The first Annual Performance Review for the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa ( CTCA) has ended with partners re-affirming their commitment to the tobacco control agenda in Africa.
The review workshop, July 4-5th 2012, was attended by over thirty global partners and was one of the final sessions following a series of internal and external review activities. It was proceeded by a Steering Committee meeting where the governance body of the Centre deliberated on the recommendations that came out the review to guide the Centre Operations.
During the one year of existence, CTCA has been able to implement activities in the five target countries of Uganda, Kenya, Angola, Mauritania and South Africa. Some of the activities include; advocacy with the policy makers, initiating the process of policy change and legislation, carrying out country based capacity assessments and a baseline survey on the Interference of the tobacco industry at country level. The Centre has also created a recognizable brand, raised the profile of tobacco control and initiated collaborations with global and national tobacco control partners including the media. CTCA also supported all the countries to carry out media and advocacy activities during World No Tobacco Day.
The Partners hailed the Centre for its achievements during the last one year and urged it to fully engage with all the target countries in the following year. This will include but not limited to: Sharing and understanding the CTCA mandate, ensuring enhanced country ownership, developing a procedure for operation, carrying joint Work planning and budgeting to address country specific identified needs, as well as improving communication to countries.
Other recommendations included; the need for CTCA to leverage partnerships for instance through improving coordination, communication and collaboration in countries and regionally with all key stakeholders- governments, civil society, donors, and the media; developing a practical sustainability strategy that includes short, medium and long term goals to include sustainability of Tobacco Control interventions in target countries and sustainability of CTCA as an organization. Finally, it was strongly recommended that CTCA invests in providing local evidence on Tobacco Control strategies that work for instance through conducting action-oriented research to drive policy change, strengthening relationships with academic institutions to support research and working with institutions like (IDRC) to support fellowships, PhD, Masters’ programs that will facilitate providing country-based evidence.
The participants at the Annual Performance Review Workshop represented a critical mass of experts from wide ranging organizations including; WHO/ TFI, WHO AFRO, WHO Uganda Country office, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), CTCA steering committee members from three of the five target countries; South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. Others included representatives from Africa Tobacco Control Consortium (ATCC), Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids ( CTFK), International Development Research Centre (IDRC), American Cancer Society, Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI), African Tobacco Control Alliance (ATCA), Africa Tobacco Control Regional Initiative (ATCRI), Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, EnCompass LLC, International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, and the East African Community Secretariat.
The Review meeting was followed by a Steering Committee meeting on July 6,which was attended by seven of the nine committee members. These included the Chair, Dr. Lillian Tibatemwa from Makerere University, Prof. Olalekan Ayo Yusuf, South Africa, Dorcas Kiptui, Kenya, Sheila Ndyanabangi, Uganda, Mr. Richard Baguma, Uganda Health Communications Alliance ( UHCA), Dr. Deo Ssekimpi, Uganda National Association for Community and Occupational Health (UNACOH). Others who attended include the Centre Director Prof. William Bazeyo, Manager Dr. Possy Mugyenyi, as three representatives from WHO. Ms. Lynne Franco, EnCompass presented the synthesis from the review meeting, as well as the critical issues raised during the external review that needed to be addressed by the Steering Committee.