LOGO
10 March 2025

Call for Nominations – Representatives National Leprosy Programs for GPZL Members’ Assembly

The Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL) is seeking nominations for Representatives of National Leprosy Programs to serve on its Members’ Assembly for a two-year term, renewable once. The term will begin on 1 April 2025.

To ensure broad geographic representation, National Leprosy Program representatives from leprosy-endemic countries are encouraged to apply. GPZL’s Members’ Assembly reflects the diversity of stakeholders engaged in leprosy prevention and control.

Interested candidates should submit a short bio to the Executive Director, Dr. Ritu Ghosh, by 25 March 2025. The Members’ Assembly will select two representatives, who will be confirmed through a voting process among GPZL members.

The organization
The Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy (GPZL) is a multi-stakeholder global coalition of organizations and individuals committed to ending leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease. GPZL convenes stakeholders, links expertise, and empowers and leverages the collective strengths of its members towards the ultimate goal of zero leprosy: zero infection and disease, zero disability, zero stigma and discrimination.

GPZL’s primary roles, to advance towards zero leprosy, are: convening expertise and influence; building and strengthening links; advocating nationally and internationally; mobilizing resources; aligning and accelerating research; and supporting the scale-up of promising interventions. GPZL does not directly implement projects or programs.

GPZL works closely with the World Health Organization towards its goals as set out in the NTD Road map 2021-2030 and the Global Leprosy Strategy 2021-2030. GPZL recognizes the ownership of national leprosy programs by their governments and includes national program representatives in its decision-making structures. GPZL also endorses the full participation of persons affected by leprosy in its strategies, decision-making structures and activities.

Operations under GPZL are funded by three major donors working in collaboration: Novartis Pharmaceutical, Sasakawa Health Foundation, and the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations (ILEP).

Accomplishments and strategy
Since its founding in 2018, GPZL has made encouraging progress in establishing and beginning to implement a consensus agenda for accelerated research related to the goal of zero leprosy; and building and implementing a zero leprosy country model designed to support endemic countries from situational analysis through to action plans to achieve zero leprosy.

The 2024-2026 strategy consists of three pillars:

  • Facilitate the implementation and scaling-up of existing and new tools to interrupt transmission.
  • Align and accelerate research with a focus on zero transmission.
  • Prioritize people and their rights in our zero leprosy efforts.

Governance
Until June 2023, the Partnership’s Secretariat was hosted by the Task Force for Global Health. GPZL has subsequently been established as independent organization, and during the first quarter of 2025 it will be formally registered as a not-for-profit association in Switzerland.

GPZL is governed by a Members’ Assembly, which consists of up to 19 people representing the broad range of stakeholders. Persons on the Members’ Assembly are not remunerated for this role. Other governance structures include an Executive Board and three Pillar Groups that correspond to the three strategic pillars. The Secretariat consists of an Executive Director, who was appointed in 2024 and is based in India, a communications manager and a general administrator.

Representatives of National Leprosy Programs
The Members’ Assembly includes up to four representatives of National Leprosy Programs (NLP) who are appointed by the Members’ Assembly for a term of two years, renewable once subject to the approval of the Members’ Assembly. They bring an essential country-level perspective to the Members’ Assembly and the other governance structures. While it is not required that the selected persons are themselves the national program manager, though this is preferred where possible, they should have experience and influence in leprosy programming at the national level. Geographic and gender representation, as well as representation from countries with varying leprosy burden, are considered by the Members’ Assembly when it appoints NLP representatives. One NLP representative is also appointed to the Executive Board.

Responsibilities and expectations
Representatives of National Leprosy Programs are expected to:

  • Participate in meetings of the Members’ Assembly. There are usually three meetings per year: an in-person meeting that usually spans two days, and two remote meetings of between one and two hours.
  • Participate actively in one of the three Pillar Groups, which meet monthly for around 90 minutes.
  • Review the required documents as shared within the Pillar Group and provide input and suggestion.
  • Liaise collectively with other National Leprosy Program Managers in an effort to ensure that inputs to GPZL are informed by peers.
  • Respond in a timely way to emailed requests for input on various topics.

Further information
Further information on GPZL and on the roles within the Members’ Assembly can be obtained from this website or by emailing Executive Director Dr Ritu Ghosh at rghosh@zeroleprosy.org.