PROGRESS WITH SIGNING GRANT AGREEMENTS
Author:
Bernard Rivers
Article Type:Article Number: 4
ABSTRACT After a slow start, the Secretariat of the Global Fund has been signing grant agreements at an increasing rate. Almost all of the Round 1 agreements have been signed, as have half of the Round 2 agreements. $131 million has been disbursed thus far.
After a slow start, the Secretariat of the Global Fund has been signing grant agreements at an increasing rate. Initial delays were caused both by the extreme shortage of staff at the time that Round 1 grants were approved, and by the need to devise new procedures.
As of 19 September 2003, the Global Fund had signed 64 out of 68 Round 1 grant agreements, and 49 out of 99 Round 2 grant agreements. Following signature of these agreements, a total of $131 million has been disbursed thus far. Fourteen of the 68 Round 1 grantees have already received their second cash disbursements, meaning they have received between 22% and 54% of their two-year funding. On the other hand, another fourteen of them have still received no money, despite it already being seventeen months since the Round 1 grants were approved.
Round 1 grants were approved by the board in April 2002, and the first of these led to grant agreements eight months later. Round 2 grants were approved by the board in January 2003, and the first of these led to grant agreements three months later.
The number of agreements signed in each of the nine months from December 2003 to August 2003 was 9, 9, 13, 13, 5, 3, 21, 16 and 20, respectively. There are 54 grant agreements still to be signed. At the current rate, most of these should be signed by the end of the year.
The reason that it takes some time to sign grant agreements is that once the board approves a proposal, the recipient has to answer some follow-up questions to the satisfaction of the Technical Review Panel; then the grantee has to choose a Principal Recipient; then the Secretariat and the Principal Recipient have to agree many aspects of how the grant will be implemented and the finances handled.
Details are as follows:
Table 2: Grant agreements signed
| Round 1 | Round 2 | |||
| Signed | Not yet signed | Signed | Not yet signed | |
| Grant agreements | 64 | 4 | 49 | 50 |
| Countries covered by the grant agreements | 37 [a] | 4 [b] | 34 [c] | 33 [d] |
| 2-year value of grant agreements | $544 m. | $21 m. | $373 m. | $502 m. |
| Of which, disbursed thus far | $75 m | $0 | $55 m. | $0 |
Within each Round, some countries have more than one grant – one for HIV and/or one for TB and/or one for malaria. And within each grant, there is occasionally more than one Principal Recipient, which leads to one grant agreement per Principal Recipient.
[a]: Countries covered by Round 1 signed grant agreements: Argentina, Benin, Burundi, Cambodia, Chile, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, Global (World Lutheran Federation), Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Nigeria, Panama, Rwanda, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tanzania/Zanzibar, Thailand, Uganda, Ukraine, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
[b]: Countries and Principal Recipients covered by Round 1 unsigned grant agreements: North Korea, Vietnam (Ministry of Health), Zambia (Ministry of Finance & National Planning), and Zimbabwe (National AIDS Council). (Note: Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe have each signed at least one grant agreement, but not all their agreements.)
[c]: Countries covered by Round 2 signed grant agreements: Armenia, Bangladesh, Benin, Bulgaria, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo (Democratic Republic), Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, East Timor, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar, Mongolia, Multi-country Africa (Regional Malaria Control Commission), Multi-country Western Pacific, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Swaziland, Tanzania/Zanzibar, Thailand, and Togo.
[d]: Countries covered by Round 2 unsigned grant agreements: Afghanistan, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Jordan, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Peru, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Thailand, Uganda, and Yemen. (Note: Several of these countries have signed at least one grant agreement, but not all their agreements.)
Further details are available in www.globalfundatm.org/files/grantsstatusreport.xls, which is updated by the Fund fairly often.
