Global Fund Suspends Grants to Chad

Author:

Bernard Rivers

Article Type:

Article Number: 2

ABSTRACT The Fund has temporarily suspended its two grants to Chad because of evidence of misuse of funds and because of inadequate capacity by the Principal Recipient and Sub-Recipients.

The Global Fund has temporarily suspended its two grants to Chad. The Chad CCM has been told to “put in place a new structure” that will ensure effective management of the grants. The two grants – one each to fight HIV/AIDS and TB – have a total five-year value of $21 million, of which $8 million has been disbursed thus far.

The Fund’s decision was based on several reviews undertaken by auditors and the Local Fund Agent which, in the words of the Fund, “revealed evidence of misuse of limited amounts of funds at several levels and the lack of satisfactory capacity by the Principal Recipient (PR) and sub-recipients (SR) to manage the Global Fund’s resources.” The Fund noted, however, that grant activities have yielded substantial results in terms of people reached, infections prevented, and lives saved. The PR is The Fonds de Soutien aux Activités en matière de Population (FOSAP, Support Fund for Population Activities), a government entity.

The grant suspension is not directly linked to the ongoing military conflict in Chad.

A mission from the Fund went to Chad to discuss the situation, and the CCM was told to rapidly develop a feasible plan. Grant disbursements have been suspended until a satisfactory new structure can be agreed upon. In the meantime, the Fund will work with the PR to ensure that life-saving treatment and other essential services for people in need are not interrupted.

Early warnings of these problems can be found in the Fund’s Grant Scorecards regarding the two grants. Comments made by Global Fund staffers nearly a year ago include:

• Nonresponsiveness [by the PR] to GF requirements and lack of pro-active communication and coordination … are of major concern. Deadlines are hardly respected.
• For most of the Phase 1 period the PR has demonstrated little understanding of the principles and rules of the Global Fund operational framework.
• The PR did not transparently and routinely inform CCM members on programmatic progress and issues as they arose. For example, the external audit report which detailed a series of important recommendations has not been shared with CCM members.
• Quality of collected data is very low. The Fund Portfolio Manager detected inconsistencies with reported results.
• [The CCM] has not played its oversight role effectively.
• Development partners regularly participate in CCM meetings and technical committees, but demonstrate a “wait and see attitude” (except WHO), always ready to criticize the non-functioning of the CCM or under-performance of the PR, but do not actively contribute to overcome implementation and governance constraints.

 

These Grant Scorecards, dated January and April 2006, are accessible at the Fund’s website, as are Grant Scorecards for all other Global Fund grants that have completed the Phase 2 assessment process. To access Grant Scorecards, go to www.theglobalfund.org, choose the desired country (just below the “Search Center” button on the left), then click on “Find Documents” at the bottom of the screen. If there are any Grant Scorecards for the chosen country, they will then be listed.