Release of Solthis' latest report: “Managing Risk in Fragile States: Putting Health First! Optimising the Efficiency of the Global Fund’s Grants”
While the 32nd Global Fund Board Meeting will be held on November 20-21, we would like to share with you the recommendations formulated in this report.
This evidence-based report is the result of a work over several months, including 4 missions (Guinea, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone) and interviews with 140 stakeholders. Through this work, we identified bottlenecks in the implementation of the Global Fund’s grants in the field, showing that the Global Fund’s Risk Management Policy is not well-adapted to fragile states. The additional safeguard measures which have been put in place by the Secretariat after the investigations of the Office of the Inspector General were meant to mitigate the financial risks and to reassure donors. However, experiences in challenging operating environments clearly show that these measures are mainly focused on financial risks and have caused significant malfunctions that jeopardise both the impact and the sustainability of the programmes.
In order to make progress and to cope with the challenges specific to fragile states, we think it is now time for the Board members and the donors of the Global Fund to opt for an ambitious and innovative policy, which would put financial risk at its proper place: behind risks to public health.
The main recommendations we are addressing in the report aim to place the public health risk at the centre of the mechanism, by:
- Improving the balance between the analysis and the management of the different risks.
- Simplifying and clarifying the control procedures: limit the number of contractors and the levels of validation.
- Defining indicators or objectives for terminating additional safeguard measures to encourage appropriation and capacity building.
- Investigating the possibility of an increased presence of the Global Fund in the field, by missions of several weeks or several months.
- Adapting the indicators and procedures of performance-based funding and accountability measures to fragile states.
For any inquiry you might have, you can contact :
Hélène Roger
Global Fund Advocacy Officer
Helene.roger@solthis.org
Tel : 00 33 1 53 61 07 84 / 53 67
Mobile : 00 33 6 15 90 96 61