSO engagement in patient-centered quality TB community care in the country and developed directory of civil society organizations (CSOs) and TB communities that have been enrolled in providing TB education, prevention, support, treatment adherence and care services among various target groups in recent past.

    Project revealed major challenges for community engagement in the TB response in Georgia:

    Limited funding opportunities for CSOs: Donor-funds are of limited scale; and the Government of Georgia has never funded TB CSOs for delivering TB services.

    Limited capacity of CSOs: The mapping of CSOs has demonstrated that CSOs, and particularly less experienced TB-specific community-based groups,  lack capacity for organizational management, fundraising, program financial management, leadership, etc.

    Uneven geographic distribution of CSOs: There are only few CSOs that are engaged in TB services and mostly they are operational in Tbilisi, the capital city. Community based system for TB is not developed in regions and the number of CSOs is not evenly distributed geographically.

    Within the project we had number of significant achievements addressing the challenges:

    1. TB Georgia Coalition (TBGC) was registered as a non-profit, nongovernmental organization on October 30, 2017. That has generated new expectations among member organizations and increased their motivation to become more active in the field.
    2. Member organizations of TBGC have benefited from each training organized under the CFCS Rd7 grant. CSOs representatives underwent intensive training on organizational management and leadership; program management cycles; program planning and budgeting, communication and presentation skills.
    3. The Patients’ Union for the first time ever received funding under the Global Fund TB grant and was contracted as a sub-sub recipient organization in a consortium with the community-based organization (CBO) – New Vector. The Memorandum of Understanding between the National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases and local CBO – New Vector and the Patient Union, has been signed on November 9, 2017, with the aim to improve treatment adherence for TB patients.
    4. Visibility of TB CSOs has increased through CFCS mapping and assessment results dissemination at the Country Coordination Mechanism (CCM) meeting, and national consultation meetings.

    Since its establishment TBGC participated in several high level meetings and actively has been engaged in the discussions on critical issues regarding patient centered TB care in Georgia. Significant progresses has been made in this direction, however, involvement of civil society and TB communities in the national TB program is in its initial stage.

    TB CSO directory document is available here.

  • Primary Health Care Systems: Georgia case study

    Curatio International Foundation publishes Georgia case study of primary health care system (PRIMASYS). The PRIMASYS case study covers key aspects of primary health care system, including policy development and implementation, financing, integration of primary health care into comprehensive health systems, scope, quality and coverage of care, governance and organization, and monitoring and evaluation of system performance.

    The PRIMASYS case study applied a framework looking at how the primary health care system works and what factors (both contextual and related to policy changes) have influenced access to and performance of primary health care in Georgia since 1994. Documents review and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders were conducted in 2017 in order to understand barriers and facilitators of the system reforms in Georgia.

    Georgia PRIMASYS case study emphasizes that Georgia’s health care system has undergone radical reforms over the last two decades, significantly influenced by external drivers such as political dynamics, macroeconomic factors, international partners’ involvement and internal processes.

    The current PHC system in Georgia offers accessible and affordable services to the population, with differentiated benefits to those in greater need. However, the system still requires significant improvements to achieve its ultimate goal of delivering comprehensive, continuous and people-centered care.

    Georgia PRIMASYS case study was part of the series of 20 PRIMASYS case studies globally developed with the support of the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The case studies will serve as the basis for a multi-country analysis of primary health care systems, to understand the systems-level determinants of primary health care performance, and to draw cross-cutting lessons learned in the implementation of primary health care policies and systems reforms and interventions.

    Download the full report.

  • Empowering civil society for engagement in and monitoring the decision making in health sector in Georgia

    Introduction and Overview

    The project aims to strengthen CSOs working on Health Systems to participate in the decision-making process, to assume watchdog functions, monitor enforcement of policies and advocate for better health for all. The project is funded by Open Society Foundation through proactive cooperation with Open Society Georgian Foundation.

    Organisations Involved

    Open Society Foundation (via OSGF); More than 20 local organizations, including Civil Society, Media, and Academy.

    Expected Results and Their Application

    To strengthening local CSOs to enable them to participate in the decision-making process, to assume watchdog functions, to monitor enforcement of policies and to advocate for better health for all regardless of the ability to pay.

    1. To conduct mapping exercise to a) identify NGOs/CSO organizations working in the health sector as well as organizations working on transparency, human rights and budget monitoring issues in Georgia, b) explore existing potentials of health‐related civil society organizations; d) explore their interest in participating in the proposed project;

    2. To strengthen health‐related civil society organizations to uncover and challenge nondemocratic, non‐transparent and non‐accountable policy decisions in health sector through training on a range of topics related to health policy cycle, health budget development processing Georgia and principles of budget monitoring, current landscape for overall health care system in Georgia, as well as landscape of pharmaceutical market etc.

    3. To strengthen networking, coordination, and communication among civil society organizations and community groups.