South Africa umbrella grants management (UGM) performance evaluation

The evaluation focused on strengths and weaknesses of three bilateral UGM partners (or UGMPs): FHI360, Pact, and Right to Care. It also focused on a fourth project (the FHI360 Capable Partners project) in a variety of domains. FHI360 Capable Partners, or CAP, was not a UGM, but rather a Leader with Associate Award under a global award. Therefore, throughout the report, UGMPs is used to refer to the first three UGMPs, and CAP is addressed separately, due to its different aims, methodologies and funding mechanism. The evaluation teams overall observation, based on documentation and interviews with UGM and USAID, is that all three UGMPs ensured compliance and accountability for US funds. There were few instances of noncompliance or nonperformance by the SPs managed by the UGMPs; in these limited cases, the evidence seen suggests that the UGMPs discovered the issues quickly and took prompt action. The SI team observed that minor flaws in financial management, governance, or leadership, if not addressed rapidly and pro-actively, have the potential to escalate to major flaws.