New ICASO and UNDP Publications on Grant Implementation

Author:

Karanja Kinyanjui

Article Number: 10

ABSTRACT Two recent publications provide advice and support to help principal recipients implement grants from the Global Fund: one from the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations and the other from United Nations Development Programme.

The International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) has released a report which analyses the technical support needs of civil society PRs. Meanwhile, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has published a capacity development toolkit for national entities implementing HIV, TB and malaria programmes.

The intended audience of the ICASO report includes stakeholders involved in Global Fund processes, technical support providers and other partners. The report was compiled from interviews with civil society organisations, which were conducted between May and July 2010.

Some of the issues discussed in the report include the minimum size for CSOs in terms of staff and finances, the role of principal recipients (PRs), and the special considerations for civil society organisations (CSOs) becoming PRs, such as the ability to carry out big projects. The report also describes how the decision to seek a nomination to be a PR is made and how proposals are developed.

Information on the technical needs of CSOs in regard to the new funding model (NFM) is not included in the ICASO report since the NFM had not been developed when the interviews were conducted.

The UNDP toolkit provides guidance on how to implement Global Fund grants while managing the risks by training local staff and building the financial and managerial systems necessary to adequately respond to the three diseases.

The ICASO report is entitled “Technical Support Needs of Indigenous Civil Society PRs.” The full name of the UNDP toolkit is “The Capacity Development Toolkit to Strengthen National Entities to Implement National Responses for HIV & AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.”