At its just-completed 22nd meeting, the Global Fund Board made decisions on, among other things, which Round 10 proposals to approve; the timing of Round 11 and the second wave of national strategy applications; funding for health systems strengthening; the status of the Board chair and vice-chair; quality assurance policies; the Comprehensive Funding Policy; and the re-appointment of the Fund's Executive Director.
Chairs and vice-chairs of the Global Fund Board will serve as ex-officio members of the Board, without voting rights; and they will not represent any particular constituency while they hold office.
"Every Global Fund Board meeting I've attended as an observer has involved one crisis. Nearly always, a solution has been found. The Board meeting in Sofia that ended on Wednesday was unusual because there was not one such crisis, but two. On the more difficult one, agreement was reached. On the easier one, not only did the Board fail to reach agreement, it failed to perform in a mature manner."
Responding to revelations from its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of misappropriation of funds and unjustified expenditures, the Global Fund has terminated one grant to Mali and suspended two others. In addition, the Global Fund has placed grants in five countries on its "Additional Safeguards Policy" list.
Winstone Zulu says, "Out of all the multilaterals [operating in Zambia], the Global Fund is the most vulnerable to abuse. It is dogged by conflicts of interest. We have millions of dollars going into the pockets of a few individuals. The entire CCM should quit and new people should be appointed. Then we should change all of the PRs."
The Global Fund Board has approved all 79 Round 10 proposals recommended by the Technical Review Panel (TRP), at a cost of $1.73 billion over the first two years and $4.72 billion over five years. This makes Round 10 the third largest round ever, after Rounds 8 and 9 respectively.
Details are provided of the Board's decision regarding each eligible Round 10 proposal.
GFO's next issue, targeted for publication tomorrow, 17 December, will provide information on the other key decisions made at the 13-15 December Board meeting.