Renuka Anandjit and Travis Spellin are the newest civil society representatives of the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM), which provides grants to aid in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculo-sis (TB) and Malaria.
In a statement issued on Wednes-day, the Guyana Equality Forum (GEF) said Anandjit and Spellin, who are members, were recently chosen after a “hotly contested” election.
The CCM has the role to coordinate the preparation of all grant proposals to the Global Fund, to approve same for submission and to monitor the implementation of all approved grants.
Anandjit, the Program-mes Director of the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association (GRPA), has succeeded activist Zenita Nicholson, who died in October, 2015. Spellin, the Finance Manager of Comforting Hearts, an organisation in New Amsterdam that provides care and support to those affected by HIV and AIDS, has been selected as an alternate to Anandjit, as they represent Guyana’s civil society constituency.
According to the statement, those selected are representative of a variety of stakeholders, each representing an active constituency and with an interest in one or more of the funded disease areas, those being, HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria.
Anandjit was quoted as saying that now that she has been elected, she is looking forward to working with the wider community of non-governmental organisations and Guyana as a whole. Spellin, in his address, said that he intends to continue to provide advocacy on behalf of those affected and infected by HIV, as well as aid policy development to address the unmet needs of civil society organisations’ clientele.
Anandjit and Spellin will hold their posts as CCM representatives until the end of the current term in 2017.
