Budget advocacy: A guide for community activists

The aim of this engagement is to ensure the sustainability and quality of services for KAPs in the EECA region. For some countries, this means maintaining the existing level offunding and service delivery; for some there are new challenges that need to be addressed; and for some this means establishing functioning services for KAPs or achieving significant scale-up of services. This budget advocacy guide summarizes the activities of the Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) in providing technical assistance and support, creating opportunities and facilitating the transition period for the integration of harm reduction services into national health and social care systems, and securing the allocation of public funds to those services. Thus, it may seem that attimes itis overtly focused on harm reduction services, although our experience shows that the activities of most KAP activist groups overlap significantly, and we find that undertaking joint activities (versus competing with other groups) is an appropriate, ethical approach. The main objective of this document is to inform and inspire community activists in the EECA region to actively engage in domestic budget advocacy, in order to ensure the sustainability of services and programs for KAPs and to secure funding from national sources for those programs and services. Despite the specific objectives set by each country, the EECA region as a whole is facing significant challenges in terms of a dramatic decrease in allocations from the Global Fund and other donors and a worsening of the HIV epidemiological situation among KAPs, including low detection rate, low treatment uptake, and low treatment success for HIV. Treatment of viral hepatitis and other related diseases is even more challenging.