Global Fund Observer Issue 114

[Guest guest]

GLOBAL FUND OBSERVER (GFO), an independent

newsletter about the Global Fund provided by Aidspan to over 8,000 subscribers

in 170 countries.

Issue 114: 19 January 2010. (For formatted

web, Word and PDF versions of this and other issues, see www.aidspan.org/gfo)

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CONTENTS

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This issue of GFO is devoted entirely to providing

a list of all Aidspan guides and reports, and all GFO articles, that were

published during 2009.

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Aidspan guides and

reports published during 2009

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To access a full list of Aidspan guides

and reports, go to www.aidspan.org/guides

and www.aidspan.org/aidspanpublications. Those published during 2009 are as

follows:

The Aidspan Guide

on the Roles and Responsibilities of CCMs in Grant Oversight

CCMs are only now beginning to focus on

their role in overseeing the implementation of Global Fund grants. This guide

describes what grant oversight is, and provides basic advice on how a CCM can

plan and implement oversight. It includes some real-life examples from CCMs

that have already started to do oversight. The primary target audience for this

guide is CCMs. The guide will also be of interest to principal recipients (PRs)

and large sub-recipients (SRs), as well as other stakeholders who are not on

the CCM but who have an interest in the functioning of the CCM.

This guide is available at www.aidspan.org/guides

in English, French, Spanish and Russian.

A Beginner's Guide

to the Global Fund

The purpose of this guide is to provide a

broad introduction to the Global Fund for people who have little or no prior

experience of the Fund – ranging from new CCM members, to NGOs, to government

officials, to new sub-recipients, to journalists who have to write about the

Fund. This guide comes in three versions: the full guide (about 60 pages); an

eight-page summary, and a two-page summary.

All three versions of this guide are

available at www.aidspan.org/guides

in English, French, Spanish and Russian.

Key Strengths of

Round 8 Proposals to the Global Fund

The purpose of this report is to provide

information to Global Fund applicants on key attributes of a strong proposal.

The report is based on an analysis of the strengths of all approved Round 8

proposals, as identified by the Technical Review Panel (TRP) when it reviewed

the proposals.

This report is available at www.aidspan.org/aidspanpublications

in English, French, Spanish and Russian.

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GFO articles published during 2009

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To access all Global Fund Observer articles published

since 2002, go to www.aidspan.org/gfo.

Those published during 2009 are as follows, in reverse date order. Links are

provided to downloadable versions of complete issues, and to individual

articles.

GFO Issue 113: 18 December 2009

1.

NEWS: Global Fund Nervously Agrees to Use Same PR in Uganda, Despite Problems

A review by the Global Fund's Inspector

General of the Fund's grants to Uganda,

four years after the Fund temporarily suspended five grants due to financial

mismanagement, has concluded that the Fund should continue to use the same PR,

despite the Inspector General's unease over the ability of the PR to

effectively use and protect Global Fund investments in Uganda.

2.

NEWS: Global Fund Addresses Risks of Treatment Disruptions

The Global Fund is taking action to minimise the risk of

treatment disruptions arising from interruptions in Global Fund financing and

from weaknesses in country-level

procurement and supply management systems.

3.

NEWS: Elections Held for Civil Society Representatives on India CCM

The India CCM has organised elections to fill the

eight seats on the CCM allocated to civil society organisations. This marks the

first time that CSO representatives have been elected to the India CCM. Some

CSOs expressed concerns about some parts of the process.

4.

NEWS: Global Fund Will Soon Provide Procurement-Related Technical Assistance

Service providers for the Global Fund's new Capacity Building Service and Supply Chain Management Assistance

(CBS/SCMA) initiative have been selected, and discussions are

underway with about ten countries that have expressed interest in strengthening

their national supply chain management system.

5.

NEWS: Global Fund Responds to the Five-Year Evaluation

The Global Fund is planning

several initiatives to address the need for better planning and coordination of

technical assistance. This information is included in the " Management Response to the Five-Year

Evaluation, " a document presented at the Global Fund Board

meeting last month.

