Health sector governance and planning

Currently, SADC has in place the Minister of Health Forum where TIMS initiatives are reported to. However, this forum does not include Ministers in charge of minerals, labour and migration. Secondly, since the signing of the Declaration of TB in the Mining Sector in 2012, SADC Head of State and Governments did not establish a governance structure to coordinate its implementation. This has left the Declaration to be implemented in a fragmented manner. Thirdly, the Declaration offers a platform for sustaining the in-going TIMS initiatives including the Global Fund grant if effectively coordinated and operationalized. Conversely, the on-going initiatives including the Global Fund support offer opportunities for updating the Declaration to ensure it reflects progress made and emerging issues in addressing TB in the mines.
In view of this, this Funding Request will support:

1. Develop an operational plan for the “Declaration of TB in the Mines” Protocol: The operational plan will outline comprehensive interventions for implementation of the “Declaration”. This plan will spell out approaches for integrating TB interventions in national programmes and set targets which countries will commit to. The plan will integrate a rights-based and people centred approaches and gender mainstreaming in the TIMS initiative. This plan will also include implementation arrangements agreed on by countries to ensure countries include the interventions in their national strategies. The plan will be developed through a participatory process involving all sectors and countries in Southern Africa. The result of this support will be a costed operational plan validated which will be validated through virtual platforms given the COVID 19 pandemic by all SADC member states.
2. Technical assistance to countries to integrate the regional TIMS operational plan into their national strategies. Given that the type and size of the mining industry varies across countries, each country will integrate interventions that meet its needs. A phased approach will be adopted starting with countries with the 9 countries with large mining activities.
3. Linked to technical assistance relating to integration of the operation plan, technical assistance to review progress in implementation of Declaration of TB in the Mining Sector Protocol, identify emerging gaps and lessons learnt and propose an update of the protocol to the SADC Heads of State and Governments will be done. This review will be done year 3 of the grant to ensure that SADC has an up to date declaration taking into account progress in address TB in the mines and updated global technical guidance.
4. The establishment of a governance structure to coordinate the implementation of Declaration of TB in the Mines Protocol. All initiatives contributing to this protocol will be coordinated by this structure. The structure will be anchored in the SADC governance system and will, preferably, report to the SADC Ministers Forum. This will ensure the political will to address TB in the mines is sustained. The funding request will support technical assistance and stakeholder consultative meetings, some which will be through virtual platforms given the COVID 19 pandemic travel restrictions and limited face to face interactions
5. Convening meetings of the TIMS governance structure to review progress and offer policy and strategic guidance to the TIMS initiatives. Part of this process will be to articulate the action plan for this governance structure which will include the accountability for implementation of the Declaration through the TIMS dashboard supported under Module 3.

Funds are requested to support the functioning of RCM to oversee implementation of this grant. The RCM will oversee TIMS 3 implementation, undertake policy level engagement with SADC and countries, strengthen linkages with country CCMs and foster collaboration among stakeholders (government, private sector and people affected by TB in the mining sector). Given the focus on strengthening coordination, the NTP technical meetings that inform the RCM oversight will be expanded to include other relevant government representatives such as labour, mining, gender, and mineral resources. This funding request will support the following activities:

1. High level engagement with SADC Secretariat/ SADC Ministers of Health/ Country engagement at a policy level
2. Support for TIMS oversight (RCM)-Oversight Field Visits
3. Convening Meetings of the RCM and its committees. These meetings will be held twice a year. One face to face meeting will be held to review results in the PUDR and a virtual meeting will be held in the second quarter of each year.
4. Convening Annual Meetings of the RCM with CCM Chairs
5. Support PR to convene Technical meetings of NTP meetings of National TB Programme Managers.