Advocacy Bill Brieger | 22 Jan 2013 04:05 am
Malaria Advocacy Working Group Tackles World Malaria Day Theme
The Malaria Advocacy Working Group (MAWG) has been developing Recommendation for the 2013 World Malaria Day Theme. They have shared the results of these consultations below.
Background
The MAWG Messaging Workstream has been working with the wider malaria community through the MAWG to develop ideas for the 2013 World Malaria Day Theme. After an open consultation process, the final shortlisted theme suggestions were put to the vote, with 74 respondents from 18 countries across 5 continents providing their input. The results showed a clear preference for the three recommendation options outlined below.
Recommendations
- “Invest in the Future: Defeat Malaria†To be the topline theme used for World Malaria Day in 2013.
- Linkage to The Big Push Initiative: Significant advocacy channels are being developed around The Big Push* initiative over the course of 2013 and beyond. RBM partners will be invited to fully leverage these channels and messages in connection with WMD 2013 as a complementary option to the theme. The MAWG messaging team will be providing partners with options and tools to link to and help build momentum behind this initiative in the lead up to and beyond World Malaria Day 2013.
- Extend use beyond World Malaria Day 2013
It was overwhelmingly agreed that it would be useful to extend the application of the World Malaria Day Theme for 2013 over a longer, multi-year period of 2013-15. This will allow more time to build theme messaging, collateral and use to maximize its impact. It is envisaged that the accompanying messaging and evidence points under this theme will be checked and evolved over this period.
Next steps
A smaller sub-group of the MAWG Messaging Workstream will be working over the coming months to develop options and collateral around the selected theme. We look forward to being able to share these ideas with partners early in the New Year.
We encourage RBM Board Members to play a crucial role in ensuring that the theme is used consistently by Partners of their respective constituency.
*Background on the “The Big Pushâ€: This initiative was developed around the UN General Assembly in September. The idea is to use TheBigPush as a unifying rallying cry for multiple initiatives working towards the 2015 health MDGs (and beyond). It has already been taken up by the UNSG Every Woman Every Child initiative and by the Global Fund (in partnership with the Huffington Post).