17 civil society organizations meet in Dakar to develop action plans for the elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of destructive and dangerous communicable diseases. Although preventable and treatable, they continue to cause severe disfigurement and other long-term disabilities that create barriers to education, employment, economic growth and sustainable development.

Civil society plays a crucial role in health campaigns, creating the political and social space for collaborations based on the core values of health as a basic human right and public good.  It is in this context that the Civil Society says « No to NTD » Network was created. Composed of CSOs from Guinea, Niger, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Benin, the network aims to support national and international efforts to eliminate neglected tropical diseases and to create a framework for exchange and consultation at the regional level.  

In order to amplify the impact generated by the network’s actions, Speak Up Africa intends to continue providing grants to the coalition’s constituent CSOs until 2024. To this end, a workshop is planned to develop action plans for each CSO in order to define together the desired impact, targets, and advocacy objectives for each CSO, as well as the activities to be implemented to eliminate NTDs.

This workshop is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the technical and organizational capacities of our partner CSOs to ensure that the action plans developed during the workshop are in line with the national advocacy objectives in the fight against NTDs.

Dr Ndèye Mbacké, NTD National Programme Coordinator, Senegal

The CSO action plan workshop also aims to increase the capacity and effectiveness of CSOs. By strengthening their knowledge of effective advocacy strategies for the fight against NTDs and effective advocacy tools, we hope to contribute to our common goals of eliminating NTDs. Speak Up Africa believes that it is CSOs that will bring communities together to drive sustainable change through the synergies they create and the high-impact actions they take to improve people’s lives. 

It is wonderful to bring together CSOs from all over West Africa for a week of development and knowledge sharing in the fight against neglected tropical diseases, to maximize the impact of our efforts in our different countries of intervention.

Salomon Dopavogui, Executive Director of the NGO, Jeunesse-Secours, Vice President of the Civil Society Says « No To NTD » Network