Global Fund Board’s next Chair and Vice Chair appointed using new selection process

Author:

David Garmaise

Article Type:

Article Number: 8

First time ever that donor bloc nominee is from an implementing country

ABSTRACT The Global Fund Board will shortly have a new chair and vice-chair. On 2 May 2019, the Board appointed Donald Kaberuka as chair and Roslyn Morauta as vice-chair. Each will serve for a two-year term starting from the adjournment of the 41st Board Meeting on 16 May. They will replace the outgoing chair and vice-chair, Aida Kurtović and John Simon, respectively. For this selection, the Board followed a new process that it adopted in May 2018.

The Global Fund Board has appointed Donald Kaberuka as Chair of the Board and Roslyn Morauta as Vice-Chair. Each will serve for a two-year term starting from the adjournment of the 41st Board Meeting on 16 May 2019.

In choosing its new chair and vice-chair, the Board followed a selection process that it adopted in May 2018. Under the new process, a Board Leadership Nominations Committee (BLNC) was created to coordinate the selection and an executive search firm was engaged to provide support.

The new selection process maintains the current practice of rotation between the implementer and donor voting groups for the final candidates for Board chair and vice-chair. In line with this practice, nominations were sought from voting constituencies as follows:

• Constituencies from the donor voting group nominated candidates for the position of chair; and
• Constituencies from the implementer voting group nominated candidates for the position of vice-chair.

Two sub-committees were established on the BNLC to review nominations from the two groups.

The new chair, Donald Kaberuka, who is from Rwanda, was nominated by the donor bloc; and the new vice-chair, Roslyn Morauta, who lives in Papua New Guinea, was nominated by the implementer bloc. This is the first time in the history of the Global Fund that the person nominated by the donor bloc hails from an implementing country.

The selection process was launched in November 2018 at the 40th Board meeting. Nominations closed in January 2019. Seventeen nominations were received, 10 for the position of chair; and seven for the position of vice-chair.

The BNLC interviewed shortlisted candidates in early April and recommended the final pair of candidates later that same month.

For both the chair and the vice-chair positions, due diligence and background checks were conducted by the Global Fund’s Ethics Officer in coordination with the search firm.

The decision to appoint Dr. Kaberuka and Lady Marauta was taken by electronic voting on 2 May 2019 and was announced publicly the following day. They will replace the outgoing chair and vice-chair, Aida Kurtović and John Simon, respectively.

According to a news release issued by the Global Fund on 3 May, Dr. Kaberuka was president of the African Development Bank and chairman of its board of directors from 2005 to 2015. Prior to that he was the finance minister of Rwanda.

In addition, Dr. Kaberuka was Hauser Leader in Residence at Harvard Kennedy School. He co-chaired the London School of Economics/Oxford panel on fragile states and the Fourth International Monetary Fund evaluation panel. During the Ebola epidemic, he played a major role in coordinating the African response.

In the news release, Dr. Kaberuka said, “The Global Fund is an extraordinary partnership, which has made a difference to humanity over the last two decades. It is now time to face emerging issues and sustain the achievements. I look forward to working with the Board and staff to get to the next level. Ending these three epidemics is a fight of our time and the Global Fund has shown that it is possible.”

Lady Roslyn Morauta currently serves as alternate board member for the Western Pacific Region constituency. According to the news release, Lady Morauta “has [had] a long association with the Global Fund having served as chair of the Papua New Guinea Country Coordinating Mechanism. From her time also as first lady of Papua New Guinea, she has steadily championed health, HIV programs and gender issues.”

In addition to her work on the Global Fund Board, Lady Morauta has served as a member of the Anglicare (PNG) board, the Papua New Guinea National AIDS Council, the Asia-Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS, the Papua New Guinea Alliance of Civil Society Organisations Against HIV/AIDS and the Papua New Guinea Maritime College Board.

In the news release, Lady Morauta said, “The Global Fund can provide tremendous support, and I know firsthand what a difference it can make. There is no time to lose with such an ambitious agenda.”

In its decision, the Board expressed its appreciation to Aida Kurtović and John Simon for their leadership over the 2017–2019 term.

The incoming chair and vice-chair have been invited to attend the Board meeting on 15–16 May.

For further reading:

• The terms of reference of the Board chair and vice-chair