21 June 2022 · Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy

What’s next for the Partnership? GPZL Leadership Team convenes in London to discuss strategic direction

Leadership Team photo June 2022 — Back row (L-R): Mauricio Nobre, Faustino Pinto, Rao Pemmaraju, Mathias Duck, Takahiro Nanri, Wim van Brakel, Geoff Warne, Bill Simmons, Linda Hummel, Bill Gallo, Ganga Sunkara, Jordan Tappero, Benedict Quao. Front row (L-R): Caroline Cassard, Suzan Trienekens, Lucrecia Vásquez Acevedo, Arielle Cavaliero, Andie Tucker, Mondie Tharp, Emmy van der Grinten, Amar Timalsina, Deanna Hagge.

In June 2022, the Leadership Team of the Global Partnership for Zero Leprosy met in Brentford, London to discuss the Partnership’s progress to date and its strategy for the next three years. While the Leadership Team meets quarterly online, this was the first time that the Leadership Team was able to convene in person in more than two years.

At this meeting we welcomed six new members to the Leadership Team: Faustino Pinto, Lucrecia Vásquez Acevedo, Rabindra Baskota, Berta Mendiguren de la Vega, Emmy van der Grinten, and Jordan Tappero.

The team discussed GPZL’s work across all three pillars: research, country partnerships, and resource mobilization and advocacy. They developed plans for the formation of pillar working groups, which will guide the strategic direction of each work area. The Leadership Team also discussed governance issues, including refinement of term limits for Leadership Team members, and explored the opportunity for a future chair-elect to shadow the current chair for one year to allow for a seamless transition in leadership.

During the meeting, the Leadership Team also discussed the Partnership’s resource mobilization strategy. National Leprosy Programme Managers from partner countries shared examples of resource mobilization successes in connection with the Zero Leprosy Country Model implementation. The Leadership Team identified additional opportunities to raise the global profile of leprosy and invigorate leprosy funding around common priorities.

The Leadership Team will convene in person again in November of this year. We are thrilled to work with the largest Leadership Team that we have had to date and look forward to taking the next steps toward achieving no disease, no disability, and no discrimination or stigma.