Aidspan - independent watchdog of the Global Fund and publisher of Global Fund Observer
Aidspan is a non-governmental Kenya-based organization whose mission is to reinforce the effectiveness of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Aidspan does so by serving as an independent watchdog of the Fund, and by providing services that can benefit all countries wishing to obtain and make effective use of Global Fund financing. Aidspan finances its work primarily through grants from foundations. Aidspan does not accept Global Fund money, perform paid consulting work, or charge for any of its products.
Aidspan provides the following services:
1. Watchdog services
- Watch for and constructively comment on ways in which the Global Fund's leadership, Secretariat or grant recipients may not be living up to the Fund's founding principles.
- Communicate findings publicly (via Global Fund Observer) or privately, as appropriate.
2. Publication services
- Global Fund Observer (GFO), a free email newsletter providing news, analysis and commentary to over 7,000 subscribers in 170 countries.
- Aidspan Guides, a series of free publications providing detailed practical advice to those applying for, overseeing or implementing Global Fund grants.
3. Web services
- The Grant Details, Analysis and Evaluation pages on Aidspan's web site, a comprehensive on-line resource for comparing the performance of Global Fund grants.
- More web services (forthcoming).
4. Facilitation services
- Global Fund Round Tables for global health leaders and advocates (under the direction of a multi-sectoral steering committee).
- More facilitation services (forthcoming).
Aidspan Spotlight
Aidspan's facilitation services are provided in both developing and developed countries. In developing countries, Aidspan works with others to increase the number of viable grant applications that are submitted to the Global Fund, to strengthen the effectiveness of Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs), and to improve the chances that grants are effectively implemented. In developed countries, it works with others to improve the chances that more money will be given to the Global Fund.
Aidspan's Grant Details, Analysis and Evaluation pages show how well each Global Fund grant is performing against its own goals and in relation to other grants. Based on in-depth data automatically downloaded from the Global Fund's website on a regular basis, the system offers both a graphical and a tabular assessment of the performance of each grant.
Global Fund Observer (GFO) is a widely-read, authoritative and free email-based newsletter, produced by Aidspan, that provides an independent platform for news, analysis and commentary about the Global Fund to over 7,000 subscribers in 170 countries.
Global AIDS and the Global Fund
Since its inception, the Global Fund has approved 526 grants, of which 309 have been extended to Phase 2 (Years 3 and beyond).
The most recent agreement for a new grant was signed on 27 October 2008, providing an initial amount of $3,760,839 for an HIV/AIDS project in Afghanistan.
The most recent agreement to extend a grant beyond its initial 2-year period was signed on 19 October 2008, providing $8,537,857 for an HIV/AIDS project in Mauritania.
Funding has been distributed by disease component and by region as follows:
| Approved funding by disease component | |
|---|---|
| HIV/AIDS | $6.78 billion |
| Malaria | $2.82 billion |
| TB | $1.63 billion |
| Mixed | $0.29 billion |
| Approved funding by region | |
| East Africa | $3.34 billion |
| Southern Africa | $2.03 billion |
| East Asia and the Pacific | $1.52 billion |
| West and Central Africa | $1.33 billion |
| Eastern Europe and Central Asia | $0.90 billion |
| Latin America and the Caribbean | $0.89 billion |
| South Asia | $0.84 billion |
| North Africa and the Middle East | $0.69 billion |
For details of individual grants, country-by-country information, indications of which grants are ahead of or behind schedule, and more, visit the Grant Details, Analysis and Evaluation pages on this site.
Recent News
Although the HIV epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean is largely concentrated among men who have sex with men and sex workers, organisations representing these "key populations" receive very little of the Global Fund money being spent in the region, according to a recent study.
A Ugandan government official who set up a company in 2005 to serve as a Global Fund Sub-Recipient has been sentenced to ten years in prison for stealing $56,000 of Global Fund money and for producing forged documentation as to how the money was used. Further convictions are expected.
Aidspan has released "The Aidspan Guide on the Roles and Responsibilities of CCMs in Grant Oversight." Its purpose is to provide guidance on how CCMs can plan and implement oversight of programmes funded by Global Fund grants.
Recent News
Although the HIV epidemic in Latin America and the Caribbean is largely concentrated among men who have sex with men and sex workers, organisations representing these "key populations" receive very little of the Global Fund money being spent in the region, according to a recent study.
A Ugandan government official who set up a company in 2005 to serve as a Global Fund Sub-Recipient has been sentenced to ten years in prison for stealing $56,000 of Global Fund money and for producing forged documentation as to how the money was used. Further convictions are expected.
Aidspan has released "The Aidspan Guide on the Roles and Responsibilities of CCMs in Grant Oversight." Its purpose is to provide guidance on how CCMs can plan and implement oversight of programmes funded by Global Fund grants.