6.

NEWS: Global Fund Releases Plan of Action on Gender Inequality

Programmes supported by the Global Fund should ensure

that they contain an analysis of needs from a gender perspective and that they

include initiatives to address these needs. This is a core message of the

Gender Equality Strategy Plan of Action 2009-1012, adopted by the Global Fund

in July.

7.

UPDATE: Further Details on Changes to Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance Policy

Further details are provided regarding a Global Fund

Board decision last month to modify the Fund's Quality Assurance Policy for

Pharmaceutical Products.

8.

NEWS: Global Fund on Track To Achieve Round 8 Cost-Cutting Targets

The Global Fund reports that it is well on its way

towards achieving its target of 10% " efficiency gains " for Round 8.

9.

NEWS: New Global Fund Partnership Strategy Released

The Global Fund's new Partnership Strategy includes an

accountability framework to enable the Global Fund and its partners to assess

the effectiveness of their partnerships by measuring the ability to deliver

results on the ground.

10.

NEWS: Aidspan is Hiring New Staff and Consultants

Aidspan, publisher of Global

Fund Observer, will be hiring several Nairobi-based staff and

consultants over the next few months. The first positions have been listed at www.aidspan.org/jobs;

more will be added in January.

GFO Issue 112: 1 December 2009

1.

NEWS: Report Confirms Decline in the Rate of New HIV Infections

New HIV infections in 2008 were 30% lower than they

were 12 years ago, according to data just released by UNAIDS and WHO. The

findings confirm a trend first observed about two years ago.

2.

NEWS: Global Fund Reports Significant Rise in People Receiving Services

The Global Fund says that more than 4.9 million lives

have been saved by programmes supported by the Fund, and that 3,600 deaths are

averted each day.

3.

NEWS: TRP Observations Concerning Round 9

The TRP says that proposals submitted to the Global

Fund do not adequately describe what the proposal will achieve and how progress

will be measured. Also, proposals focus too much on process and output

indicators and not enough on outcome and impact indicators.

4.

NEWS: TRP Observations on the " First Learning Wave " of NSAs

The TRP has provided a detailed description of how the

Global Fund set about inviting and evaluating its first wave of National

Strategy Applications.

GFO Issue 111: 16 November 2009

1.

NEWS: Main Decisions Made at November Board Meeting

Details are provided regarding all the main decisions

made at the Global Fund's recent Board meeting.

2.

NEWS: Global Fund To Implement New Funding Architecture

The Global Fund Board has decided to implement a new

funding architecture in order to simplify processes for grant implementers. The

centrepiece is the concept of a " single stream of funding " per PR per

disease.

3.

NEWS: Global Fund Offers Additional Funding for CCMs

The Global Fund has established a new " expanded

funding " window for CCMs. The new window allows a CCM to apply for more

than $50,000 a year in funding providing it submits a two-year workplan with

measurable targets.

4.

NEWS: Global Fund Board Approves Proposals for Phase 1 of the " Affordable

Medicines Facility – Malaria " (AMFm) Funding Stream

The Global Fund Board has approved 10

proposals under Phase 1 of a small innovative new funding programme called the

" Affordable Medicines Facility – Malaria " (AMFm), which is designed

to provide support for interventions promoting and facilitating the use of

artemisinin combination therapies.

GFO

Issue 110: 12 November 2009

1.

NEWS: Global Fund Board Approves Round 9 Grants Despite Financial Shortfall

Despite

having relatively little funding available, the Global Fund Board has approved

85 Round 9 grants that will cost up to $1.99 billion over the

first two years. This makes Round 9 the Fund's second largest round, after

Round 8. In addition, the Board has announced the likely date for the launch of

Round 10.

2.

NEWS: Round Nine Results, by Country

Details are provided of the Board's

decision regarding each eligible Round 9 proposal.

3.

