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Functional Areas
- Audit and Investigations
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Capacity development and transition, strengthening systems for health
- A Strategic Approach to Capacity Development
- Capacity Development and Transition - Lessons Learned
- Capacity development and Transition Planning Process
- Capacity Development and Transition
- Capacity Development Objectives and Transition Milestones
- Capacity Development Results - Evidence From Country Experiences
- Functional Capacities
- Interim Principal Recipient of Global Fund Grants
- Legal and Policy Enabling Environment
- Overview
- Resilience and Sustainability
- Transition
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Financial Management
- CCM Funding
- Grant Closure
- Grant Implementation
- Grant-Making and Signing
- Grant Reporting
- Import duties and VAT / sales tax
- Overview
- Sub-recipient Management
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Grant closure
- Overview
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Steps of Grant Closure Process
- 1. Global Fund Notification Letter 'Guidance on Grant Closure'
- 2. Preparation and Submission of Grant Close-Out Plan and Budget
- 3. Global Fund Approval of Grant Close-Out Plan
- 4. Implementation of Close-Out Plan and Completion of Final Global Fund Requirements (Grant Closure Period)
- 5. Operational Closure of Project
- 6. Financial Closure of Project
- 7. Documentation of Grant Closure with Global Fund Grant Closure Letter
- Terminology and Scenarios for Grant Closure Process
- Human resources
- Human rights, key populations and gender
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Legal Framework
- Agreements with Sub-recipients
- Agreements with Sub-sub-recipients
- Amending Legal Agreements
- Implementation Letters and Performance Letters
- Language of the Grant Agreement and other Legal Instruments
- Legal Framework for Other UNDP Support Roles
- Other Legal and Implementation Considerations
- Overview
- Project Document
- Signing Legal Agreements and Requests for Disbursement
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The Grant Agreement
- Grant Confirmation: Conditions Precedent (CP)
- Grant Confirmation: Conditions
- Grant Confirmation: Face Sheet
- Grant Confirmation: Schedule 1, Integrated Grant Description
- Grant Confirmation: Schedule 1, Performance Framework
- Grant Confirmation: Schedule 1, Summary Budget
- Grant Confirmation: Special Conditions (SCs)
- Grant Confirmation
- UNDP-Global Fund Grant Regulations
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Monitoring and Evaluation
- Differentiation Approach
- Monitoring and Evaluation Components of Funding Request
- M&E Components of Grant Implementation
- Monitoring and Evaluation Components of Grant Making
- Overview
- Principal Recipient Start-Up
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Health Product Management
- UNDP Quality Assurance Policy
- Compliance with the Global Fund requirements
- Distribution
- Inspection and Receipt
- International freight, transit requirements and use of INCOTERMS
- Inventory Management
- Overview - Health Product Management
- Pharmacovigilance
- Product Selection
- Quality monitoring of health products
- Quantification and Forecasting
- Rational use
- Risk Management for PSM of health products
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Sourcing and regulatory aspects
- Development of List of Health Products
- Development of the Health Procurement Action Plan (HPAP)
- Global Health Procurement Center (GHPC)
- Guidance on donations of health products
- Health Procurement Architecture
- Local Procurement of health products
- Other Elements of the UNDP Procurement Architecture
- Procurement of non-pharmaceutical Health Products
- Procurement of Pharmaceutical Products
- Submission of GHPC CO Procurement Request Form
- Storage
- Supply Planning of Health Products
- UNDP Health PSM Roster
- Waste management
- Grant Reporting
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Risk Management
- Introduction to Risk Management
- Overview
- Risk management in crisis settings
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Risk Management in the Global Fund
- Additional Safeguard Policy
- Challenging Operating Environment (COE) Policy
- Global Fund Review of Risk Management During Grant Implementation
- Global Fund Risk Management Framework
- Global Fund Risk Management Requirements During Funding Request
- Global Fund Risk Management Requirements for PRs
- Local Fund Agent
- Risk management in UNDP
- Risk Management in UNDP-managed Global Fund projects
- UNDP Risk Management Process
- Sub-Recipient Management
Challenging Operating Environment (COE) Policy
The Global Fund has a country-classification mechanism to ensure that operational policies and processes reflect contextual needs for countries. These categories are updated every allocation period based on the allocation amount, the disease burden, and strategic impact of the country. Countries are classified as:
- Focused Portfolios are generally smaller portfolios, with a lower disease burden, and a lower mission risk.
- Core Portfolios are generally larger portfolios, with a higher disease burden, and a higher mission risk.
- High Impact Portfolios are generally very large portfolios with mission critical disease burdens.
See the introduction of the GF’s Operational Policy Manual (2024) for the portfolio categorization.
The Global Fund also use two cross-cutting classifications to further differentiate portfolios:
- Challenging Operating Environments (COEs) are countries or regions with complex natural or manmade crises and instability with an impact on the risk of death, disease, and breakdown of livelihoods.
- Transitioning components are those that are approaching transition from receiving funding from the Global Fund.
To be able to operate in contexts of various degrees of complexity, in addition to the Risk Management Policy, the Global Fund has developed some specific risk management tools.
The Global Fund recognizes the need to apply a tailored approach for COEs focusing on providing a set of flexibilities when implementing Global Fund grants and this is articulated in the COE Policy (2017).
Challenging Operating Environments are countries or regions characterised by weak governance, poor access to health services, and man-made or natural crises. The policy classifies COEs based on countries with the highest External Risk Index (ERI) level in the Global Fund portfolio and allows for ad hoc classification to enable rapid responses to emergency situations. Once a country (or part of it) is categorised as a COE, the Global Fund can tailor the flexibilities that would apply. The flexibilities may relate to the following:
- Access to funding: The Global Fund can allow the extension of existing grants, non-Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) applications, and extended allocation where a COE country is no longer eligible for funding.
- Implementing entities: While the CCM nomination of the Principal Recipient (PR) is preferred, in COE countries the Global Fund may assume the responsibility for selecting the PR.
- Grant implementation: Where relevant and possible, goals, targets, activities, and budgets can be adjusted, and implementation arrangements changed to reach target populations.
- Procurement and supply chain: Where existing in-country supply chain systems are dysfunctional, disrupted or at risk of disruption, third-party providers may be selected for part or all the supply chain management functions. In emergency situations, PRs with strong procurement and supply chain capacity may be selected.
- Monitoring and evaluation: The Global Fund recognizes the risks associated with data collection and data quality in COEs due to weak health data systems. It addresses these risks by insisting on strengthening of Health Management Information Systems (HMIS) and using different types of data (surveys, evaluations, quantitative and qualitative sources).
- Financial management: The flexibilities on key financial processes include, among others: ease of reprogramming process with a high-level budget based on past grant assumptions, reliance on implementers’ own assurance mechanism where deemed strong, outsourcing of accounting and/or fiduciary function, and extension of audit and reporting due dates.
The Challenging Operating Environment Operational Policy Note regulates the implementation of the COE policy. The level of verification and scope of the Local Fund Agent’s assurance services may be tailored in line with the nature of the crisis and associated risks. This tailoring is conducted by the Global Fund’s Country Teams.
UNDP is often nominated as PR in COE countries. As UNDP-implemented Global Fund projects adhere to UNDP’s regulations, rules, policies, and procedures. Most flexibilities would be negotiated during grant-making and the Country Office is advised to request support of the UNDP Global Fund Partnership and Health Systems Team and the Regional Bureau, as early as possible, during the funding submission and the grant making process.
Additional guidance to support this area of work are also available through resources listed below:
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