Board Decisions

GF/B17/DP23

Approved by the Board on: 29 April 2008

Launch of Round 9

1. The Board, determined to scale up the Global Fund's response to HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria, decides in principle to announce, after the Seventeenth Board Meeting, that there will be an extra Call for Proposals for funding in 2008.
2. The Board requests the Secretariat to prepare to issue a Call for Proposals for Round 9, which shall employ the same proposal form and guidelines as Round 8, on or about 1 October 2008, and to provide for review of those proposals in time for approval at the Nineteenth Board Meeting in April 2009.
3. The Board decides that in Round 8 and 9:
   1. Applicants whose initial proposal receives a Category 3 recommendation may resubmit a revised version of the same proposal in the next Round for consideration by the TRP in time for the Board to make a decision at its next Board Meeting.
   2. When the TRP comments on initial Category 3 proposals, it is encouraged to recommend the types of changes that need to be made to strengthen the proposal for resubmission.
   3. Within a week of the Board being informed of the TRP's recommendations and comments, each applicant should be informed by the Secretariat of the TRP's recommendation and comments regarding its proposal.
4. The Board recognizes that this decision point has implications for the Secretariat, the TRP, and applicants. The Secretariat is requested by no later than 15 May 2008 to submit to the Board, for approval by email, a final decision on announcing Round 9, together with a description of resources available and forecasted and proposed changes to existing policies necessary to implement this decision point.
5. The Board calls on its members and RBM, along with the STOP TB Partnership and UNAIDS Co-sponsors, to provide support to implementers to develop high-quality proposals and to manage efficient programs, to ensure the effectiveness of Global Fund resources.
6. The Board also calls on implementing partnerships, donor countries, and technical partners to prioritize their efforts to develop and agree on a shared approach by which national strategies can be validated, as a basis for the Global Fund to approve funding requests through national strategy applications, and to accelerate the development of robust country-level national strategies. The Board recognizes that national-strategy applications could provide the most sound basis for the scaling-up of programs to prevent, control and treat HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, and could be the most effective way to streamline the ability of country-level partnerships to earn Global Fund resources.

Budgetary Implications

The Secretariat will strive to absorb the budgetary implications of this decision within the already approved budget for 2008.