Reflexivity statement & FAQs 2023
NNN 2023 Reflexivity Statement
The Neglected Tropical Disease NGO Network (NNN) is building on its annual event, the NNN Conference. In 2022, we held the conference in Kathmandu, Nepal and adopted a hybrid model. This year, in addition to delivering high-quality technical workshops and rapid-fire sessions, we will address the calls for regional networking. Through these regional meetings, we will facilitate increased participation from young professional leaders engaged in the fight against NTDs in their communities.
Our members’ call for growing participation and engagement drove the NNN Executive Committee to search for venues easily accessible to NNN members worldwide. After a comprehensive evaluation of different locations, hosts, and organizations, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, was selected as the venue for the 2023 NNN Conference. NTD programmes in Tanzania have seen several successes over the last few years, including dramatic reductions to the prevalence of trachoma as a public health problem and an over 24% reduction of people requiring interventions for NTDs in the past decade. The 2023 conference will provide an opportunity to learn and appreciate how strong national and transnational programmes can advance NTD elimination objectives.
We understand that organizing an in-person conference poses issues with access, travel equity, geographical representation, and delegate representation. This year, we have decided to offer our delegates a ‘hybrid-lite’ approach providing access to the conference content for virtual delegates, while enriching the in-person experience. As the NNN is a fully volunteer-run network that relies on sponsorship funds raised annually from members, the Executive Committee had to acknowledge the fact that a fully hybrid conference is typically double the cost of an in-person conference.
We are also mindful of the broader NTD community, not all of whom may be able to make it to Tanzania in September. Through the 2023 conference, we are looking to strike a balance between an in-person and virtual experience, and exploring options to add a virtual platform that allows delegates to tune in to workshops and still have a personalized conference experience.
We are also looking to improve the relevance of our workshops to current issues in the NTD practitioner community and have included more rapid fire sessions to address feedback from past conferences and to better align our conference content with the WHO NTD road map goals. Our workshop theme topics and sub-topics have been carefully chosen to maximize knowledge sharing, with an emphasis on cross-sectoral collaborations, integration, inclusion and a wider representation of NTDs.
Through the 2023 NNN Conference, we are seeking to engage regional members and lay the foundations for strong regional networks to facilitate engagement within the NNN. We believe that regional networks will foster better engagement, participation, and inclusion, and are excited to see what new opportunities intra-regional networking will bring in 2023 and beyond.
NNN Conference 2023 FAQs
After careful review and consultation with our events planning team, Dar es Salaam was selected as a venue that could accommodate key criteria for our search: ease of access, endemic country representation, new location, and presence of NNN member organizations.
Virtual and in-person delegates will have access to a virtual platform where they can livestream all of our workshops, rapid fires, and meetings. We are aware that the different time zones will not be ideal for all of our members. We appreciate participants who are able to join the meetings and workshops outside their normal working hours. Members and delegates will be able to access the recordings via the official NNN YouTube Channel.
The workshop and rapid fire selection criteria have been published on the NNN website. For detailed information please visit the official NNN page at Call for Submissions 2023.
We will try our best to accommodate French language interpretation across the conference proceedings, contingent on budget considerations. We will also work with workshop organizers to identify other language interpretation needs and will provide the organizers the option to hire interpreters using equipment that NNN will have available.
A limited number of 1-hour slots are available outside the main conference programme which can be used by sponsors, partners, or interested organizations for booking their side meetings. Please be advised that these rooms will come with a cost for audiovisuals and refreshments if and when required. If you are interested in hosting a side meeting, kindly contact admin [at] nnnevents [dot] com to submit your request.
Please send a request for a side event / meeting room via the admin [at] nnnevents [dot] com email address and all the following specifics:
- Title of meeting
- Short overview
- # of attendees
- Whether it would be open / invite only
- Time required / suggested date
- Refreshment requirements
- AV requirements
Once we have the details, our conference organizers will submit the request to the NNN Conference Committee for their review and approval. We will follow up individually with all requests received.
Unfortunately, we are unable to sponsor travel to participate in the conference. The NNN annual conference costs are met through annual appeals to the NNN members to sponsor the conference which covers the costs related to operations, events management, communication, and delegate management. This is a recurring annual exercise focused almost entirely on the conference and does not allow us the opportunity to maintain discretionary funding to sponsor the travel of delegates.
We hope that the virtual option will allow those who are unable to travel the opportunity to connect and engage with the conference delegates, even if virtual.
All travel-related information can be found on our Dar es Salaam venue information page.