NEWS: Global Fund Board Approves NSA Grants

The Global Fund Board has approved five grants in the

" first learning wave " of National Strategy Applications (NSAs).

4.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Further Board Decision News Forthcoming

GFO's next

issue, targeted for publication in the next few days, will provide information

on the other key decisions made at the November 9-11 Board meeting.

GFO Issue 109: 6 November 2009

1.

NEWS: Global Fund Report Reveals Lenient Interpretation by Secretariat of CCM

Requirements

The Global Fund Secretariat determined in

Round 8 that all proposals received from CCMs were eligible for consideration

by the TRP, even though some of the CCMs had not complied with at least one of

the six minimum requirements that have been established by the Global Fund

Board.

2.

COMMENTARY: CCM Requirements: How Much Flexibility Is Appropriate?

" Some of the decisions of the Global

Fund's Screening Review Panel are scandalous – or at least, they would be if it

wasn't so obvious that its members are trying to do what is 'best' in a complex

world. Does the Secretariat believe that the Fund's minimum requirements

regarding CCMs are too stringent? If so, why doesn't the Secretariat ask the

Board to soften the requirements? "

3.

COMMENTARY: Pointless PowerPoints

" If I am ever granted the job of World

Dictator, my first act will be to ban the use of PowerPoint. "

GFO Issue 108: 27 October 2009

1.

NEWS: Inspector General Finds Significant Deficiencies in Grants to Tanzania

An audit conducted

by the Global Fund's Inspector General on five Global Fund grants in Tanzania

has identified serious problems, particularly regarding supply chain management

and financial and programmatic reporting.

2.

COMMENTARY: Round 9: Straight Talk Needed

" Senior

Global Fund officials seem to be scared to speak in clear simple terms about

things that need to be said. Next month, the Fund will have a board meeting at

which it must make difficult decisions about how to fund Round 9. Whatever

decisions it makes, it should communicate those decisions rapidly and clearly

to all applicants. "

3.

NEWS: Indian CCM Modifies its Composition and Establishes Selection Processes

The Indian CCM

has made important decisions to change its size and composition and to

establish selection processes for each sector.

4.

COMMENTARY: Time for Action on Technical Assistance

" Many implementers of Global Fund

grants are still not getting the technical assistance that they need – often

because they are not requesting the TA in the first place. Accordingly, the

Global Fund ought to require that each prospective principal recipient prepares

a TA Plan prior to signing a Grant Agreement. "

5.

NEWS: Report Says Funding for Key Populations in Latin America and Caribbean Is

Scarce

Only a small proportion of funds for

sub-recipients of Global Fund grants in Latin America and the Caribbean

are reaching organisations representing the key population groups where the HIV

epidemic is largely concentrated, according to a report prepared by the

International HIV/AIDS Alliance.

GFO Issue 107: 30 September 2009

1.

NEWS: Global Fund suspends grants to the Philippines and Mauritania

The Global Fund has temporarily suspended

five grants to the Philippines,

citing unauthorized expenditure by the PR, and one grant to Mauritania, citing fraud. These are

the Fund's first grant suspensions since it suspended grants to Chad three years ago and Uganda four years ago.

2.

COMMENTARY: Full Disclosure Works

" Anyone who imagines that the Global

Fund could disburse billions of dollars without some of it being mis‑used is

naive. The question is not whether some of the money will be diverted, but rather

how much, and whether the diversion is detected, and what is done once it is

detected. "

3.

NEWS: Round 9 Approved Grants Will Exceed Two Billion Dollars

The TRP has recommended that the Global

Fund Board approve Round 9 grants that, over their first two years, will cost

$2.21 billion dollars. This makes Round 9 the second largest round ever of

Global Fund grants.

4.

NEWS: Rolling Continuation Channel Suspended

The Global Fund

Board has provisionally suspended the submission of new proposals through the

rolling continuation channel (RCC).

5.

NEWS: Global Fund Introduces New System for Procurement Reporting

The Fund's Price & Quality Reporting

System is a web-based database system which tracks information about the prices

and quality of health products procured with money from the Fund. Tests by

Aidspan reveal some shortcomings.

