People living with NCDs are powerful agents of change, capable of leveraging their lived experience to reach others and help break down stigma and discrimination. The views and perspectives of people living with NCDs are essential to inform laws, policies, healthcare services and other systemic NCD decisions. Learning from the lived experience and first-hand knowledge of NCDs is essential to improving policies, services, programmes and social beliefs. Meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs stands to make the NCD response more urgent, more accountable, more robust and effective.
Our Views, Our Voices is an initiative of the NCD Alliance and people living with NCDs, which seeks to put people first in the NCD response, and break down stigma and discrimination, enabling people living with NCDs to be leaders and active players in the response to these diseases and in growing the NCD movement. People living with NCDs are the ultimate owners of this initiative, they inspire it and drive it. The initiative is guided by the Advocacy Agenda of People Living with NCDs built in 2017 with the generous input of nearly 2000 people living with NCDs who took part in Our Views, Our Voices consultation efforts. The Advocacy Agenda serves as a compass for action for the NCD community. It has four pillars: prevention, treatment, care and support, social justice and meaningful involvement.
The Our Views, Our Voices initiative promotes the meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs in the NCD response. Its objectives are to:
- Promote consultation of people living with NCDs to build a knowledge base of their common challenges, needs and priorities
- Advocate to put people first in the NCD response at the global, regional and national levels by promoting meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs in decision making and furthering the Advocacy Agenda of People Living with NCDs
- Equip people living with NCDs with skills, knowledge, and confidence to build a public narrative and drive change
- Promote the views and voices of people living with NCDs and strengthen a public narrative that puts people first, challenges NCD misconceptions, breaks down stigma and discrimination, and calls for systemic change
In 2021, NCD Alliance launched the Global Charter on Meaningful Involvement of People Living with NCDs by consultation, which calls for formal mechanisms of involvement in organisational practices across different sectors, with internal resources, capacities, and an enabling environment to sustain it and multiply its impact.
The Our Views, Our Voices Global Advisory Committee
The Our Views, Our Voices initiative is guided by a Global Advisory Committee comprising of advocates and experts with lived experiences representing a wide range of NCD conditions, (including care partner experience) across various geographies. The advisory committee guides the initiative’s overall strategy to achieve the objectives of the initiative, promoting the initiative and its objectives at various advocacy opportunities.
Global Advisory Committee Members
The advisory committee is composed of a total of 15 members. The upcoming tenure (2024-2025) will be composed of a combination of experienced advisory committee members (retained from the previous tenure to offer continuity to guide ongoing activities) and new members who are individuals with lived experiences of NCDs familiar with the Our Views, Our Voices initiative and able to demonstrate civil society leadership, advocacy experience and a collaborative spirit.
Advisory Committee Member Responsibilities
- Advising on the initiative’s overall strategy, including incorporating voices of people living with NCDs in the work of the NCD Alliance and addressing specific needs and challenges of people living with NCDs.
- Advising NCD Alliance on its meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs.
- Co-creating specific strategies reflective of emerging needs of people living with NCDs within the Our Views, Our Voices initiative.
- Advising, informing, and inputting on the initiative’s offerings and resources for people living with NCDs, such as NCD Diaries, at global and national levels.
- Advising and inputting on the development of Our Views, Our Voices resources, including the conceptualisation, planning, consultation and review of case studies and lived experience narratives for publications.
- Advising on the initiative’s engagement of people living with NCDs, including in the lead up to, and in follow up to global advocacy opportunities such as the 2025 UN High Level Meeting on NCDs.
- Providing strategic advice towards the development of the Our Views, Our Voices advocates of people living with NCDs, including advising and inputting on the Our Views, Our Voices training programme strategy, and the identification and/or selection of participants for Our Views, Our Voices trainings, and related opportunities.
- Informing and advising on furthering the Advocacy Agenda of People Living with NCDs in global, regional, and national contexts and implementing the strategy for the Global Charter on Meaningful Involvement of People Living with NCDs.
- Inputting on how to amplify the involvement of people living with NCDs in the Global Week for Action on NCDs.
- Advising and inputting, as needed and appropriate on NCD Alliance’s advocacy efforts to ensure perspectives of people living with NCDs, are reflected.
- Promoting advocacy efforts and open opportunities related to the Our Views, Our Voices initiative, amongst committee members’ own networks of people living with NCDs who they believe would be interested in being involved.
- Representing the Advisory Committee and promoting the Our Views, Our Voices initiative and its objectives in communications and public speaking/advocacy opportunities, as appropriate.
- Championing and contributing thought leadership to the issue of meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs at the global, regional, and national levels
- Provide inputs on the meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs at the 2024 Global NCD Alliance Forum via the virtual Global Advisory Committee meetings.
Tenure
August 2024 – December 2025
Time Commitment
- The Our Views, Our Voices Global Advisory Committee will be convened virtually for at least 4-6 calls per year.
- Email communication for comments/feedback as necessary.
- Online engagement leading up to and during the Global Week for Action on NCDs and other global campaigns.
- Attendance at global/virtual events organised and/or facilitated by NCD Alliance as necessary.
- In case a Global Advisory Committee member is unable to join 3 consecutive calls (or provide input on call discussions via email in lieu), a reconfirmation of their interest and commitment to the Global Advisory Committee will be required to maintain their active membership.
- Initial appointment to the Global Advisory Committee is by competitive selection.
- Appointed committee members can serve for a maximum of two terms.
Eligibility
EoIs are invited from people living with NCDs who are affiliated with an NCD Alliance member (full or associate member).
Equally weighted selection criteria
- NCD Advocacy experience: experience of advocating on NCD issues; promoting meaningful involvement of people living with NCDs; which might include, speaking in public and/or facilitating or organising an advocacy activity either independently or through a NCDA member organization (full or associate member).
- Leveraging lived experience: utilizing lived experiences in an advocacy role; promoting the value of lived experiences; and any involvement with the Our Views, Our Voices initiative.
- Leadership: leadership examples, civil society experience, track record of mobilising and leading networks of people living with NCDs.
- Collaborative approach: experience of working as part of a group, motivated approach to contribute to activities relevant to the NCD Community
Process for expressing interest in this role
If you are interested in pursuing this opportunity, please use this form to submit your expression of interest by Wednesday, August 21, 2024.
Selection process
Expressions of interest will be competitively evaluated by former members of the Our Views, Our Voices Global Advisory Committee and the NCD Alliance, against the equally weighted selection criteria outlined above. In addition, final selection will look to ensure the Committee’s balanced representation across NCD conditions and care partner experience, age, gender, and geographies.
All individuals who express interest in a role on the Our Views, Our Voices Global Advisory Committee will be contacted directly regarding the outcome of the process.
Access & Support
NCD Alliance will provide secretariat support to the Our Views, Our Voices Global Advisory Committee. Out-of-pocket expenses are covered or reimbursed along with an acknowledgement payment (considered if people living with NCDs do not have a job/paid salary). "Out of pocket expenses", refer to expenses accrued by people with lived experiences while engaging in activities for NCDA. Out-of-pocket expenses eligible for coverage encompass, but aren't restricted to, travel, accommodation, digital connectivity, subsistence, necessary childcare, carer support and translator or interpreter costs.
