Message from Helga Fogstad, PMNCH Executive Director

 

 

Dear PMNCH Members,

 

I trust this email finds you well.

 

I would like to start by taking the opportunity to thank you all for the commitment, participation and engagement that you have shown in the PMNCH 2021 – 2025 Strategy development process.  We really appreciated the time and effort which you invested in Phase 1 of the Strategy Development process, in order to share your thoughts and opinions on the strategy outline.   In addition, we have also taken on board feedback from additional work streams such as the PMNCH Country Engagement Working Group, Accountability Working Group and Advocacy Working Group and fed this into the 2021 – 2025 PMNCH Draft Strategy. 

 

I am pleased to say that we have now the first draft of the full 2021 – 2025 PMNCH (attached). Phase 2 of the consultation process will now take place from 19^th May 2020 to 4^th June 2020. 

 

There are several ways to engage:

 

• Constituency meetings; PMNCH constituencies will hold their own meetings to discuss the Draft Strategy; please look out for an invitation from your constituency Chairs for this meeting, to be held end of May / beginning of June. 
• Survey; PMNCH members will also get an opportunity to provide their views directly by participating in an online survey on the PMNCH website.  The link will be sent to you within the next few days.  Please complete the survey at any point up until 4th June 2020.
• Email; if you prefer to send comments by email, please feel free to do so by emailing Dina El Husseiny elhusseinyd@who.int

 

The PMNCH Secretariat stands ready to support you. Any questions about the above can be directed to Dina (elhusseinyd@who.int).

I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your continued support to PMNCH.  We want the 2021 – 2025 PMNCH Strategy to be shaped by our members and, for it to serve our members.  We want to hear your views during this critical time, both in terms of how to place ourselves uniquely within the global health landscape, and also on how to tackle the short and long term challenges presented to us by Covid-19. 

 

Please reach me anytime with your thoughts: @helgafogstad or to the chair of the Strategy Committee Anders Nordström anders.nordstrom@gov.se

 

In solidarity,

 

Helga Fogstad

Executive Director

PMNCH 

 

 

 

Dear PMNCH Members

 

To all those in countries affected by COVID-19, our thoughts are with you at this time of uncertainty. This pandemic exposes deep fault lines, but it also renews collective call for action, especially for the most vulnerable. We stand behind you in calling for an unrelenting focus on equity, on shoring up our health systems, and of achieving universal health coverage.

 

I am writing to let you know two things:

 

1. Please find attached a statement of solidarity from PMNCH Board Chair Helen Clark on Covid-19 (attached as: “PMNCH Board Chair statement on Covid-19”). PMNCH and Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) are working closely on a joint communication and dissemination plan for Covid-19-related information, tools and resources to support your efforts, focusing on the particular needs of women, children and adolescents. Please find EWEC’s news and update bulletin here: https://www.everywomaneverychild.org/what-you-need-to-know-about-covid-19/. PMNCH’s online library of tools and resources is here: https://www.who.int/pmnch/media/news/2020/guidance-on-COVID-19/en/. This will be continually refreshed as new resources are made available; please send any suggestions for this collection to our knowledge and evidence focal point, Dr Etienne Langlois: langloise@who.int.

 

2. As we contribute to this urgent need for leadership, technical guidance and information, we are also looking to the future. We will be shaped by this current experience to consider how PMNCH over the longer term can be nimble, focused and flexible in its support to partners on the ground, focusing resolutely on the most vulnerable. As many of you know, PMNCH is developing a five-year strategy (2021-2025), and we are writing now to request your inputs to that Strategy. Please contribute by 17 April 2020.

 

Please find attached three documents for your information on the PMNCH Strategy process:

 

·           The Draft Outline of the PMNCH Strategy, attached as a Word document, entitled: “Draft PMNCH Strategy Outline for Consultation”. This document sets out the proposed contours of the future Strategy, following on from our current 2018-2020 Strategy; it will be further developed on the basis of your inputs during this consultation. A full draft of the new Strategy will be available for further consultation in May 2020.

 

·           Decisions and Recommendations from a PMNCH Strategy Retreat in February 2020 among Board leaders, attached as PDF, entitled: “Updated Decisions and Recommendations - PMNCH Strategy Retreat”. This document includes two timeline options for completing the Strategy – one that ends in June 2020 and one in December 2020. We will work towards the June deadline to begin with. However, we also appreciate that the need to prioritize the Covid-19 response may delay this process.

 

·           A draft outline of a PMNCH Board response to the Jan 2020 External Evaluation of PMNCH, attached as PDF, entitled: “Outline of Board response - PMNCH External Evaluation”. The full response will be uploaded on the PMNCH website in April 2020.

 

There are several ways to engage:

 

1. Information sharing webinars. All are invited to attend a webinar on the PMNCH Strategy, and provide live input. These will be held on Wed 01 April 2020 at 11:00 CET and at 16:00 CET. The webinars will be recorded and will be available for later viewing, and more details about these will be communicated with all of you shortly.

 

2. Constituency meetings. PMNCH constituencies will hold their own meetings to discuss the Draft PMNCH Strategy Outline; please look out for an invitation from your constituency Chairs for this meeting, to be held in the first weeks of April 2020. Feedback from these meeting will be noted and will inform the drafting process for the full Strategy document.

 

3. Survey. PMNCH members can also provide their views directly by clicking on this link and completing relevant parts of the draft Outline of the PMNCH Strategy document online – please note the “Key Questions” sections: https://fillabledocument.page.link/FNRT (using Google Chrome or Firefox browsers). Please complete the survey at any point between now and 17 April 2020 and submit it to PMNCH (bottom left hand corner of your screen). If you are unable to access and use this link for any reason, please feel free to complete the relevant sections in the attached Draft PMNCH Strategy Outline for Consultation Word document, and email it back to: pmnch@who.int.

 

 

The PMNCH Secretariat stands ready to support you. Any questions about the above can be directed to Dina El Husseiny (elhusseinyd@who.int).

 

Intense efforts are demanded of all of us at the moment. How can PMNCH support you better? What can a global platform of partners do for you, and the needs of those you serve? Please tell us: Your ideas will help us re-imagine and re-invigorate PMNCH, both in this current period of Covid-19, and for the longer term.

 

Please reach me anytime with your thoughts: @helgafogstad.

 

In solidarity,

 

Helga Fogstad

Executive Director

PMNCH