Press
Release
2
July 2002
French
FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA ISSUES SECOND
CALL FOR PROPOSALS IN 2002
Improved Guidelines for Funding released
GENEVA,
2 July 2002. The Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria
issued today this year's second call for funding proposals
from partnerships in countries hardest hit by the three
diseases. The closing date for submission of proposals is
27 September and the Board will award grants in January
2003. The Fund also released a revised set of guidelines
to better conduct potential recipients through the application
procedure.
The
Fund is an independent, public-private partnership
set up in January this year with the aim of making more
global resources available to combat the world's deadliest
diseases that kill six million people each year. To date,
more than US$ 2 billion have been pledged to the Fund from
donor and developing countries, the private sector, private
foundations and individuals. In April the Fund announced
its first round of grants to programs to prevent and treat
the three diseases in severely affected countries. A total
of US$ 616 million over two years were awarded to 58 programs
in 43 countries, including three multi-country proposals.
"We
have learned a great deal during the first round of grant
applications, and will continue to make the application
process more effective," said Dr. Chrispus Kiyonga, Chair
of the Fund's Board and Minister without Portfolio
of the government of Uganda. "In view of the urgency, the
Fund needs to strike a balance between acting quickly
to disburse funds, while at the same time developing new
and more effective ways of ensuring resources will have
maximum impact."
Dr.
Kiyonga acknowledged that in acting quickly to distribute
more funding, while also developing more effective systems
to coordinate activities and measure results, some aspects
of the Fund's proposal process are still evolving
based on the first round experience.
"We
are responsive to questions that are raised about the guidelines,
and constantly work to improve upon them. This is the best
way to move quickly in dispersing grants while also working
to create an important new mechanism for building partnerships
within countries. They increasingly provide us with an effective
means of implementing projects and monitoring its results,"
said Dr. Kiyonga.
One
of the main features of the revised guidelines is more clarity
for potential grant recipients about the Country Coordinating
Mechanism (CCM), a major innovation of the Fund to
award grants. In order to submit a proposal, applicants
are required to work through a CCM, a country partnership
that includes representatives from governments, civil society,
and people affected by the diseases. Particular procedures
are in place for countries in special circumstances.
Traditionally,
governments and civil society have received financial support
separately from different donors, without always making
efforts to coordinate their activities to avoid duplication.
The new process being developed by the Fund intends
to help ensure that potential grant recipients in any country
work together to develop a common plan and proposal.
The new proposal guidelines are more refined and become
more user-friendly, Increased attention is also given to
identify the specific results each proposal will achieve.
To improve transparency and accountability, the Fund requires
more specific program and budgeting information for the
second round.
Participants
from the first round requested an extended preparation period.
Responding to this request, the time for preparing proposals
has now been extended to three months.
The
new guidelines and the revised proposal form are immediately
available on the Fund's website, Click
here
