Funding avenues for the Cancer Alliance Advocacy Objectives

Dear Members

Funding avenues for the Cancer Alliance Advocacy Objectives

Since inception, the Cancer Alliance has made significant advances in advocating for improvement of cancer services in South Africa. Efforts by various stakeholders including Cancer Alliance members has led to the prioritization of cancer in the country and has brought cancer into sharp focus following the President’s State of the Nation Address. Membership during this time has grown to 29 organizations across the country, comprising civil society organizations both small and large.

President Ramaphosa delivers the State of the Nation Address – 16 February 2018

Increased engagement with the Department of Health

This recent prioritization of cancer and cancer treatment by National Government has meant increased participation of members and the Cancer Alliance EXCO in stakeholder engagements, public hearings and meetings with the National Department of Health located in Pretoria. The increased demand of time and resources has required that EXCO explore more sustainable mechanisms of funding for Alliance-specific work.

The day-to-day running of the Cancer Alliance is managed by the Executive Committee (EXCO), which is elected by and drawn from our member organizations. All EXCO members contribute their time on a voluntary basis and are supported by their own organizations where necessary to attend to the business of the Alliance. Funding has been primarily through membership fees to support minimal daily administrative tasks. A basic principle to date has been that the Cancer Alliance does not compete with its own members in regard to fund raising. Projects have so far been funded by grants and donations made by organizations, usually to support a specific objective of the Cancer Alliance.

Previous Funding Initiatives

1. Lace Up for Cancer – An annual fundraising and awareness initiative for World Cancer Day, conducted by the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa in Cape Town.
2. One Step at a Time – An annual fundraising and awareness initiative for World Cancer Day conducted by the Breast Health Foundation in Johannesburg.
3. Open Society Foundations (OSF) (US) – A two-year grant (Feb 2018 – Feb 2020) for our Access to Medicine (A2M) campaign. Our major report Exploring Patent Barriers to Cancer Treatment Access in SA: 24 Medicine Case Studies was also funded by a previous grant from OSF (US).
4. Zoetis South Africa (Pty) Ltd / Hinterland SA (Pty) Ltd – (2018) A donation resulting from their own internal PINK campaign over a period of 2 years to create cancer awareness in the agricultural sector.

Possible New Funding Sources

The Cancer Alliance EXCO is exploring other avenues for funding and would love to get your input as a valued member of the Alliance. The following funding proposals are tabled for discussion and are not exhaustive – more suggestions will be welcomed:

• An annual joint event to commemorate World Cancer Day where all Cancer organizations can rally together to raise awareness about cancer and the existence (and importance) of the Cancer Alliance. This event can start in one city and progressively incorporate the remainder of sites where members are active.
• Increase membership fees based using some form of sliding scale for cross subsidization

We Need Your Valuable Input and Suggestions

We hope we can find solutions that will ensure that as a collective we continue to advocate for cancer care. We are looking forward to your responses before our next EXCO meeting on 9th October 2018.

Thank you

Regards

CANCER ALLIANCE EXCO: Nonku Boikhutso, Nersan Govender, Linda Greeff, Liz Gwyther, Peter Hers, Alana James, Elize Joubert, Salomé Meyer, Zodwa Sithole