Held under the patronage of Her Highness SheikhaJawaherbint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, Founder and Royal Patron of the Friends of Cancer Patients (FoCP) and International Ambassador for the World Cancer Declaration of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and International Ambassador for Childhood Cancer for UICC, the first ever global forum on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) held in Sharjah will tackle a group of important topicson 14 - 15 November 2015,at Al Jawaher Reception and Convention Centre.Under the theme “NCD Advocacy and Accountability in the Post-2015 Era” the Forum is a collaboration between Friends of Cancer Patients society(FoCP) and the NCD Alliance, and will include three plenary sessions that will focus on three key areas: Advocacy and Accountability,Organisational Development and Collaboration for Success. Each session will be followed by a workshop stream on the same topic. The forum will bring together 206 delegates from 173 advocates and 43 national and regional NCD Alliances.
Session One on Saturday 14 November is called “The Global NCD Response: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead” and provides an overview of the up-to-date global response to NCD including commitments, targets and adopted plans. It will take stock of progress; identify barriers, good practice and opportunities to improve NCD prevention and control. The session will be followed by the first workshop stream under the topic “Translating Global NCD Commitments to National Action in the Post-2015 Era”. The second plenary session is “The NCD Civil Society Movement: Strengthening Unity, Building Momentum” and provides an overview of the role of civil society in the NCD response at all levels. The sessionwill highlight success stories in regional and national NCD advocacy, and share experiences from other successful health movements for building strong civil society movements.The second series of workshops will take place under the topic “Effective NCD Alliances for Advocacy Impact”.
The concept of accountability and the role NCD civil society can play in holding governments and the private sector accountable will be the topic of discussion at the third plenary session under the title “Achieving 25 x 25: Accountability as a Force for Change”. The session will share case studies of how other Civil Society Organisations’ (CSO) movements have held governments and the private sector accountable and tease out lessons learned for NCD civil society.This discussion will be followed by a series of workshops under the title: “Equipping the NCD Movement to Ensure Accountability in NCD Prevention and Control.” The Forum will bring together representatives of national and regional NCD Alliances, global health experts and recognised NCD champions, patient advocates, international NGOs, government representatives, NCD Alliance Steering Group members and supporters. It aims to provide a platform for strengthening advocacy, stimulating collaboration, identifying network-wide priorities and coordinating advocacy planning at national, regional and global levels.