New Report Recognizes Global Fund as Vital for Strong Global Health Results
31 August 2022
GENEVA – One of the most rigorous reviews for multilateral organizations released an assessment today, announcing that the performance of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria against 12 key performance indicators is satisfactory overall. It identified several indicators as highly satisfactory but also recommended areas for more attention. The Global Fund partnership, which has saved an estimated 44 million lives in the last 20 years, welcomes the review and feedback to ensure its work remains as effective as possible.
The Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN) is an independent network of 21 members, who jointly assess the effectiveness of the major multilateral organizations that they fund. The assessment finds that the Global Fund has steadily sought ways to improve its performance and mature as an organization, while remaining focused on its core mandate to fight three of the most deadly infectious diseases: HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.
The assessment recognized several Global Fund strengths – its operational effectiveness, inclusivity and unique partnership model – that could serve as examples for other organizations. The review also noted the Global Fund’s agility of response, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic; its strong alignment with country strategic plans and priorities; and the organization’s financial frameworks and processes, which have ensured good resource utilization.
“I am grateful for the dedication of the team conducting this review,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. “The COVID-19 response was an unprecedented test of our ability to respond rapidly to a global emergency – providing swift and flexible support to the communities and countries we serve. I am pleased to see that the review identified this agility as one of our strengths.”
The review also cited several areas for improvement, which include further defining the Global Fund’s role within the context of universal health coverage and resilient and sustainable systems for health, better addressing cross-cutting issues such as human rights, gender equality, and climate change, as well as strengthening its ability to be a learning organization and sharing knowledge generated with all stakeholders.
“We are committed to putting more effort into the areas identified for improvement, and we have already started that work,” said Sands. “In fact, in November 2021, the Global Fund’s Board approved a new Strategy for 2023-2028 that will intensify our focus on building people-centered and inclusive systems for health, and our efforts to tackle health inequities, gender inequalities and human rights barriers to accessing health services, such as the criminalization of key populations. The Strategy also incorporates pandemic preparedness and response, and environmental sustainability and climate change.”
The Global Fund has already taken steps to strengthen the organization’s monitoring, evaluation and learning systems by developing an overarching monitoring and evaluation framework, creating a new role of Chief Evaluation and Learning Officer, and establishing an Independent Evaluation Panel. While these actions came after the end of the assessment period, the assessment recognized these as moving in the right direction.
“I am confident in the Global Fund’s ability to evolve so as to fully endorse its role of leader ending the three diseases and in achieving universal health coverage by contributing to the global efforts to strengthen health systems,” said Ambassador Stéphanie Seydoux, MOPAN’s institutional lead representing France.
Because of its experience in fighting pandemics, the Global Fund was well placed to take a leadership role when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. Early in the pandemic, the Global Fund collaborated with other global health organizations to form the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator or (ACT-Accelerator).
“We commend the Global Fund for continuously seeking ways to maximize its relevance to the world, including by leading the ACT-Accelerator's Diagnostic Pillar based on strong partnership with other stakeholders,” said Ambassador Taeho Lee, MOPAN’s institutional lead representing the Republic of Korea. “The assessment shows that the partnership has successfully managed to keep the balance between maintaining its focus on the three target diseases (HIV, TB, and malaria) and addressing the most imminent challenge, which is the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“The Global Fund is a strong institution with significant influence, with a deep commitment to the partnership model,” said Dr. Angeli Achrekar, MOPAN’s institutional lead representing the United States. “The MOPAN assessment results provide an objective reflection of where we as a partnership must focus our efforts to ensure the Fund remains a leader and influencer in global health.”
Across the development and humanitarian sectors, protection from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH) has become a priority. Therefore, since 2020, MOPAN has pioneered work to assess organizations’ approaches to SEAH in its reviews. The Global Fund adopted a victim/survivor-centered approach to SEAH in July 2021. The review recognized this development, but it acknowledges that it is too early to assess how effectively it has been applied.
The last MOPAN assessment of the Global Fund in 2015-2016 gave the organization a satisfactory rating.
As of 1 August 2022, the MOPAN Network members are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the European Union*, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye*, the United Kingdom and the United States.
*The European Union and Türkiye are observers.