6.

ANALYSIS: CCMs – Status, Power Dynamics and Decision-Making: A Call for

Feedback

Aidspan invites feedback from GFO readers

about how decisions are made on CCMs and, more broadly, about the authority of

CCMs.

7.

NEWS: Other-Language Versions of Aidspan's Oversight Guide Issued

French, Russian and Spanish versions of " The Aidspan Guide on the Roles and

Responsibilities of CCMs in Grant Oversight " are now available.

GFO Issue 106: 19 August 2009

Editor's Note: This issue of GFO is

entirely devoted to reporting on the results of the Global Fund's Five-Year

Evaluation.

1.

NEWS: Final Reports Released on Global Fund Five-Year Evaluation

The Global Fund recently released the

results of the Health Impact Evaluation, the third and final area of study in

the Five-Year Evaluation; and the Fund also released reports synthesising the overall

evaluation findings.

2.

NEWS: Health Impact Evaluation – Major Findings

The rapid increase in funding from all

partners for the three diseases has resulted in a major expansion in access to

services in these countries and has improved coverage of interventions, which

will likely impact disease burden. However, gaps in the availability of data

prevented the evaluation from actually measuring the impact of the Global Fund

and its partners on the three diseases. These are the major findings from the

Health Impact Evaluation.

3.

NEWS: Highlights from the Synthesis Reports of the Five-Year Evaluation

The Global Fund has laid the foundation for

continued, successful scale-up. However, not all of the original expectations

of the Global Fund have been realised. Concerted effort will be required to

continue the revision and refinement of the Global Fund's principles, systems

and practices in order to increase funding for scaling up, especially in light

of the current financial environment. These are the main conclusions of the

full Five-Year Evaluation.

GFO Issue 105: 27 July 2009

1.

NEWS: Aidspan Releases " A Beginner's

Guide to the Global Fund "

This new guide provides a broad introduction

to the Global Fund for people who have little or no knowledge of the Fund.

2.

EXCERPTS: From " A Beginner's Guide to

the Global Fund "

Three excerpts are provided.

3.

NEWS: Demand for Round 9 Is Significant

Proposals submitted for

Round 9 are three-quarters as large, in average dollar value, as proposals

submitted in Round 8, but still significantly larger than for any of the first

seven rounds of funding.

4.

NEWS: Global Fund Board Approves Wave 6 RCC Proposals

The Board has approved nine proposals in

Wave 6 of the Rolling Continuation Channel (RCC) funding stream, representing

costs of up to $263 million over three years.

5.

ANNOUNCEMENT: French, Spanish and Russian Versions of the Aidspan Report on

Round 8 Strengths Are Released

These versions are now available at www.aidspan.org/publications.

GFO Issue 104: 7 May 2009

1.

NEWS: Main Decisions Made at May Board Meeting

All key decisions made at the just-completed

Global Fund board meeting are summarized.

2.

COMMENTARY: A Board in Search of a Chair

" No Global Fund board meeting would be

complete without there being at least one issue involving high drama. This

time, the drama arose over the inability of the board to elect a new

Chair. "

3.

NEWS AND ANALYSIS: Several CCMs Have Established Their Own Websites

At least 11 CCMs have established their own

websites, and at least two others are in the process of doing so.

4.

NEWS: Report Finds that Organisations of Key Populations in LAC Have Little

Access to Global Fund Money

Although the HIV epidemic in Latin America

and the Caribbean is largely concentrated among men who have sex with men and

sex workers, organisations representing these " key populations " receive

very little of the Global Fund money being spent in the region, according to a

recent study.

GFO Issue 103: 17 April 2009

1.

NEWS: Ugandan Government Official Jailed for Ten Years for Stealing Global Fund

Money

A Ugandan government official who set up a

company in 2005 to serve as a Global Fund Sub-Recipient has been sentenced to

ten years in prison for stealing $56,000 of Global Fund money and for producing

forged documentation as to how the money was used. Further convictions are

expected.

