Annual Report: Grant Management Solutions

The project involved supporting the last grants completing grant making, new grants needing project management units or risk management plans, and certain country coordinating mechanisms (CCMs) for implementing their performance improvement plans. Grant Management Solutions (GMS) responded to 34 requests from 23 countries approved by the U.S. government's Global Fund Technical Support Advisory Panel (TSAP), with seven requests for CCM support, 12 for a variety of PR issues, and 14 for the introduction of dashboards. The PR Management Dashboard and CCM Summary were developed to support risk management and grant oversight, with the Regional Grant Dashboard and Subrecipient Management Tool also being extended. The African Delegations to the Global Fund Board established a bureau in Addis Ababa to support its operations and recruited its first executive director, marking the conclusion of a piece of GMS "old business." GMS's support of governance strengthening of the African Delegations began in 2012, and the bureau's presence at the 2016 Board meetings contributed positively to policy making and the replenishment of the Global Fund. GMS also collaborated with the African Public Health Research Centre to create the bureau, which was sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project's capacity-building team focused on strengthening the 12 regional partners, who have been the focus of the project's capacity-building team. During the year, the Regional Partners moved toward greater collaboration through trades of technical support in the "Peer-to-Peer Exchange," with seven exchanges taking place mostly focusing on software application development and market analysis. The Regional Partners concretized their collaboration through the establishment of a new network of ten of the twelve Regional Partners, who will market their services together. This four-year experiment of strengthening Regional Partners to provide Global Fund-related technical support concludes with strong forward momentum from these 12 organizations. Grant Management Solutions' work in Project Year 4 was characterized by a steady increase in demand for the whole-of-country approach to introducing the new grant management dashboard for principal recipients (PRs) and dashboard for CCMs. The project's achievements demonstrate the importance of effective grant management and the need for continued support to strengthen the performance of Global Fund grants. The project's geographic focus was on 23 countries, with a particular emphasis on supporting the African Delegations to the Global Fund Board and the 12 regional partners. The project's timeframes were from October 1, 2015, to September 30, 2016, with a focus on supporting the Global Fund's grant management cycle. Grant Management Solutions' work in Project Year 4 was guided by the following key objectives: * Supporting the Global Fund's grant management cycle * Strengthening the performance of Global Fund grants * Enhancing the capacity of regional partners to provide technical support * Promoting collaboration and knowledge sharing among regional partners The project's achievements demonstrate the importance of effective grant management and the need for continued support to strengthen the performance of Global Fund grants.