Planning Considerations

The goal of the Applying for Funding stage is to ultimately design quality grants that are ready for implementation before the current grant ends.

Applicants, together with Principal Recipients and Global Fund Country Teams, will need to develop an end-to-end plan to ensure they develop and submit funding request and grant deliverables in a timely manner so GC8 grants are signed on time and activities can start on the first day of the new grant.

Ideally, grants are signed one month before the end of the current grant to ensure implementation readiness. This helps maximize the impact of the new allocation to achieve the objectives of the grant.

Important elements to consider when building the timeline of this plan include determining program split, deciding the composition of the funding requests, determining the appropriate submission pathway, facilitating an inclusive country dialogue for funding request development, and selecting a TRP Review Window.

Program Split

The Allocation Letter from the Global Fund includes a recommendation of how the designated allocation amount has been split across eligible disease components, based on the allocation methodology. This is called the disease split.

Applicants have the flexibility to revise the disease split between eligible disease components and designate a proportion of funding to sustainable health systems activities to better suit the country context: this is called the program split. Informed by country dialogue, the applicant (typically the Country Coordinating Mechanism) uses a documented and inclusive process to determine how to best apportion the funding.

Applicants are encouraged to decide up front how the process will work, set up meetings to determine the program split, and ensure discussions are data-based and include representatives for health systems.

In these discussions, applicants are asked to consider and plan for investments in cross-cutting RSSH interventions. In most cases, these discussions are documented and communicated to the Global Fund in the form of a Program Split Confirmation Form.

More information on Program Split.

Funding Request Composition

Funding requests can include one or more eligible disease components.

In Grant Cycle 8, all applicants are required to submit funding requests for all eligible components and RSSH in the same TRP Review Window. Applicants are encouraged to develop one single multi-component funding request which includes all eligible components. If a single multi-component funding request is not feasible then separate funding requests are still accepted, as long as they are submitted in the same window. In all cases, RSSH modules should be consolidated in one funding request instead of being segmented in separate funding requests. Ideally, the funding request will reflect integration of systems and services, as described in the Integration Technical Brief [ download in English | Español | Français ].

Submission Pathways

In Grant Cycle 8, applicants have two options for developing funding requests:

  • Applicants who nominate existing Principal Recipient(s) can choose to develop a Grant-ready Funding Request. This is where the applicant requests that the Principal Recipients develop grant-level Performance Frameworks and Detailed Budgets during funding request development. These grant-level documents are then included in the funding request application package that the applicant submits to the Global Fund for review by the TRP. Following TRP review the Global Fund finalizes negotiation of the grant-level documents with each Principal Recipient. This pathway allows for expedited grant negotiations, reduces manual rework of documents in grant-making, and ensures a strong early grant design from the start.
  • Applicants who nominate a new Principal Recipient, or who choose to take the traditional approach, develop a Classic Funding Request. This is where the applicant completes funding request-level documents, with one Performance Framework and one Detailed Budget covering all components in the funding request. Following TRP review, the Global Fund negotiates separate Performance Frameworks and Detailed Budgets with each Principal Recipient during grant-making. This pathway can be used by any applicant, but is required when a new Principal Recipient is nominated or when there are significant changes in implementation arrangements.

Both the Full Review and the Transition/Focused funding request application packages can be developed using either the Grant-ready or Classic submission pathway. The required funding request form and annexes are the same regardless of which submission pathway is followed for the Performance Framework and Detailed Budget.

Early nomination of PRs is critical if applicants wish to follow the grant-ready pathway and is still recommended if applicants are following a classic submission pathway.

Country Dialogue when Applying for Funding

The Global Fund requires governments, civil society, people affected by the diseases, technical partners, the private sector and other partners to come together to propose how to best use Global Fund allocation funding in a way that is complementary to the funding available from all other sources. These country dialogues are expected to take place throughout the grant life cycle, but are a specific requirement when countries apply for funding.

Country Dialogue for Applying for Funding in GC8

Applicants should carefully consider how to structure country dialogue to ensure that discussions reflect evolved expectations for Grant Cycle 8, while still meeting transparency and inclusion requirements. In many cases, these conversations can begin before Allocation Letters are received. In GC8, applicants should:

  • Focus on how to achieve highest impact and value for money of the investments being made, basing conversations on assessments of the programmatic gaps and the funding landscape and going beyond disease-specific discussions towards a holistic understanding of needs and priorities across the health system.
  • Accelerate integration by beginning discussions early on how to integrate HIV, TB and malaria services and RSSH functions within the primary health care system, which can drive impact and efficiency.
  • Consider how domestic financing will progressively increase the financing of key interventions to drive sustainability and how Global Fund investments and other international sources of finance can be more catalytic for the disease programs and for health and community systems. These discussions can strengthen country ownership of key priorities.
  • Simplify implementation arrangements with a consideration for value for money and consider early selection of Principal Recipients, both of which can shorten the time needed for grant-making.

In all cases, country dialogue will need to be tailored to country context and the scope of change needed, informed by the Allocation Letter, and satisfy the CCM Eligibility Requirements. Two of these requirements are screened when funding requests are submitted:

  1. The funding request must be developed in a transparent and inclusive process, including engagement with key populations; and
  2. The Principal Recipient (PR) nomination process must be transparent, documented and avoid conflict of interest.

The review of these requirements is differentiated, with the appropriate level of screening determined by the Compliance Review Panel. Countries determined to have a higher risk of non-compliance will receive greater scrutiny and an in-depth review. Others will undergo a lighter screening.

The Guidance on CCM Eligibility Requirements 1 and 2 [ download in English | Español | Français ] document contains further information.

TRP Review Window Selection

Applicants should select which TRP Review Window for their funding request review aligns best with the timelines of their current grant implementation period.