The Global Fund cannot afford to have a second year like 2011, and might be permanently damaged if it did. This is the central theme of a written submission made by Aidspan, publisher of GFO, to an evidence session on the Global Fund organised by the International Development Committee of the UK House of Commons on 17 April 2012. The purpose…

Aidspan, publisher of Global Fund Observer, is pleased to announce the appointment of Kate Macintyre as Aidspan’s new Executive Director. Dr Macintyre will take up her new duties on 1 September 2012. The appointment of Dr Macintyre was made at the end of a three-month global search which produced over one hundred applicants. Dr Macintyre, a UK citizen who has a master’s degree in public health…

The Board of the Global Fund has appointed five independent members to its eight-member Audit and Ethics Committee (AEC). The five members and their areas of expertise are Graham Joscelyne (financial audit), Gabor Amon (forensic investigation), Veronica Charlesworth (financial audit), Wendy Harrison (ethics) and Barry Metzger (legal; dispute resolution). One of the independent members, Graham Jocelyne, was appointed Chair of the…

The Global Fund must do more to re-affirm its commitment to the principles of aid effectiveness (AE) and health systems strengthening (HSS), a new report published by Aidspan says. The report, which is authored by Dr David McCoy, Aidspan’s research director, and three other researchers, says that too much of the current debate about the Global Fund’s future treats the Fund…

In March 2012, the Board of the Global Fund declined to approve requests for renewal (Phase 2) funding for three grants – a Round 8 Guyana malaria grant, a Round 8 Gabon HIV grant and a Multi-Country Africa Rolling Continuation Channel (RCC) malaria grant. The decisions were taken by electronic vote. This brings to 10 the number of No-Go decisions…

The Global Fund has used, or is using, international fiduciary agents in up to a dozen countries. International fiduciary agents are used to provide support to the principal recipient (PR) in the area of financial management. The appointment of an international fiduciary agent is considered exceptional. According to the Global Fund Secretariat, the circumstances that might trigger the appointment of…

As of the end of 2010, in the 105 countries where the Global Fund financed TB programmes, these programmes delivered services within prisons in half of the countries (53). However the services were limited in scope and scale. There was minimal provision of multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) services. These were some of the findings of a study on Global Fund investments…

One-third of the deliverables in the Consolidated Transformation Plan have been completed Global Fund will undertake a country-by-country coordination pilot project with two bilateral donors General Manager Gabriel Jaramillo says that the Global Fund is moving from a complex organisation with bureaucratic processes that dissatisfy donors and implementers to an organisation that “proactively responds to the needs of both donors…

Positions in Grant Management Division rise by 33% A far-reaching restructuring of the Global Fund Secretariat has resulted in a 7% decrease in the total number of positions, and has led to considerable upheaval among staff. Some positions, mainly in the units not directly responsible for grant management, were abolished. At the same time, new grant management positions were created….

Extension granted for the signing of the country’s Round 10 TB grants   There are currently no active Global Fund TB grants in Niger The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has launched an investigation into Global Fund grants in Niger following allegations of fraud. The investigation has delayed the signing of Niger’s Round 10 TB grants. This information is…