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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
- 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
Global Fund Risk Management Framework
The overall risk management architecture of the Global Fund is informed by the Global Fund Risk Management Policy (2014), the Risk Appetite Framework (2018 and 2023 amendment), the Enterprise Risk Management Framework (2023 update - see annex 1 of the Risk Management Report to the 49th Board Meeting), and the Risk Management Operational Policy Note (2024).
Following international standards, the Global Fund employs a ‘three-lines of defence’ model to risk management. Each line is responsible for specific core risk management activities The Global Fund Secretariat holds first line (risk owner) and second line (oversight) of defence functions, while the Office of the Inspector General and external auditors hold third line of defence (independent assurance) functions.
Implementers (i.e. Principal Recipients (PRs), in-country partners, and Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs) are ‘front line defence’ and are responsible for managing the risks to achieving grant objectives on a day-to-day basis. The risk management activities of the front line of defence are outside the scope of the Global Fund risk management policies. The PRs’ internal risk management processes are regulated by the organisations’ own risk management policies and procedures. The three lines of defence oversee front line implementation and management of risks.
From the Global Fund, implementation of the grants is overseen by the three lines of defence. More specifically:
- The Global Fund Secretariat Country Teams, with support from the Local Fund Agents (LFA), are responsible for day-to-day implementation oversight, on behalf of the Global Fund;
- The Global Fund Secretariat Risk Department and other oversight functions (Business Risk Owners) together with Global Fund Senior Management define the risk management framework and provide oversight, guidance, and support to Country Teams; and
- The Office of the Inspector General and external auditors, provide independent assurance regarding the management of risks and controls by the Country Team and Business Risk Owners and efficient use of Global Fund resources.
The Global Fund categorises risk sources into 3 broad thematic areas: 1. country risks, 2. operational risks and 3. process risks. The Global Fund Secretariat is concerned with the management of operational and process risks. PRs and country portfolios are concerned with the management of country risks, which include:
- Programmatic (such as programme quality, resilient and sustainable systems for health (RSSH), human rights, and gender equality) and monitoring and evaluation,
- Financial and fiduciary,
- Sourcing operations (such as procurement, supply chain, and quality of health products),
- Governance and health financing.
The Global Fund Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Framework foresees a number of processes, systems and tools to manage the three risk types. The tools are summarised in the figure 2 below, and at the grant level grant specific risks, with corresponding controls and assurances, are identified and tracked by the Country Teams through key mechanisms:
- Risk management is a bottom-up process, starting with inputs from the grant implementers, CCMs and Country Teams. The in-country risk and assurance workshops are used to identify risks to grants and to agree on mitigation actions and assurance activities.
- The PRs’ capacity assessment conducted during the Funding Request is used to determine the risks associated with the implementation capacity in critical areas - see Global Fund Capacity Assessment guidelines (2023).
- The IRM, Integrated Risk Management tool, is an online platform integrated in the Global Fund’s Grant Operating System (GOS). GOS is used by Country Teams to manage risks within their country portfolios. In addition to the risk assessments, the Integrated Risk Management (IRM) captures the Key Mitigating Risk (KMAs) that directly address the bottlenecks.
- Oversight and assurance function allows to assure to what extent risk mitigations are being implemented and having the intended impact. Assurance plans guide the implementation of assurance activities by the Country Teams, who engage key assurance providers, such as LFA, to support the assurance and oversight functions of the first and the second line of defence.
Figure 2 – Global Fund risk management processes, systems, and tools by risk type
The Risk Management Report and Chief Risk Officer’s Annual Opinion (2023) submitted annually to the Global Fund Board provides an overview of the Organisational Risk Register (ORR) and a more detailed overview of the risks facing the Global Fund portfolio. A summary of the ORR and the Risk Appetite is in figure 3 below.
Figure 3 – Summary of the GF Organisational Risk Register and the Risk Appetite (2023)
Additional guidance to support this area of work are also available through a number of resources listed below:
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