Preparations underway for second appeal to Fund

After missing out on grants awarded during the Global Fund's first call for funding proposals, Namibia has stepped up efforts to access funds for the second round of awards. A technical working group has been set up under the country coordinating mechanism (CCM), to coordinate the compilation of the proposal. Abner Xoagub, vice chairman of the technical working group, told PlusNews on Wednesday that they had since May been working on improving proposals for the next round and had undertaken an exhaustive consultation process with various stakeholders. "In the first round we had a short period of time to prepare and there was no cohesion or consistency. Also, the guidelines were not very user-friendly. The second round forms and guidelines are a lot more flexible," he said. The Fund had encouraged Namibia to submit an application in line with their new guidelines[http://www.globalfundatm.org/proposals.html].This time around, following NGO complaints that the first round was too rushed, CCMs have until 27 September to submit their proposals and the board is expected to make its final decision in January next year. Ten HIV/AIDS sub-committees have been created to identify gaps that may be overlooked in the proposals. But there was still need for additional technical assistance, Xoagub said. He called on NGOs, private sector institutions, civic organisations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, academic institutions and faith groups to submit applications for consideration, before 27 August. The revised guidelines and application forms were distributed on Wednesday. The Fund's call for proposals had enhanced country level collaboration and strengthened existing partnerships, as stakeholders had been forced to cooperate. The CCM would not just be used for Global Fund matters but would continue to meet and look at other means of obtaining resources, Xoagub said. He said: "The Global Fund is not the sole provider, it is meant to complement other resources." In April the Fund awarded US $616 million over two years for 58 projects aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. More than 60 percent of the total was for HIV/AIDS initiatives, mainly in African countries.