2.

NEWS: Aidspan Releases Guide on the CCM's Role in Grant Oversight

Aidspan has released " The Aidspan Guide on the Roles and

Responsibilities of CCMs in Grant Oversight. " Its purpose is to

provide guidance on how CCMs can plan and implement oversight of programmes

funded by Global Fund grants.

3.

EXCERPTS: Three Excerpts from Aidspan's Guide on the CCM's Role in Grant

Oversight

Three excerpts are provided from " The Aidspan Guide on the Roles and

Responsibilities of CCMs in Grant Oversight. "

4.

NEWS: Global Fund Board Approves Wave 5 RCC Proposals

The Global Fund Board has approved six

proposals in Wave 5 of the Rolling Continuation Channel (RCC) funding channel,

representing costs of up to $322 million over three years. The RCC is a

separate channel of funding set up to allow applicants with strongly performing

grants to apply for continuing funding for up to an additional six years beyond

the original proposal term.

5.

NEWS: Strengths and Weaknesses of Wave 5 RCC Proposals

In its report to the Global Fund Board on

the results of Wave 5 of the Rolling Continuation Channel, the TRP identified

the key strengths and weakness of the proposals submitted.

GFO Issue 102: 25 March 2009

1.

NEWS: Global Fund Launches " First Learning Wave " of National Strategy

Applications

The Global Fund Secretariat has invited 22

CCMs to take part in the " first learning wave " of national strategy

applications (NSAs). NSAs are a new way to apply for Global Fund money; they

involve submitting a national disease strategy as the primary basis of the

application for Global Fund financing.

2.

NEWS: Aidspan Releases Report To Help Round 9 Applicants Learn from Best Round

8 Proposals

Aidspan has released a new report on " Key Strengths of Round 8 Proposals to the

Global Fund. " The purpose of the report is to inform Global

Fund Round 9 applicants about what were the key attributes of strong Round 8

proposals.

3.

NEWS: Global Fund Needs $4 Billion To Address Needs Through 2010, Says

Kazatchkine

The Global Fund needs an additional $4

billion to address its budget needs through 2010, Executive Director Michel

Kazatchkine said last week ahead of a meeting the Fund will hold with donors at

the end of this month.

4.

NEWS: Global Fund Is Urged To Be More Open with Its Policies Regarding PRs

A group of five large PRs has recommended

that the Global Fund share with all PRs a clear summary of its internal

policies that affect PRs.

5.

NEWS: Global Fund Seeks To Add Members with Gender Expertise to the TRP

The Global Fund is planning to appoint five

new TRP members who have expertise on gender and on issues faced by sexual

minorities.

6.

NEWS: Kazatchkine and Other Health Leaders Dispel AIDS Myths

Michel

Kazatchkine, head of the Global Fund, has co-authored an article in the Lancet that examines, nearly thirty years

into the AIDS epidemic, " what

we – the international community – got right, what we got wrong, and why we

need to urgently dispel several emerging myths about the epidemic and the

global response to it. "

7.

EXCERPTS: Three Excerpts from Aidspan's Report on Strengths of Round 8 Proposals

Three excerpts are provided from the new

Aidspan report on " Key Strengths of

Round 8 Proposals. "

" Reproduced from the Global Fund Observer Newsletter

(www.aidspan.org/gfo), a service of Aidspan. "

Forwarded by:

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Yours in Global Concern,

A.SANKAR

Executive Director-

EMPOWER - Professional Civil Society Organisation

Vice Chairman -Initiatives of HIV/AIDS Net (IHN)

Founder and General Secretary - Confederation of Indian Civil

Society Organisation’s (CICSO)

National Convener- National Alliance for Health, Environment and Rights (

NAFHER)

107J / 133E,

puram

TUTICORIN-628 008, TN,

INDIA

Telefax: 91 461

2310151; Mobile: 91 94431 48599: www.empowerindia.org

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