The Government of Rwanda is the lead sponsor of the Kigali Declaration and is providing political leadership on behalf of endemic countries.

The Government of Rwanda will play a key role in mobilising endemic countries to sign the declaration.

The Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases Secretariat has led in negotiating the leadership of the Government of Rwanda in the Kigali Declaration, including securing the following:

• Approving the name of this NTD political declaration, “the Kigali Declaration on NTDs”
• The sponsorship of the Government of Rwanda, at its highest levels, to lead country engagement and outreach
• The role of the Government of Rwanda in the production of the first draft and counsel on framing.
• The role of the Government of Rwanda in launching the Kigali Declaration on NTDs.

We are grateful to the Government of Rwanda for their instrumental leadership throughout this process and look forward to our continued partnership to deliver a high-impact declaration that will support countries achieve their 2030 goals for NTDs.

The secretariat will continue to play a key role in facilitating commitments and endorsements for the Kigali Declaration, with support from the wider Uniting partnership.

As the secretariat is accountable to the Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases Board, the work of the secretariat in this critical area of work will be signed off by the Uniting to Combat Neglected Tropical Diseases Board.

The Government of Rwanda felt strongly that we could not ignore the current context on COVID-19, and this needed to be reflected.

We are asking countries, organisations, and institutions to sign, and for one signature per organisation. This should be a senior authorised signatory from each country/institution/organisation (e.g., Heads of State, CEOs, Director Generals, Administrators, etc.) so that there is accountability at the right levels.

We continue to welcome endorsements and commitments for the Kigali Declaration. We are engaging with partners. including countries, organisations, companies and institutions to support the Declaration and make new commitments to end NTDs. To begin this process please email commitments@unitingtocombatntds.org confirming the name of your organisation and the name, position and contact details of the primary contact/representative. You will then be sent an invitation to sign and make your commitment.

Several different types of commitments can be made to deliver on the Kigali Declaration. These include financial commitments, health products, policy, and in-kind donations. Health products include medicines and drugs donations, diagnostics, and supply chain resources. Policy commitments include support for NTD integration into other priority areas, as well as NTD advocacy and communications. In-kind donations include technical assistance, staff, and/or time that is not provided through donor funding, including infrastructure, office space, vehicles, desks, computers, etc.

Many organisations have endorsed the Declaration, including endemic governments, donor countries, philanthropists and foundations, multilateral organisations, endemic governments, NGOs, civil society and community-based organisations, and pharmaceutical companies. Heads of Government from many affected countries have already signed the Declaration – a step in the right direction towards increased country ownership and leadership in the fight against NTDs. These countries include Botswana, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania, Timor Leste, Uganda and Vanuatu.

You can view a full list of the endorsers to date.

An online system is currently being developed whereby individual stakeholders will upload their expected commitments and in due course actual contributions. As part of this, we will create an online tracker which will log and track commitments.

We will share further details of the tracker once it has been developed.

You can see a high-level overview here.

The Declaration is a high-level political framework which sets out stakeholder commitments and the integration strategy in support of the World Health Organization’s roadmap. As seen with the London Declaration and other tools, these frameworks have the power to mobilise resources, with peers standing shoulder to shoulder for the collective good. There can be no legal instrument that can be employed to make this legally binding.