During September 12-15, 2011 UNDP Uzbekistan hosted a major international event – the Regional Eastern Europe and Central Asia Workshop on Procurement and Supply Chain Management and Programme Management for projects, financed by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The workshop brought together representatives of UNDP regional and country offices and projects from 12 countries, as well as other UN agencies. The event empowered participants with critical knowledge, approaches, tools and best practices that will help to effectively implement projects.

This year Uzbekistan received a Global Fund (GF) grant to combat HIV. For the first time as a Principal recipient of this grant UNDP is implementing the "Continuing scale up of the response to HIV in Uzbekistan, with particular focus on most at risk populations" project. The project supports the National Strategic Programme on HIV and several National Resolutions on HIV prevention.

The 4-day interactive workshop focused on programme management, asset and risk management, procurement, peculiarities of working with different categories of sub recipients and many other issues. Experiences exchanged and knowledge shared was also an important part of the workshop.

Ms. Tracey Burton, UNDP/Global Fund Partnership Senior Program Advisor shared with us - “This is a great opportunity for UNDP country offices, acting as Principal Recipients of GF grants to come together, share experiences and best practices and to identify areas, requiring greater focus to ensure effective implementation of programmes and achievement of targets”.

Mr. Saeid Ferdowsi, Head of UNDP Programme Cluster on GF funded projects from Iran echoed: “For me the important thing is that for the first time we were exposed to activities in other countries and regions. We are going back home with a lot of knowledge and experience”.

The experience, knowledge, approaches and tools, accumulated during the workshop are particularly valuable for Uzbekistan. The main objective of such initiatives is to enhance capacities of specialists for better implementation of projects to secure health and well-being for all.