The second edition of "The Aidspan Guide to Building and Running an Effective CCM" has just been published. It is accessible at no charge at www.aidspan.org/guides, where various other Aidspan Guides are also available. Versions of the guide in French and Spanish will be posted by the end of November 2007. This second edition contains considerably more information than the first edition, which was published in 2004.

The 90-page guide provides advice on all aspects of the structure and operations of the CCM, and borrows heavily from the experiences of individual CCMs. The guide will be of interest both to CCMs that are experiencing problems and to CCMs that are functioning fairly well but that would like to improve their performance.

The main sections in the Guide are as follows:

Chapter 1: Introduction and Background

• Ten Most Common Problems Faced by CCMs
• Overview of the Global Fund
• Global Fund Policies and Guidance on CCMs

• The CCM-Global Fund Relationship
• The Politics of CCMs

• Mandate Statement
• Statement of Roles and Responsibilities
• Core Principles
• Terms of Reference

• Size
• Committees
• Secretariat

• Representation from Different Sectors
• Representation from People Living with the Diseases
• Representation from Vulnerable Groups
• Representation from Women
• Responsibilities of Members
• Selection Process
• Categories of Membership: Voting, Non-Voting, Observer
• Failing To Turn Up for Meetings

• Importance of Transparency
• Decision-Making Process
• Full Participation of Members in the Deliberations and Work of the CCM
• CCM Meetings
• Covering CCM Expenses
• Conflict of Interest

• Designing and Implementing a Proposal Development Process
• The Submissions Process
• Selection of PR(s) and SR(s)

• Oversight Role of the CCM
• How Should CCMs Monitor Progress in Project implementation?
• How Should CCMs Work with PRs to Identify Issues and Develop Solutions?

Chapter 10: Information Sharing and Constituency Communications

Chapter 11: Technical Support and Capacity Building for the CCM

Chapter 12: Evaluating CCM Performance and Problem-Solving Within the CCM

The guide also contains a sample "CCM terms of reference" (TOR) document that CCMs can adapt to suit their particular circumstances.

[Note: For two excerpts from the Guide, see Article 11.]