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. (All references in this article to CCMs apply also to Sub-CCMs and Regional Coordinating Mechanisms.)

The current “basic funding” window for CCMs has been retained, but the annual ceiling for basic funding has been raised from $43,000 to $50,000.

Thus, CCMs can choose to apply either under the basic funding window (which carries a $50,000 ceiling, and for which the requirements are fairly minimal), or under the new expanded funding window, which provides in excess of $50,000, and for which the requirements are more extensive.

A CCM that is currently being funded under the old funding policy (ceiling: $43,000 a year) may submit a request to terminate the funding agreement before its end date, and may reapply for basic or expanded funding. If the request is approved by the Secretariat, unspent funds from the terminated agreement will be transferred to the new funding agreement.

The new policy is in response to concerns that CCMs are under-funded, particularly with respect to areas that are often neglected, such as grant oversight and constituency engagement. According to the Global Fund, the expanded funding window will promote stronger and more transparent performance among CCMs.

Under the expanded funding window, funding requests may be submitted once every two years. All CCMs members must sign the request. There is no upper ceiling with respect to how much funding can be requested. However, if a CCM is applying for funding in excess of $100,000 per year, it must demonstrate that it has obtained 20 percent of the amount exceeding $100,000 from sources other than the Global Fund.

As part of a request for expanded funding, the CCM must submit a detailed two-year budget broken out by cost category and by functional area, and a two-year workplan that includes activities and performance targets. All CCM members are expected to be involved in the preparation of the budget and workplan.

For funding obtained through the expanded funding window, the CCM is required, at the end of both the 10^th and 22^nd months of funding, to submit a report on expenditures and performance.

Under either the expanded or basic funding window, CCMs can apply for funds to support the following types of expenditure:

• Salary of CCM secretariat staff.
• Consultancy work– e.g., technical support for core CCM functions such as civil society participation, programme oversight and alignment with other national bodies. (Costs for hiring consultants to write proposals to the Global Fund are not eligible.)
• Office management,including rent, equipment and supplies, but excluding vehicle purchase or long term lease.
• CCM meetings, including travel costs for members (and non-members invited by the CCM) to attend CCM meetings or participate in grant oversight visits.
• Communication and information dissemination –e.g., call for proposals, minutes of meetings, maintaining a website or newsletter, translation of key information.
• Organisation and facilitation of meetingsand workshops on CCM capacity building, or topics related to CCM core functions.

The Global Fund expects that, under the new policy, the costs of providing funding for all CCMs combined may double (to about $12 million in 2011, from about $6 million in 2009). This includes staff in the Global Fund Secretariat required to administer the policy.

The funding for CCMs comes from a separate pool of funds maintained by the Global Fund. Grant funds had been used for this purpose, but that practice ceased in late 2007.

The text of the new“Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) Funding Policy” is available in Annex 2 of the“Report of the Portfolio and Implementation Committee,” Board Document GF/B20/5, which will shortly be available on the Global Fund website under “Board documents” atwww.theglobalfund.org/en/board/meetings/twentieth.