From 9 March- 13 March, 2015 UNITAID held an ‘In- country Consultation’ in Ethiopia. Representatives from France, the UNITAID Secretariat, the NGO delegation and the Communities delegation attended. The NGO delegation was represented by Alternate Board Member, Diarmaid McDonald and Liaison Officer, Alysa Remtulla. The Communities delegation was represented by Alternate Board Member, Kenly Sikwese.

The purpose of the consultation was to increase the visibility of UNITAID funded projects at country level, review with implementing partners the current status of projects, consult civil society on UNITAID’s civil society engagement plan and grow networks to promote continued dialogue with Ethiopia. The visit was managed by the UNITAID Secretariat, who made a grant to a local NGO, Voluntary Health Services (VHS), to organise the content and logistics of the visit. VHS is a Health Education and Treatment Support Group led by Endalkachew Fekadu. Endalkachew and his team put in an enormous amount of work to organise 3 days of site visits, the Stakeholder Consultation and the Civil Society Consultation. The NGO and Communities delegations would like to say a huge thank you to Endalkachew and everyone at VHS who was integral in making this happen.

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