Benefits of Working With the Global Fund

Author:

Bernard Rivers

Article Type:

Article Number: 3

ABSTRACT "Working through the Global Fund is totally different [from working with other donors]. With the Global Fund, the bureaucracy is less, it's faster, and the flexibility to respond to needs is much better."

Simon Mphuka is the Director of Programs for the Churches Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ), a faith-based organization that is one of four Principal Recipients in Zambia.

“Working through the Global Fund is totally different [from working with other donors]. With other funders, by the time the funding reaches the community level, maybe 40 or 50% has already been absorbed into an institution. But with the Global Fund, the bureaucracy is less, it’s faster, and the flexibility to respond to needs is much better. There are so many partners, all doing a good job, but when these things are not well coordinated at national and district level, they result in so much confusion. I’m not saying that bilateral funding is bad. No, it has an impact here. But, we have dealt with some of the most bureaucratic agencies, and if we are talking about an emergency, I think their response is a bit slow. Plus, if you look at the Zambian proposal, we feel that it was our proposal. it’s empowering us, rather than just being told what to do.

“We Africans are responding to the epidemic; we are not sitting idly. From the time that this epidemic hit our coast, we have been putting up systems, questioning our behaviors, and caring for the sick, but we cannot do all of these things alone. We are really asking for assistance, so please make sure politicians know the Global Fund matters.”

[Reprinted from the newsletter of the Global AIDS Alliance at www.globalaidsalliance.org/summer_newsletter.pdf.]