Community Connect is a valuable addition and important highlight of The Union World Conference of Lung Health 2024. Representatives of the affected community and civil society come together to share experiences and develop solutions on issues surrounding lung health. Community Connect is an open-access space where the voice of the affected community echoes to the world.
This year, Community Connect comprises of interesting conversations from civil society and affected communities, panel discussions, sessions, booths, campaigns, performances and exhibition area.
Contact Us
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at communityconnect@theunion.org
Community Connect Engagement Activities are open until 10 August 2024.
Programme
This year’s programme will comprise of sessions on the following tracks:
TRACK 1
Community rights, gender and stigma
This track focuses on innovative civil society and community-based/led interventions that address barriers to accessing quality TB services, lung health and tobacco cessation services with respect to human-rights and gender equity.
TRACK 2
Empowering communities: Strengthening systems to end tuberculosis
This track focuses on activities such as capacity building of communities, community mobilization, advocacy, and resource mobilization to address local needs and challenges, regarding TB. It addresses particularly strengthening the capacity of communities to effectively prevent, diagnose, treat, and support individuals with respect to TB.
TRACK 3
Political contexts for community-led advocacy and accountability
This track focuses on strategic policy implementation, advocacy initiatives, financial commitments, TB financing and accountability frameworks required to ensure achieving the goal to end TB by 2030. Communities can share an analysis of national-level policies that have advanced or impeded progress on TB and community-led advocacy programs including post-UNHLM context.
TRACK 4
Driving equitable access to new tools and technologies
This track will focus on scientific advancements and digital innovations, including AI-based technologies aimed at community empowerment and engagement. These technologies/tools can address barriers e.g., social and structural determinants of health, including but not limited to poverty, discrimination, and unequal distribution of healthcare resources, that hinder access to diagnostics and treatment, particularly with respect to TB and lung health
Community Connect Engagement Activities
Timeline — Submissions are open from 11 June to 10 August 2024. All submissions received after this time will not be eligible.
Guidelines —
- Art/Photography work are open to individuals and organisations (non-profit/civil society/ Tuberculosis (TB) champions led groups) to submit their work that represent the affected community and their voices.
- Artwork that will be considered are painting, drawing, comic and digital art.
- Submit a minimum of one and maximum of two art (painting, drawing, comic and digital art)/photography works, which closely relates to the theme mentioned above.
- Due to international and national laws, all identifiable people within the artwork must sign a media release form – please feel free to use The Union’s Art Consent Form.
- Further guidelines on the use of Art/photography by The Union will be sent to you upon selection of your entry at the exhibition.
Review — The Union Community Advisory Panel (UCAP) will select the art/photography work that will be displayed in the Exhibition area.
Entry for the Art/Photography Exhibition –
- Art/photography work will have to be submitted digitally (maximum: 5MB each). Each artwork should be submitted in JPEG or PNG format and the associated word document should have the title and description regarding the art/photography work (maximum: 150 words).
- Your entry must be submitted to communityconnect@theunion.org digitally via WeTransfer along with the Art/photography work, Title and description (in word document) and The Union’s Art Consent form.
Notification – Notification about the submission status will be emailed to the submitter in September.
Timeline — Submissions are open from 11 June to 10 August 2024. All submissions received after this time will not be eligible.
Guidelines —
- Posters section in the Community Connect is an effort to bring the efforts of organizations and their work to the delegates who can digitally access the content through their digital devices.
- Poster can include description of the organization or their work and a QR code in the poster which can lead to potential information that can be accessed by the delegates.
- Posters are open for organisations (non-profit/civil society/ Tuberculosis (TB) champions led groups) where they can put a display about their organization or their work in the Community Connect area of the conference.
- Further guidelines regarding the posters will be sent to you upon selection.
Review — The Union Community Advisory Panel (UCAP) will select the posters that will be displayed in the community connect cultural area of the conference.
Entry for posters – Your entry for the poster must be submitted to communityconnect@theunion.org digitally via WeTransfer along with the designed poster as a PDF.
Notification – Notification about the submission status will be emailed to the submitter in September.
Timeline — Submissions are open from 11 June to 10 August 2024. All submissions received after this time will not be eligible.
Guidelines —
- Workshops are open to organisations (non-profit/civil society/ Tuberculosis (TB) champions led groups) but not individuals. An individual can submit the workshop with the support of his/her organization.
