Sub Issue

ABSTRACT The Board decided at the Board meeting that ended on Friday to formally approve all Round 5 grants that were only provisionally approved at the last Board meeting, and to prepare for a possible Round 6. The Board also made decisions regarding the Phase 2 decision-making process; regarding continuity of support for projects using life-saving drugs when grants come to an end; regarding a major grant to South Africa that had been recommended for "No Go"; and more.

ABSTRACT The Global Fund has lifted the temporary suspension of its five grants to Uganda. The suspension had been imposed in August because of "serious mismanagement of the grants" that was first reported by a Ugandan whistleblower. The Fund lifted the suspension after it reached agreement with the PR and the CCM on new oversight structures within the PR, steps towards CCM restructuring, and measures to evaluate the quality and efficacy of all sub-recipients.

RÉSUMÉ Les subventions du Fonds mondial à la Guinée, gérées au titre de la politique de sauvegarde supplémentaire, sont confrontées à de nombreuses difficultés. Le Conseil d’administration du Fonds mondial a approuvé une subvention de lutte contre le VIH gérée par un nouveau récipiendaire principal, le ministère de la Santé. Celle-ci vient compléter une subvention de lutte conjointe contre le VIH et la tuberculose approuvée en décembre 2017.

ABSTRACT The Global Fund went into the regional consultations on CCMs talking about a differentiated approach based on country size and operational context. They came out of the consultations describing the emergence of three CCM maturity levels – Basic Governance, Program Oversight and Strategic Engagement. The goal is still to have a CCM Evolution Plan ready for the Board’s 39th meeting in May 2018.

ABSTRACT The Global Fund has delivered solid performance on 10 of the 15 key performance indicators due for reporting. The final KPI data for 2016, which were reported to the Board at its meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, also show that the Fund has not met four of its targets and is at risk of not meeting one more.

ABSTRACT Six of the seven civil society members of the Moldova country coordinating mechanism have appealed to the Global Fund Secretariat to intervene in a decision of the CCM on budget allocations and implementation arrangements for an HIV funding request that Moldova submitted in March 2017. The Secretariat has declined to intervene. Moldova is trying to cope with a 43% reduction in its allocation.

ABSTRACT When the Office of the Inspector General published a report on its audit of grant management in high-risk environments in January of this year, we reported on the audit findings and we undertook to provide information in a separate article on five agreed management actions that the Secretariat committed to implement to address the findings. This article contains details on the AMAs.

ABSTRACT In the latest batch of funding approvals from the Global Fund Board, three country grants and one multi-country grant received a total of $18.0 million in funding for initiatives on the Unfunded Quality Demand Register. The multi-country grant additional investment was funded by a private sector contribution, and the three country grants’ additional investments through portfolio optimization.

ABSTRACT The OIG has published its report on its audit of Global Fund emergency preparedness. It explains how, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Fund Secretariat instituted measures to ensure business continuity at the corporate level and in the implementation of its grants at the country level. Establishing an effective crisis response structure, agile decision-making, good coordination and collaboration, effective engagement with stakeholders, and the consistent availability of information technology services were the measures that worked well during the crisis and should be sustained for future response to other crises.

ABSTRACT An audit conducted by the Office of the Inspector General has concluded that major improvements are needed in the management and implementation of Global Fund grants in India. The audit covered 10 grants between 2008 and 2012.