As diplomatic and vague as the presentation is summarized, it does raise a significant number of issues about how the program was/is managed. How can the apparently badly needed changes be implemented? Or is everything going to remain the same?
La deuxième communication présentée par Mme Rachel Kitonyo DEVOTSU, Directrice des
programmes d’ATCC, a porté sur le partage d’expérience sur la mise en œuvre
du projet ATCC à travers la collaboration des membres d’ATCA avec les ONGs (enjeux, opportunités et leçons apprises).
Dans sa présentation, Rachel a mis l’accent sur les succès du projet
ATCC de son début à nos jours, à savoir : la création d’une plateforme commune
entre ONGs anglophones et ONGs francophones, un personnel de plus en plus
bilingue, l’accroissement continu du nombre de pays bénéficiant de financements
pour la lutte antitabac, le renforcement des capacités des anciens acteurs et
le recrutement de nouveaux acteurs, des avancées notées dans plusieurs pays
vers l’adoption d’une loi antitabac plus conforme avec la CCLAT, l’exploration
de nouveaux thématiques tel que la taxation, la campagne de développement, les
campagnes au niveau régional (UEMOA/COMESA).
This introductory statement, mostly positive, does not mention the problems and difficulties that are presented below as 'challenges'.
Selon elle, les défis (challenges) rencontrés dans la mise en œuvre du projet ATCC sont plusieurs à savoir:. Complexité du consortium (prise de décision
souvent difficile, retard dans le décaissement des fonds…) ;
'difficulty in decision making, delays in the payment of funds':
this is an interesting point that would deserve some development as ATCA is a small organization and it seems strange that the decision making could be slow and the payments delayed: after all the Gates Foundation has delivered all the money to ACS (or not?)?
. plusieurs changements intervenus dans le projet
'several changes took place in the project': which ones? How did they impact the project?
. Faiblesse des capacités institutionnelles des OSC (gestion financière, la rédaction de projet, gestion des ressources humaines, gestion de projet, l'expertise technique – Monitoring de l’Industrie
du Tabac, l'accès aux décideurs politiques de haut niveau);
. Situation politique instable dans certains pays qui pousse les bailleurs à s’abstenir;
Political instability in some countries that makes the funders unwilling to invest:
how is that possible when supposedly the decision makers are the Africans themselves or are they not? Who decides how the funds are allocated? what is the process?
. Difficultés à faire le suivi de l’Industrie du Tabac;
Difficulty to monitor the tobacco industry: how come, examples? There are many trade publications that provide information, plus the documents produced by the companies. Have they been systematically 'mined'?
. Une communication faible sur les acquis et une absence de visibilité des ONGs ;
Weak communication about the achievements and lack of visibility of the NGOs: why is that? there has been a significant amount of funding devoted to 'workshops' with journalists, could it be this is not an effective strategy? why so many grantees make no use of the internet based tools? What is lacking? What changes are needed?
. Disparité accrue dans l’octroi des financements pays qui en reçoivent beaucoup et d’autres qui en reçoivent peu ou pas du tout) ;
Increased disparty in the funding between the countries that receive a lot and others that receive little or nothing at all; why is this?
Les opportunités : The opportunities-
Plus de financements disponibles grâce à la fondation Gates ; more funding resources thanks to the Gates Foundation.
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This seems in contradiction with a previous remark about increased disparity in the funding and there have been several instances where Rachel or other Consortium's leaders invoked the lack of funding. This is worrying as there has never been as much money supposedly availalbe while there has been 0 public financial accountability. Where did the $8 million go? in a detailed presentation please.
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Existence de thèmes nouveaux qui suscitent un intérêt chez les bailleurs (Taxation,
Monitoring de l’Industrie du Tabac, campagne de développement)
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Existence of new themes that interest the funders: This seems a strange comment as those 'themes' existed from the start and it raises again the question of how the funding decisions are taken, what is the influence of the African advocates (if any)?
. Existence d’un cadre qui peut susciter la coopération sud-sud en matière de lutte antitabac ;
. Existence d’un Centre de Ressource qui génère des outils pour le plaidoyer et les campagnes.
Existence of a resource center that produces tools for advocacy and campaigns:
concrete examples? I am doubtful.
Leçons apprises : Lessons learned
La mise en œuvre du projet et le recrutement des staffs ont continu un
retard ;
The start of the project and hiring of staff were delayed
How come?
. Le renforcement des capacités du staff et des ONGs doit se poursuivre ;
Reinforcing the capacity of staff and NGOs should continue
With what resources and how are you going to ensure all countries are concerned not only the same happy few?
La coopération entre acteurs et décideurs ne doit pas se limiter au niveau du Ministère de la santé ;
Cooperation between advocates and decision makers should not be limited to the Health Ministry
Is that waht happen? How come? How will that change with the present advocates?
Le suivi de l’Industrie du tabac doit être systématique
Monitoring the tobacco industry has to be systematic
Why was the monitoring not systematic? How is it going to become so ?
L’élargissement du réseau et le recrutement de nouveaux acteurs est une nécessité.
Enlarging the network and recruiting new 'players' is necessary
Why weren't new players 'recruited'? How is it going to happen? How is the present system going to open up to additional players when it looks largely confiscated by a small number of players.
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