- The workshop should be aligned with the overall theme of The Union World Conference on Lung Health 2024 and not be more than 120 minutes.
- Note that the workshops would be conducted in an open area and would request the organizations to prepare accordingly.
- Apart from chairs and tables if there are any technical requirements, please mention them in the description of the workshop.
- Further guidelines regarding the workshop will be sent to you upon selection.
Review — The Union Community Advisory Panel (UCAP) will select the workshops that can be conducted by organizations in the community connect cultural area of the conference.
Entry for Workshops –
- Details of the workshop should be submitted in a word document with the following information:
- Title of the workshop.
- Organizer of the workshop
- Duration of the workshop (should not be more than 120 minutes).
- Description of the workshop (maximum of 500 words)
- Chair and Speakers along with affiliations for the workshop. (if present)
- Your entry for the workshop must be submitted to communityconnect@theunion.org digitally via WeTransfer along with the above-mentioned details in the word document.
Notification – Notification about the submission status will be emailed to the submitter in September.
Timeline — Submissions are open from 11 June to 10 August 2024. All submissions received after this time will not be eligible.
Guidelines —
- Films are open to individuals and organisations (non-profit/civil society/ Tuberculosis (TB) champions led groups).
- Films formats can include documentaries, short films, and animated features.
- Submitted films should align with the conference themes of lung health, TB care, and community engagement and address critical issues, challenges, and solutions in the field of lung health including the potential work that is being done by the organizations as well.
- Films should not be more than 45 minutes long and adhere to the the Stop TB guidelines that avoid stigmatizing language and imagery. Promote positive, respectful, and accurate representations of affected communities.
- Ensure good production quality, including clear audio and visual elements. Provide subtitles in multiple languages, if possible, to cater to a diverse audience.
- Further guidelines regarding the films will be sent to you upon selection.
Review — The Union Community Advisory Panel (UCAP) will select the films that were submitted by individual/organizations in the Community Connect area of the conference.
Entry for Films –
- Details of the films should be submitted in a word document with the following information:
- Title of the Film.
- Organizer/Director of the film
- Duration of the film (Approximate time can be mentioned but should not be more than 45 minutes).
- Description of the film (maximum of 500 words)
- Your entry for the film must be submitted to communityconnect@theunion.org digitally via WeTransfer along with the above-mentioned details in the word document and trailer/full film.
Notification – Notification about the submission status will be emailed to the submitter in September.
Timeline — Submissions are open from 11 June to 10 August 2024. All submissions received after this time will not be eligible.
Guidelines —
- Live performances are open to individuals and organisations (non-profit/civil society/ Tuberculosis (TB) champions led groups).
- Live performances formats can include drama, dance, music, spoken word, or a combination of these.
- Live performances should not be more than 45 minutes long and adhere to the Stop TB guidelines that avoid stigmatizing language and imagery. Promote positive, respectful, and accurate representations of affected communities.
- Note that the live performances would be conducted in an open area and would request the individuals/organizations to prepare accordingly.
- Technical requirements for live performances can be mentioned in the description of the live performance.
- Further guidelines regarding the live performances will be sent to you upon selection.
Review — The Union Community Advisory Panel (UCAP) will select the live performances that can be conducted by organizations in the Cultural area of the conference.
Entry for Live Performances –
- Details of the live performances should be submitted in a word document with the following information:
- Title of the live performance.
- Format of the live performance.
- Duration of the live performance (Approximate time can be mentioned but should not be more than 45 minutes).
- Description of the live performance (maximum of 500 words).
- Detailed technical requirements for the live performance.
- Your entry for the live performance must be submitted to communityconnect@theunion.org digitally via WeTransfer along with the above-mentioned details in the word document.
Notification – Notification about the submission status will be emailed to the submitter in September.
Mentorship
Community members and organisations who wish to submit a session for Community Connect but are new to writing and submission, are welcome to apply for mentorship where there will be assistance available to guide them through this process. For assistance with writing reach out to us at communityconnect@theunion.org before 15 May 2024.
Booths
Community Connect will have a limited number of booth packages available for local Indonesian organisations, and community-based organisations from low and low-middle income countries, with an annual operational budget of less than €1 million. Please contact communityconnect@theunion.org for further details.
