JARAMILLO SAYS THE GLOBAL FUND WILL SIMPLIFY ITS PROCESSES
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Download PDF 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…
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ABSTRACT In a progress report to the Board, General Manager Gabriel Jaramillo said that the Global Fund will become an organisation with "simple and agile processes," and that grant management processes, in particular, will be streamlined. The progress report included an update on the implementation of the Consolidated Transformation Plan.
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 and implementers with simple and agile processes.” Grant management processes, in particular, will be streamlined.
This statement is contained in a progress report on the restructuring of the Global Fund Secretariat and the implementation of the Consolidated Transformation Plan (CTP) which Mr Jaramillo provided to Global Fund Board members at a retreat held on 29 March 2012.
Mr Jaramillo said that the mission, values and principles of the Global Fund will remain unchanged, but the way that the Global Fund works has to be modified. He said that the revitalised Global Fund will espouse teamwork, loyalty, pride, professionalism and humility. He added that the Global Fund will be an organisation known for its “impeccable standards,” one that is not afraid to “recognise its mistakes and to change its course.”
According to Mr Jaramillo, the Global Fund is moving from having sub-optimal management practices to an organisation that will be renowned for “recognising, rewarding and developing talent.”
Mr Jaramillo said that when the restructuring is complete, the number of staff positions at the Secretariat will be reduced by 7% (see separate article in this issue). Mr Jaramillo said that a large majority of the staff at the Secretariat will be focused on grant management. For what the Global Fund terms “high-impact countries,” the average number of grant management staff per country will grow from 3.1 to 4.8. The Global Fund defines “high-impact countries” as countries with large volumes of funding, a multiplicity of grants, complex operations or other challenges.
Mr Jaramillo said that a new committee structure is being implemented at the Secretariat, consisting of a Management Executive Committee (MEC), an Executive Grant Management Committee (EGMC), a Funding and Finance Executive Committee (FEC) and an executive committee for each of the three diseases covered by the Global Fund. The role of the disease-based committees will be to maximise the effectiveness of the Global Fund and its partners in the fight against the three diseases.
In addition, there will be a high-level investment coordinating committee (ICC) for each disease whose role will be to work with partners (a) to identify the priority interventions that the Global Fund should support; and (b) to maximise the impact of health investments. Although the mandates of the executive committees for each disease and the ICCs for each disease are very similar, the former will focus internally (within the Global Fund) while the latter will focus externally (with partners).
Mr Jaramillo said that the Global Fund will undertake a “country-by-country coordination” pilot project with two major bilateral donors (not yet publicly identified). In the pilot project, the Global Fund and the donors will coordinate investments, with special emphasis on procurement and the supply of drugs; share detailed information on grants; and identify areas that require reprogramming as early as possible in the life of the grants. No further details of the pilot project were provided.
CTP update
In an unpublished appendix to his progress report, Mr Jaramillo said that 35% of the 164 deliverables in the Global Fund’s Consolidated Transformation Plan (CTP) have been completed, including 10 deliverables related to simplifying in-country monitoring of grants and risks. Among the latter were the development of a Qualitative Risk Assessment Tool, and an initial segmentation of the grant portfolio by risk.
Most of the completed deliverables had been revealed previously (e.g., the strategies on evaluation and human resources, and reorganization of the Board). Among completed deliverables that had not already been announced were codes of conduct for principal recipients (PRs), and for staff and contractors of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG); and updated terms of reference for country team members in the Global Fund Secretariat.
According to the appendix, originally there were 191 deliverables in the CTP, but 27 of them have been “superseded” – meaning either that they have been combined with other deliverables, or that they have been dropped from the plan.
Mr Jaramillo said that the CTP will be fully implemented by the end of 2012. Most of the deliverables not yet completed relate to the quality and timeliness of proposal development and grant processing, and the simplification of in-country monitoring of grants and risks.
Aidspan has prepared a matrix showing the status of the 191 deliverables in the CTP. The matrix can be downloaded directly here.
