Global Fund Launches New Funding Model

By Kelly Burke for Intellectual Property Watch

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, based in Geneva, has announced a new funding model that aims to allow for more strategic investment.

“The new funding model provides countries that implement grants with more flexibility around when they apply for funds, as well as more predictability on the level of funding available … and encourages countries to strengthen national strategies by incorporating HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria treatment and prevention in a holistic, programmatic approach,” a Global Fund release stated.

Though full implementation of the model won’t begin until late 2013 or early 2014, a transition period is underway. Those eligible for funding under the transition period have been identified as:

• “early applicants”: will go through all steps of new funding model, from submission of a concept note to creation of a new grant
• “interim applicants”: will only experience certain elements of the new funding model; will apply for funding through renewals, grant extensions and redesigned programs.

Those not participating in the transition (“standard applicants”) will have an opportunity to apply when the new model is fully implemented early in 2014.

With up to US$ 1.9 billion in available funding for 2013-2014, six countries and three regional programs have been invited as “early applicants” for the new funding model. They are:  the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Zimbabwe.

The three regional programs are: Regional Artemisinin Resistance Initiative, Eurasian Harm Reduction Network, and Regional Malaria Elimination Initiative in Mesoamerica and Hispaniola.

An additional 47 countries had been invited as “interim applicants” and may receive up to US$ 1.5 billion in available funding.

An overview from the Global Fund offers a list of eligible countries and can be found here [pdf].

According to the Global Fund press release, invitations were extended based on criteria including: 1) being positioned to achieve rapid impact; 2) facing service interruptions or 3) currently receiving less than they would under the new funding model’s allocation principles.

“Our new funding model means more effective investments, with greater impact,” Mark Dybul, executive director of the Global Fund, said in the release. “It will definitely help us leverage investment in a way that allows our partners to reach more people facing these diseases.”