Challenge Facility for Civil Society (CFCS) was established by the Stop TB Partnership in its Global Plan to Stop TB 2016-2020. This approach challenges the traditional biomedical approaches to TB and calls for integrated and comprehensive responses to TB that are patient-centred and include strong partnerships with communities and civil society. To support community engagement and full partnerships with civil society and community organizations the Stop TB Partnership provides grants to technically sound and innovative interventions through the CFCS. EANNASO was awarded the grant for CFCS Round 7 and 8 to be implemented between 2016 to May 2019.

The overall goal of the round 7 is to build recognized civil society and community networks that represent, support and are accountable to communities who can partner with one another and successfully engage in national TB responses. The projects will take place in two phases. Phase I focuses on undertaking a resource mapping exercise to identify existing resources, coverage gaps, and perspectives of stakeholders about the quality of existing services. In Phase II, focusing on fostering collaboration with existing resources to identify key TB-related issues to bring to the national level, develop plans to fill the coverage gaps, and reassess the perspectives of the stakeholders about the quality of the newly developed / strengthened network

The current project round 8 s guided by the following objectives namely;
1) To strengthen the institutional capacity of the Tanzania TB Community forum to facilitate coordination, partnership building and networking amongst TB community actors;
2) To increase community engagement in national TB policies, programs and processes;
3) To advocate for key issues with policy makers on various national platforms;
4) To mobilize communities towards increased demand for TB health services.

Miners in Southern Africa are particularly susceptible to occupational lung diseases including TB infection with incidence of TB three to four times than of the general population. Main factors that contribute to the higher risk of TB among mineworkers include exposure to silica dust; crowded living and working conditions with inadequate ventilation; high incidence of silicosis; and HIV/TB co-infection among others. Miners are disproportionally affected by TB; they have an increased risk of infection, and yet are the least likely to have access to TB prevention, Screening, and treatment services because of widespread stigma and discrimination.

TIMS emerged from a recognized need for a regionally coordinated response to tuberculosis and related illnesses among mineworkers, ex-mineworkers and their families and communities in Southern Africa. Its goal is to contribute towards the reduction of the TB burden in the mining sector in Southern African countries. Specifically, it seeks to:
1) increase TB case finding among key populations in the mining sector in Southern Africa,
2) increase the proportion of key populations on TB treatment that complete their treatment
3) increase the proportion of key populations with TB that are tested for HIV and enrolled for ART
4) To increase access to information and education on TB prevention, care and treatment
5) improve accountability of key institutions addressing TB, silicosis and HIV in the mining sector

The African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships (ACHAP) in partnership with the Eastern Africa National Networks of AIDS and Health Service Organizations (EANNASO) and Storkfort Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Storkfort Health) has been selected by Wits Health Consortium to implement the Global Fund TB in the Mines in Southern Africa (TIMS) project in five southern Africa countries namely Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. As part of this project 15 Sub Sub Recipients (Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Key Population Organisation (KPOs)) across the five countries will be managing the day to day activities of the project at country level. The objectives of the project include the following;

EANNASO in Partnership with the Tanzania National TB and Leprosy Program (NTLP) with the support from STOP TB Partnership conducted community rights and gender assements in 2017 in Tanzania. Tuberculosis (TB) thrives in conditions of structural inequity, where the complexities of poverty, social inequity, disempowerment, rights violations, conflict and patriarchy render communities susceptible to TB and marginalize access to diagnosis, treatment and care.

The TB/HIV Gender Assessment Tool was developed by Stop TB and partners in partnership with UNAIDS to assist countries to assess their HIV and TB epidemic context and response from a gender perspective, helping them to make their responses gender sensitive and reduce the dual burden of HIV and TB infection. The tool builds on the UNAIDS HIV Gender Assessment Tool and is intended to work in areas to maximize gender-transformative responses, which is crucial to understand key and vulnerable populations by HIV and TB.

The Legal Environment Assessment Tool, developed by Stop TB and partners in cooperation with UNDP, identifies the laws, policies and practices that pose barriers to accessing health services and informs planning of practical programmes that address those barriers. The tool aims to build national capacity for facilitating an inclusive and participatory process through which to develop a human rights framework for TB and to bring national laws and policies in line with this framework.

The Data for Action Framework on Key, Vulnerable and Underserved Populations, created in collaboration with the Global Fund, ensures that country programmes will consider interventions and access for everyone, including populations that are more vulnerable, and have increased barriers to access services. The framework offers ways to fills gaps in programme data in order to design appropriate services with and for vulnerable populations.

The tools aims to bridge the data gap and ensure that implementers properly address human rights, gender and vulnerable populations, so that the End TB goals are achieved. The tools provide a current and improved perspective to support reviewing national policies and practices, focusing on human rights and gender-based approaches to TB and HIV. Other than Tanzania the tools were also rolled out in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Ukraine.