Although the health environment is one of the most challenging for civil society, their participation is more than crucial to put in place effective actions and interventions to ensure that no one is left behind.

The COVID19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the functioning of the overall health system in Djibouti. The public health measures taken have influenced the essential pillars of health system strengthening. In this context of health crisis, UNDP has mobilized additional funding from the Global Fund for the period 2021-2023 to mitigate the impact of COVID19 and to help improve the lives of people and communities affected by HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis.

However, Djibouti deplores the real lack of involvement and collaboration with non-state actors such as civil society organizations, the private sector, and trade unions. Their involvement can be a real lever for change, particularly for carrying out prevention activities as part of the response to COVID-19 and for responding to the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Given the lack of information and training of civil society organizations and in order to maximize the impact of the community-based approach, capacity building of civil society and increased collaboration between stakeholders is a priority for the country.

As part of the mapping of civil society organizations in the health sector, UNDP was able to support the Ministry of Health in identifying civil society actors and collecting information on their identity, area of expertise, activities, level of structuring and geographical scope. In addition, this exercise provided a clearer picture of their training and capacity-building needs and helped to propose an integrated strategy for civil society organization interventions.