NACA Kicks Off National Operational Planning Process and Global Fund Round 10 Applications

It has been a busy week for the PEPFAR Botswana team. The National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), has been coordinating the start of the National Operational Planning (NOP) Process, as well as supporting the Country Coordinating Mechanism's (CCM) efforts to develop Botswana's Global Fund Round 10 applications (NACA serves as the CCM Secretariate in Botswana.)

The PEPFAR Botswana team is supporting the NOP effort by participting on five NOP working groups: four Technical Planning Groups tied to the four priority areas identified in the National Strategic Framework II, and the Joint Oversight Committee, which is tasked with leading the development and implementation of the NOP.

Our team is also supporting the Global Fund proposal development effort by offering our technical team's expertise in helping provide input into the Round 10 proposal.

At the recent USG PEPFAR Meeting in Arusha, Ambassador Goosby made it very clear to all PEPFAR country teams that supporting CCMs and national planning efforts was not an option, but rather should be a top priority. PEPFAR in Botswana has gone a step further than simply supporting the GOB efforts. We have also tied the development of our Partnership Framework Implementation Plan directly to the NOP. That means that supporting the NOP is now a requirement for us to meet our planning requirements under PEPFAR II.

The National Coordinator for NACA opened the meeting of the Joint Oversight Committee by explaining that this committee has the opportunity to take ownership of the NOP process so that it is truely a country-led and country-owned plan, with transparent planning, and an implementation plan that is results-based and holds all parties accountable. The PEPFAR Botswana team looks forward to continuing to support NACA and the GOB in this this effort.