BOARD CONFIRMS THAT ROUND 9 WILL BE IN OCTOBER 2008

Author:

Bernard Rivers

Article Number: 2

ABSTRACT The Global Fund board has confirmed that the Round 9 Call for Proposals will be on 1 October 2008, nearly six months earlier than had originally been anticipated. Round 10 is then expected to begin in April 2009. Round 9 will represent only the second time that two calls for proposals have been launched in the course of a single year.

The Board of the Global Fund has confirmed that the Round 9 Call for Proposals will be on 1 October 2008, nearly six months earlier than had originally been anticipated. Round 10 is then expected to begin in April 2009.

The Board decision was made by email, and it confirmed a provisional decision made at the April Board meeting and reported in GFO at the time. Round 9 will represent only the second time that two calls for proposals have been launched in the course of a single year.

As anticipated, there will be a number of changes from the procedures followed in earlier rounds. Specifically:

(a) When the TRP writes its comments in September on non-approved Round 8 proposals that it assigns to Category 3, it will not just list strengths and weaknesses, it will also recommend the types of change that need to be made to strengthen the proposal for resubmission.

(b) The Secretariat will not wait until the November Board meeting to inform Round 8 applicants about the TRP’s recommendation and comments; it will instead provide each applicant with this information around the start of October, as soon as the Board has been informed.

(c) On October 1, the Round 9 Call for Proposals will be issued. And Round 9 will use the same proposal form and guidelines as Round 8. Thus, CCMs that were planning to submit a Round 8 proposal but are finding that they will not be ready by the July 1 deadline, can now further refine the proposal as necessary and then submit it in Round 9.

(d) CCMs whose Round 8 proposal is assigned to Category 3 will be able to make appropriate improvements to the proposal, then resubmit it as part of Round 9, using the same proposal form as in Round 8, for a decision at the May 2009 board meeting.

(e) In Round 9, CCMs will be permitted to resubmit a proposal that had been assigned to Category 3 in Round 8, and to submit a separate new proposal. Thus, those planning on submitting proposals in both Rounds 8 and 9 can start planning now for the Round 9 proposal, without waiting to find out whether they will also need to resubmit their Round 8 proposal.