The following sections look into the Grants Approval Committee and the final Board approval, grant implementation, and grant review.
Grant Approvals Committee (GAC) and Board Approval
Grant Approvals Committee (GAC), is comprised of Global Fund Executive Management representatives from technical partners, and a representative from community and civil society (nominated by the CS delegations to the Global Fund Board), and whose role is to review approve the level of funding for the Concept Note, including the incentive funding.
The GAC assesses the strategic value of the funding request vis-a-vis the required outcomes and impact; how it addresses the financial and programmatic gaps in the NSP; its focus on key populations and the sufficiency of investments for human rights, community systems strengthening; value-for-money, risk management, and financial management; and sustainability of the investment and the increase in the share of domestic funding, as well as the transition readiness of the country components. The GAC does not conduct a full technical review but instead uses TRP recommendations to inform its decisions and focusses review at the ‘portfolio’ level.
After the GAC review, the applicants receive notification from the Global Fund whether the grant request proceeds to Board approval or not.
Community guide:
- At this point, it is important to prepare for grant implementation. Continue engaging the implementers of the grant and the CCM to ensure that the programs are included, including those that are CRG-specific, and that there’s capacity to implement them.
Look for sources of technical support that are available for civil society, communities and key populations that can help strengthen your engagement in Global Fund processes and in monitoring grant implementation. Read about the CRG Technical Assistance Programme that the Global Fund has established to check out if your organisation is eligible to access it.
Grant signing and implementation
Once approved, the grant agreement is signed by the PR and the Global Fund. This signifies the start of grant implementation. During this stage, the PR lays down the basic implementation design, which includes the selection and engagement of SRs, finalizing the monitoring and evaluation plan, and developing programmatic guidelines. The PR also periodically reports to the CCM for programmatic and financial updates.
Community guide:
- Aside from ensuring that CRG-related or CRG-specific interventions are properly implemented, grant implementation provides many opportunities to expand CRG programmes in the country. It can lead to more evidence on CRG issues and the impact of CRG interventions in disease programs, and can improve capacity of CSOs, community groups, and key population networks to contribute to country responses to HIV, TB, or malaria.
- The periodic reports of the PR to the CCM can also be maximized to improve programmes. CSOs, community groups, and key population networks can also advocate for reprogramming for CRG-specific interventions if savings are being reported by the PR.
Grant review and revision
Grant implementation is periodically reviewed by the CCMs. As a performance-based funding model, disbursement of funding depends on the performance of the implementers. This is also an opportunity for grant implementers and CCMs to undertake reprogramming to make implementation more efficient and effective.
For this Funding Cycle, grant revision may occur at different stages of the grant lifecycle. This is to promote greater flexibility and impact of investment. The timing of the grant revision depends on the country’s portfolio category:
a) Focused: once a year during grant implementation, if warranted by program context
b) Core: any time during grant implementation, if warranted by the program context
c) High Impact: any time during grant implementation, if waranted by the program context
Community guide:
- Reach out to your CCM secretariat to know how the programmes are progressing. Coordinate with them if you wish to attend the meeting. You can also ask for updates from your CCM representatives.
- Based on the identification of efficiencies in the grant or if there are additional funding from the Secretariat, the unfunded programme priorities can be supported and implemented.
Engaging in Global Fund processes can be challenging for civil society organisations, community groups, and key population networks. Here are some resources and tools to help you get ready.