Aidspan, publisher of Global Fund Observer, today released its 73-page "Aidspan Guide to Building and Running an Effective Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM)." The Guide is available for download at no charge from www.aidspan.org/guides. The Guide has been designed as a practical tool for use by CCM members who want to improve the effectiveness of their CCM. It takes full account of the new requirements regarding CCM structure and performance that were agreed upon by the Global Fund board in November. In the past, the Global Fund has issued formal CCM Guidelines. However, because these are fairly general in nature, they have led to a wide range of strategies and structures being developed by individual CCMs. Except for its recent requirements, the Fund's approach has been rather vague, primarily because of the differences among countries in practices and traditions. This lack of specificity in the Fund's guidelines has led to some problems. In a number of countries, CCMs are not functioning as well as they should be. Some CCM members in these countries seek more concrete options and suggestions for addressing issues such as how to ensure that all stakeholders are adequately represented on CCMs, and how to ensure that all CCM members are full and equal partners. The Aidspan Guide released today attempts to provide some of these options and suggestions. The Guide fully recognizes, however, that each CCM is different, and that what is a "good practice" for a CCM in one country may not work in another country. The major problems faced by CCMs are described in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 outlines the key decisions and actions that CCMs need to take to address these and other problems. As described below, this chapter is divided into eleven areas: Mandate, Role and Structure of the CCM; Composition of the CCM; Selection Process for CCM Members; Decision Making and Participation; Proposal Development; the CCM-PR Relationship; Program Implementation; Operational Support, Technical Assistance and Capacity Building; Information Sharing; Conflicts of Interest; and CCM Effectiveness. Finally, Chapter 4 provides a sample Terms of Reference (TOR) that CCMs can draw upon when developing their own TOR. The full text of this chapter is provided below. The detailed Table of Contents for the Aidspan Guide is as follows. Those receiving this email in HTML form can click on any item to read the relevant section of the text. (Those with slow computers or slow Internet connections will find that some of these links take a long time to load. For people who face this problem, a better approach might be to download the entire Guide at www.aidspan.org/guides, and then study it offline.) Table of Contents Preface Chapter 1: Introduction and Background Purpose of this Guide How This Guide Was Put Together The Contents of this Guide Terminology Overview of the Global Fund Overview of CCMs Global Fund Guidance on CCMs Additional Guidance Analysis of CCM Membership Chapter 2: Major Problems Faced by CCMs List of Problems Description of the Problems Problem No. 1 - Often, the CCM's role and operating methods are not clearly defined, and are not clearly understood by CCM members and outsiders Problem No. 2 - Often the CCM is dominated by government members. Civil society and people living with the diseases are under-represented and have little influence Problem No. 3 - Often, CCM members who are supposed to represent NGOs were not chosen by the NGO sector and do not properly represent them Problem No. 4 - Often, CCM members were not involved in choosing the CCM Chair or in selecting the Principal Recipient Problem No. 5 - Often, the CCM Chair also serves as Principal Recipient and thus has a conflict of interest Problem No. 6 - Often, there is no genuine involvement by CCM members in the CCM decision-making process. Decisions are made in advance by the CCM Chair and a few others Problem No. 7 - Often, CCM members are asked to sign a proposal to the Global Fund even though they had no input into its preparation and little prior knowledge of its content Problem No. 8 - Often, the CCM does not have access to sufficient money, practical resources or expertise to operate effectively Problem No. 9 - Often, CCM officers do not share information within and outside the CCM Problem No. 10 - Often, CCM members do not know whether the project funded through the Global Fund grant is being effectively implemented Chapter 3: Key Decisions and Actions for CCMs Area A - Mandate, Role and Structure of the CCM Do we need to agree on and publicly describe the mandate, roles, responsibilities, structure and operating methods of the CCM? What should be the size of the CCM? Should the CCM be legally incorporated? What officers does the CCM need? Does the CCM need to create committees as part of its structure? Does the CCM need a Secretariat? Area B - Composition of the CCM What sectors should be represented? Should membership be granted to an organization or an individual? Do members need to be approved by the CCM? How many members should there be from each sector? What should the balance be between government and other sectors? How can we ensure adequate representation from outside the capital city? How can we ensure that the CCM has adequate gender expertise? For how many years should a member serve? How will the decisions on composition affect the size of the CCM? Should the CCM develop written membership criteria? Area C - Selection Process for CCM Members What process should be used to select CCM members? Should the CCM have a formal orientation process for new members? Area D - Decision Making and Participation What process should the CCM use to make decisions? How can CCMs promote the full participation of its members in the work of the CCM, including discussions and decision-making? How can the CCM best assess whether CCM members are participating fully? Does the CCM need to make an effort to accommodate the special needs of some of its members? Area E - Proposal Development What is the role of CCM members in the development of proposals to the Global Fund? What process should the CCM follow with respect to the development of proposals to the Global Fund? Area F - The CCM-PR Relationship What is the role of CCM members in the selection of the PR? What process should the CCM use for selecting the PR? What about the selection of Sub-Recipients (SRs)? Once a PR has been appointed, what is its ongoing relationship to the CCM? Area G - Program Implementation What is the role of the CCM in program implementation? What types of information does the PR need to provide the CCM? What monitoring and evaluation does the CCM need to do? Area H - Operational Support, Technical Assistance and Capacity Building If the CCM is to operate effectively, what operational support, technical assistance and capacity building does it need? Where can the CCM obtain financing to cover operational support? Where can the CCM obtain technical assistance and capacity building, and financing to pay for them? Area I - Information Sharing Does the CCM need to develop a formal communications strategy? What kinds of information need to be shared within the CCM? What kinds of information need to be shared outside the CCM? How important is it to have good, detailed minutes of CCM meetings? What means of communication should the CCM use? How can interested stakeholders stay in touch with the CCM? Are there language issues that the CCM needs to deal with? Should CCM meetings be open to the public? Area J - Conflicts of Interest How can the CCM minimize conflicts of interest involving the PR? Are there other conflicts of interest that the CCM needs to worry about? Area K - CCM Effectiveness Should the CCM evaluate its effectiveness? What process should be put in place? Chapter 4: Sample Terms of Reference Appendix I - The Global Fund's CCM Guidelines Appendix II - List of Studies and Other Relevant Documents