Working Groups are the principal vehicles through which Coalition members collaborate on a sustained, formal basis to realize the Coalition’s strategic goals. Each Working Group pursues a workplan, which is developed by its members, revised annually, and submitted to the Executive Committee for review. In the past, the three working groups (Systems Strengthening, Market Development Approaches, and Resource Mobilization and Awareness) met at the Coalition's annual Membership Meeting. For the first time, the 2009 Membership Meeting in London provided attendees the opportunity to learn more about the work of the other Working Groups (i.e., those they did not belong to). This was a highly successful activity, and it became clear that better linkages across the Working Groups were needed to advance the work of the Coalition.

This activity under the RMA WG will serve as a bridge for supporting the three Working Groups in advancing their priorities. Recent developments in the Systems Strengthening and MDA Working Groups are leading to new challenges for RH supplies advocates: new mechanisms, such as AccessRH and the Pledge Guarantee for Health, require “fresh” advocacy messages, while there is also a clear need for advocacy around activities such as prequalifying generic manufacturers under WHO's Prequalification Programme.

This workstream aims to improve collaboration and synergy between Working Groups and to ensure that advocates within the Coalition have sufficient information on the latest technical developments within the Working Groups. The objective of this workstream is to communicate with both the Systems Strengthening and MDA Working Groups to identify and understand the latest technical developments and “translate”  those to RMA WG members, while ensuring advocacy opportunities are identified and observed.

For further information on this workstream, please contact Sabine Weber of DSW.