Source: http://www.youthcoalition.org/
The Global Fund is a financial institution that was established in 2002. It is also known as GFTAM and is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The Fund was established with an aim to offer financial support to countries to fight with diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The fund represents the partnership between the countries and institutions that allocate money and those who receive it.
Who gets the money?
Every country must have a Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM), which should include government, civil society, private sector, faith based organizations and United Nations agencies. The CCM selects a Principal Recipient (PR), typically the health minister, a large NGO or another institution that can manage the money and can disburse it to sub-recipients; the Sub-Recipients (SR) are the ones that implement the projects. This means that the CCM only plans and overviews the proposals, the PR administers the funds and the SRs actually do the job.
Can my organization get money from the Global Fund?
This depends on the country where you live. Each country decides what they would like to do in terms of prevention, treatment, care and support and, if the CCM of your country mentions in the proposal that young people is a key population and this proposal was accepted your organization may be able to get money depending on the way the projects are being implemented. The Global Fund itself does not give money to organizations or individuals, only to countries. The funds are then disbursed through the appointed PR in your country.
How can young people get involved with the GF?
Due to the principle of ‘country ownership’ every country is different but here are some suggestions for you:
Investigate who are the Principal Recipient and Sub-Recipients of the GF in your country to find out if your organization can get money for your projects.
Find out how the CCM of your country is integrated and if there’s no youth representative you can ask to be included on behalf of your organization.
Make sure that the projects that are being implemented in your country with Global Fund’s money are addressing the needs of young people and if they are not, send letters to the CCM members of your country.
Communicate with the representatives of your country or region to the Board of the Global Fund so you can influence some of the policies of the GF.
Join the civil society delegations to the Board of the Global Fund. There are 3: Developed countries NGOs, Communities living with the diseases and developing countries NGOs. Stay tuned for the calls for applications.
Only developing countries have CCMs so if you live in a developed country you can help to push your government to give more money for the Global Fund.
