GF/B20/DP31
Approved by the Board on: 11 November 2009
Architecture Review - Transition Provisions
The Board refers to its decision made at the Eighteenth Board Meeting on the Global Fund Architecture (GF/B18/DP19) and recognizes that:
i. the Global Fund was established to provide significant additional financing to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria;
ii. over time, with the increase in its funding to countries and the resulting multiplicity of funding streams from the Global Fund to Principal Recipients ("PRs"), the funding architecture has become complex;
iii. the funding architecture of the Global Fund requires simplification; and
iv. the Board has already endorsed the Single Stream of Funding per PR per disease as the foundation for a new funding architecture.
Therefore, in order to simplify Global Fund support to current and future implementers of national disease-fighting and health systems strengthening programs, the Board decides as follows:
1. The Secretariat shall, at the appropriate time as determined by the Secretariat in collaboration with CCMs:
a. consolidate approved grants to one PR supporting a program to fight one of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria (which may include any health systems strengthening elements) into one grant agreement (a "Single Stream Agreement") with an initial commitment period of up to three years, by, as appropriate, combining budgets, workplans and targets; and
b. align the financial commitment periods for each of the Grant Agreements with different PRs for a particular disease in a country by adjusting the durations and commitment amounts (in accordance with paragraph 2 below).
2. In order to facilitate the activities described in paragraph 1 above, the Board delegates to the Secretariat the authority to:
a. make reasonable adjustments to:
i. the duration of the funding commitment period for the resulting Single Stream Agreement (including both extensions and truncations);
ii. the implementation activities contained in the proposals; and
iii. the time periods for reaching performance targets contained in proposals; and,
b. commit additional funding to the Single Stream Agreement the equivalent of 12 months of grant funds requested in an approved proposal (including a National Strategy Application ("NSA")), but as yet uncommitted (from Phase 2 Renewals or RCC II Renewals) which shall be committed by the Secretariat in accordance with paragraph 3c of the Comprehensive Funding Policy, as presented in Annex 5 Version 2 to GF/B20/12 Report of the Working Group on Managing the Tension Between Demand and Supply in a Resource-Constrained Environment.
3. Consolidation of existing grants and alignment of commitment periods of all grants that support a disease program will enable the Secretariat to make recommendations for additional financial commitments under the Periodic Reviews and Commitments Policy attached as Annex 2a Version 2 to GF/B20/4 "Report of the Policy and Strategy Committee", which will be operational not earlier than 1 January 2011. The Board requests the Secretariat to conduct further work on a mechanism to allow for additional funding on the basis of demonstrated strong performance at the time of the requests for and approval of Additional Commitments under the Periodic Reviews and Commitments Policy. In undertaking this work, the Secretariat shall analyze and further describe its feasibility, financial implications and mechanics, and present it to the Policy and Strategy Committee and its next meeting, for its consideration and recommendation to the Board.
4. The issue of the Round 10 call for proposals provides an early opportunity for countries to begin transition to the new architecture. To this end, transition to single streams of funding per PR per disease will be possible on a voluntary basis. To facilitate this, the Board delegates authority to the Secretariat to make adjustments to the Round 10 proposal form and guidelines.
5. Commencing with Round 11:
a. all proposals submitted to the Global Fund shall require the applicant to present a consolidated request for funding incorporating current Global Fund support to the country for the disease, including health systems strengthening support. The consolidated proposal shall identify previously committed and approved funds included within the consolidated request;
b. following the approval of a new proposal by the Board, any incremental grant funds for an existing PR shall be included in the PR's existing Single Stream Agreement for that disease, rather than resulting in a new separate Grant Agreement; and
c. the Secretariat shall present to the Board for approval, with respect to the proposals recommended for funding by the Technical Review Panel, the amount of the additional financial commitment covering the time remaining in the single stream's then-current commitment period. The revised Comprehensive Funding Policy, as presented in Annex 5 Version 2 to GF/B20/12 "Report of the Working Group on Managing the Tension between Demand and Supply in a Resource-Constrained Environment" shall be applicable to such approvals. All continuing financial commitments to a country's disease-fighting program shall be made in compliance with the Periodic Reviews and Commitments Policy attached as Annex 2a Version 2 to GF/B20/4 "Report of the Policy and Strategy Committee".
6. The Rolling Continuation Channel (RCC) procedure for grant application will be discontinued immediately. The Board requests the Secretariat to continue to process all RCC proposals that will be submitted in accordance with existing RCC policies contained in GF/B14/DP9 (Establishment of a Rolling Continuation Channel): GF/B14/DP10 (Technical Reviews for the Rolling Continuation Channel); GF/B15/DP18 (Duration of Grants Eligible for the Rolling Continuation Channel); GF/B15/DP 19 (Board Decision-Making Procedure for the Rolling Continuation Channel); and GF/B16/DP7 (Revision of the Rolling Continuation Channel for Strongly-performing Grants).
7. During the period in which the grant portfolio is transitioning to single streams of funding using the methods described in paragraph 1, all funding commitments for grants under the RCC and the Rounds-based Channel (Phase 2 Renewals, RCC proposals and RCC Renewals) and NSA grants, other than incremental requests for funding included in new proposals, shall be considered as "Additional Commitments" in paragraph 9 of the Comprehensive Funding Policy.
8. As soon as all of the grants for a particular disease in a country have the characteristics described in paragraph 1 above, the extensions to grant terms available under the Phase 2 Decision-Making Policies and Procedures (GF/B14/8, Annex 3b revision 2, as amended by GF/B15/DP48) and Decision GF/B14/DP27 will no longer be available for the grants for that disease in that country and paragraph 17 of the Periodic Reviews and Commitments Policy attached as Annex 2a Version 2 to GF/B20/4 "Report of the Policy and Strategy Committee", will apply.
9. In order to facilitate the implementation of this decision, if a CCM elects to consolidate an approved Round 8, Round 9, Round 10 and/or NSA grant with other existing grants for the same PR:
a. as an exception to point 2 of the decision made at the 8th Board meeting entitled "Timeframes for Grant Agreements", a Single Stream Agreement must be signed not later than 18 months after Board approval of the funding of the proposal, failing which the Board's approval is no longer valid; and
b. as an exception to Decision GF/B19/DP19 entitled "Flexibilities to Set Grant Start Dates", the Secretariat may set the start date for the commitment in the Single Stream Grant Agreement up to 24 months after Board approval.
The Board notes that the exceptions in paragraph a and b shall only be available if requested by a CCM in order to give CCMs and PRs the time necessary to consolidate grants and set start dates for alignment purposes.
10. The Board recognizes that the new grant architecture has the potential to further empower CCMs in their essential roles of developing programs and funding requests, selecting Principal Recipients, and in overseeing implementation of programs funded by the Global Fund. The Board reaffirms the importance of the minimum eligibility criteria contained in the "Guidelines and Requirements for Country Coordinating Mechanisms." The Board further recognizes that the Portfolio and Implementation Committee (PIC) is currently overseeing a number of CCM strengthening initiatives being implemented by the Secretariat and will undertake a comprehensive revision of the "Guidelines and Requirements for Country Coordinating Mechanisms," taking into account the architecture changes, in time for the second Board meeting in 2010.
11. The Board requests the Secretariat to revise the Terms of Reference of the Technical Review Panel, for approval by the Board, prior to the launching of Round 11 in order to give effect to this decision.
12. This decision revokes and replaces the Board's previous decisions on Rollout of Grant Consolidation (GF/B16/DP9).
Budgetary Implications
The budgetary implications of this decision point in 2010 amount to USD$ 306,000.