Guidelines for Community Connect Sessions
Community Connect Session Guidelines
12-16 November 2024
Community Connect will take place during core programme hours; dates and time of presentation are allocated by the Union Community Advisory Panel (UCAP) to accommodate the complexity of the programme and minimise the overlap of tracks.
45/60 Minutes
Community Connect sessions can be either 45 minutes, if your session have a minimum of three to a maximum of five speakers or 60 minutes, if your session have six or more speakers.
Please select the most appropriate track. Note this is to assist with programme planning. Track choice has no impact on the selection process. The list of tracks is available here.
Community Connect sessions should have one to two individuals serving as chair/co-chairs. Chair/co-chairs play the role of communicating with speakers, submitting the session online, liaising with the Community Connect team and moderating the session.
The co-ordinator will be the point of contact and is responsible for providing the necessary information as requested to the Community Connect team. Chairs of the sessions can act as coordinators.
Minimum of three and maximum of seven speakers.
Brief outline of your session topic (maximum 500 words).
A biography of no more than 100 words must be submitted for each proposed speaker and chair. The biography will be considered for publication in the online programme.
Online submission is open from 15 April 2024 – 13 June 2024. Sessions are editable until then. No further changes are accepted after that deadline.
The Union is committed to promoting people-centred language in all conference abstracts and presentations. During submission preparation, the guidelines laid out in the Stop TB Partnership’s publication, Words Matter – Suggested language and usage for tuberculosis communications (Second Edition – 2022), should be followed.
Proposals using stigmatising language will be penalised in the review process.
Below is the list of stigmatising words that will be highlighted for reviewers’ consideration:
- TB Contact (prefer ‘contact person’)
- Defaulter (prefer ‘person lost to follow-up’)
- Illegal/alien worker (prefer ‘noncitizen resident or unauthorized resident/worker’)
- He-his or she-her (prefer ‘they-them’)
- Suspect (prefer ‘person with presumed TB’)
- TB control (prefer ‘TB prevention and care or ending TB’)
- AIDS patient (prefer ‘person living with HIV/AIDS PLWHA/PLHIV’)
Please make sure you enter the active email address of the chairs and speakers as all communication will be made to these corresponding email addresses.
IMPORTANT: Each chair and speaker must use one single email address for identification purpose in our submission, registration and conference digital devices and apps. Otherwise, the system will not recognise the user.
Notification about the status of the submission will be emailed to the session chairs and submitter by the end of July.
The Union World Conference for Lung Health 2024 is pleased to offer open access for the Community Connect programme. However, please note, that to attend the Main Scientific Sessions of the Conference you will need to be registered as a Conference Delegate which requires a fee to be paid.
Full details regarding Conference registrations fees will be available, by the end of April, on the Conference website.
If selected, the session chairs, speakers and sponsors agree to the attached information relating to the release, recording and publication of their presentation and session.
If you wish to contact the Community Connect team, please email us at communityconnect@theunion.org
Review of Community Connect Sessions
Community Connect sessions are peer reviewed by experts from the UCAP team and the Track Leads based on the following review criteria.
SR. NO. | TOPIC TO BE SCORED | EXPECTED | SCORING |
1 | Purpose and objective of the session | Purpose and objective of the session are clear and adequately described | 0 = not described 1 = very poor 2 = poor 3 = average 4 = Good 5 = excellent (weight = 1) |
2 | Session structure and coherence | Titles and content alignment should be coherent and consistent to the description along with the objectives of the session. Session structure is clearly described with adequate scientific rigour and community representation. | 0 = not described 1 = very poor 2 = poor 3 = average 4 = Good 5 = excellent (weight = 1) |
3 | Outcomes and impact
| Outcomes and impact are aligned with objectives of the session description | 0 = not described 1 = very poor 2 = poor 3 = average 4 = Good 5 = excellent (weight = 1) |
4 | Advances/Innovations in the field | Sessions are on topics of current interest as well as new evidence/information approaches and updates on practice related to the subject. | 0 = not described 1 = very poor 2 = poor 3 = average 4 = Good 5 = excellent
(weight = 1) |
5 | Stigmatizing language | Please follow the guidelines laid out in the Stop TB Partnership’s publication, Words matter language guide. Key stigmatising words/phrases will be highlighted by the system for reviewers to consider. | -1 = yes (weight = 1) |