Recent GFO Highlights
"No Global Fund board meeting would be complete without there being at least one issue involving high drama. This time, the drama arose over the inability of the board to elect a new Chair."
“The Global Fund is a remarkable creature, because although it has a budget regarding operating costs, it has no budget specifying how much it will give in grants each year. This has inevitably led to a roller-coaster ride for the Fund; and never was that more apparent than at the board meeting that ended on Saturday.”
Aidspan today published a report entitled "An Analysis of Global Fund Grant Ratings". The key finding of the report is:
"Global Fund grants have shown distinct improvements in performance over the past three years. Each year, International NGOs have performed significantly better, on average, than any other PR type. Non-international NGOs have performed slightly less well, on average, than Ministries of Health, but they have steadily improved, from being the least well-performing PR type (out of ten) in 2006, to being the second best in 2008. Overall, Ministries of Finance have been the least well-performing PR type, and UNDP the second least well-performing."
The report can be downloaded, in English only, from www.aidspan.org/aidspanpublications.
David Garmaise writes, “The reporting relationships, and the chain of command, involving the CCM, the PR and the Global Fund are very unusual and not particularly intuitive, and are even more unusual when one adds the LFA into the mix. The Fund’s Guidance Paper on CCM Oversight discusses this in limited detail and in language that is bland, sometimes repetitive and sometimes confusing.”
Recent GFO Highlights
"No Global Fund board meeting would be complete without there being at least one issue involving high drama. This time, the drama arose over the inability of the board to elect a new Chair."
“The Global Fund is a remarkable creature, because although it has a budget regarding operating costs, it has no budget specifying how much it will give in grants each year. This has inevitably led to a roller-coaster ride for the Fund; and never was that more apparent than at the board meeting that ended on Saturday.”
Aidspan today published a report entitled "An Analysis of Global Fund Grant Ratings". The key finding of the report is:
"Global Fund grants have shown distinct improvements in performance over the past three years. Each year, International NGOs have performed significantly better, on average, than any other PR type. Non-international NGOs have performed slightly less well, on average, than Ministries of Health, but they have steadily improved, from being the least well-performing PR type (out of ten) in 2006, to being the second best in 2008. Overall, Ministries of Finance have been the least well-performing PR type, and UNDP the second least well-performing."
The report can be downloaded, in English only, from www.aidspan.org/aidspanpublications.
David Garmaise writes, “The reporting relationships, and the chain of command, involving the CCM, the PR and the Global Fund are very unusual and not particularly intuitive, and are even more unusual when one adds the LFA into the mix. The Fund’s Guidance Paper on CCM Oversight discusses this in limited detail and in language that is bland, sometimes repetitive and sometimes confusing.”
Recent Publications
Description:
CCMs are only now beginning to focus on their role in overseeing the implementation of Global Fund grants. This guide describes what grant oversight is, and provides basic advice on how a CCM can plan and implement oversight. It includes some real-life examples from CCMs that have already started to do oversight. The primary target audience for this guide is CCMs. The guide will also be of interest to principal recipients (PRs) and large sub-recipients (SRs), as well as other stakeholders who are not on the CCM but who have an interest in the functioning of the CCM.
This guide is available in English, French, Spanish and Russian.
Download options:
| English |  422KB |
 1.1MB |
| Français | 418KB |
1.1MB |
| Español | 417KB |
749KB |
 |
918KB |
1.4MB |
Description:
The purpose of this report is to provide information to Global Fund applicants on key attributes of a strong proposal. The report is based on an analysis of the strengths of all approved Round 8 proposals, as identified by the Technical Review Panel (TRP) when it reviewed the proposals.
This report is available in English, Spanish, French and Russian.
Download options:
| English | 373KB |
508KB |
| Français | 388KB |
544KB |
| Español | 416KB |
520KB |
|
699KB |
774KB |
Recent Publications
Description:
CCMs are only now beginning to focus on their role in overseeing the implementation of Global Fund grants. This guide describes what grant oversight is, and provides basic advice on how a CCM can plan and implement oversight. It includes some real-life examples from CCMs that have already started to do oversight. The primary target audience for this guide is CCMs. The guide will also be of interest to principal recipients (PRs) and large sub-recipients (SRs), as well as other stakeholders who are not on the CCM but who have an interest in the functioning of the CCM.
This guide is available in English, French, Spanish and Russian.
Download options:
| English | 422KB |
1.1MB |
| Français | 418KB |
1.1MB |
| Español | 417KB |
749KB |
|
918KB |
1.4MB |
Description:
The purpose of this report is to provide information to Global Fund applicants on key attributes of a strong proposal. The report is based on an analysis of the strengths of all approved Round 8 proposals, as identified by the Technical Review Panel (TRP) when it reviewed the proposals.
This report is available in English, Spanish, French and Russian.
Download options:
| English | 373KB |
508KB |
| Français | 388KB |
544KB |
| Español | 416KB |
520KB |
|
699KB |
774KB |