Where We Work / Central African Republic

In the spring of 2006, the Capacity Project was asked to become part of an initiative led by the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) to provide technical assistance to selected countries with faltering performance on their grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM). These grants are performance-based, which means that funds are released when agreed-upon interim performance targets have been achieved. When targets are not met, additional funding is withheld and the services being provided by the grant are suspended. Through funding from the OGAC initiative, the USAID/Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Bureau and field missions, the Capacity Project provided technical assistance to strengthen grant performance in Belize, Central African Republic, Ecuador, Guyana, Indonesia, Lesotho, Kenya, Nepal, Malawi, Pakistan, Romania, Swaziland, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania and Togo as well as regional grants in the Caribbean. The Project completed situation analyses to determine the critical barriers hampering grant performance and made recommendations to both Principal Recipients (PRs) and Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCMs) for actions needed to strengthen grant performance. The Project worked with CCMs to ensure that they were operating in compliance with GFATM regulations, and if they were not, made recommendations on actions that were required for compliance.

CCM members received training to ensure they understood how performance-based grants work, and had clarity on the role and responsibilities of the CCM for providing grant oversight and the skills, knowledge and responsibilities required of members. The Project helped clarify the different roles of the CCMs and the Principal Recipient, developed guidelines for how the two worked together for successful grant implementation and assisted CCMs to develop their Operations Manual for CCM Grant Oversight. Additionally, the Project helped Principal Recipients to identify grant management problems that were causing serious project implementation delays, and provided the technical assistance to strengthen financial management systems, monitoring and evaluation reporting systems and procurement and supply management systems.

Results were measured in both output and outcome indicators. In all countries, the Project achieved 100% of its output indicators. Outcome indicators were more dependent on the country’s ability to use the technical assistance to substantially improve performance. The Project achieved expected outcome indicators in all but three countries, which all had grant performance issues that were more serious than technical assistance could address. In the remaining countries, the Project contributed to significant progress such that recipients were again eligible for GFATM funding. In reference to the Project’s work in Pakistan, the GFATM portfolio manager indicated that the “PR is much stronger” thanks to the Project’s assistance. As a result of this pilot, OGAC concluded that US Government-funded technical assistance support could have a significant impact on GFATM grant performance. OGAC issued a new procurement and fully funded a five-year contract, Grant Management Systems, to provide ongoing technical assistance to troubled grants.