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Technical Cooperation

Countries can request assistance to help design, implement and evaluate programs to fight HIV, TB and malaria, as well as to build resilient and sustainable systems for health. This is called technical cooperation and it is used to strengthen the capacity of and support individuals or institutions in the planning and implementation of their programs. As a financing organization, the Global Fund works closely with multilateral and other technical partners to do this.

Countries can request technical cooperation at various stages of the funding process, and it can be made available to:

  • Country Coordinating Mechanisms
  • Implementers
  • Civil society organizations

The following principles apply to any technical cooperation we facilitate:

  • An inclusive country dialogue should be used to identify technical cooperation needs.
  • These needs should be based on a data and evidence.
  • The focus should be on strengthening existing country capacity, not replacing it.
  • Activities should be linked to achieving the outcomes articulated in the country grant, which in turn should be aligned with and support national strategies and programs.
  • Embedded support and south-to-south, peer-to-peer learnings are encouraged.
  • The identification of needs, partner selection, funding sources and allocation, and tracking of expenditure should be transparent.

The Global Fund defines technical cooperation (sometimes also referred to as “technical assistance” or “technical support”) as the engagement of people with specific and relevant technical expertise to support inclusive country dialogue, preparatory activities, grant-making processes or implementation of Global Fund-supported programs. Technical cooperation can be either short term or long term.

When to Request

The Global Fund encourages the discussion between countries and partners on technical support needs to start as early as possible and continue throughout the grant cycle. Moreover, countries can request technical cooperation at any stage of the funding process, including:

  • National strategic planning: Support for a situation analysis or an epidemiological assessment, policy advice or independent reviews during the development or review of the national strategic plan. This includes alignment of disease-specific strategic plans with the health sector strategy.
  • Country dialogue: Assistance with country dialogue for the Country Coordinating Mechanism. This includes, but is not limited to:
    • Epidemiological analysis, data and mapping
    • Health systems performance assessment to prioritize needs for cross-cutting investments
    • Facilitated dialogue across disease control programs on identifying common health system-related bottlenecks and opportunities
    • Transition readiness assessments
    • Supply chain diagnostic studies and baseline studies for key and vulnerable populations (where no funding is available for these through catalytic investments)
    • Civil society organizations, community organizations and networks within a country can ask for assistance in developing the necessary skills and knowledge to see that their needs and views are fully represented, and that issues around community systems strengthening, key populations, gender and human rights are fully taken into account
  • Funding request development: Support with program design in the preparation of the funding request. Note: Global Fund grant funds cannot be used for consultant or technical assistance costs to draft or write a funding request.
  • Grant-making: Help with responding to the risk and capacity assessments of proposed implementers during the grant-making process. First-time Principal Recipients may also need support as they prepare to sign the grant agreement.
  • Implementation: Support for reaching programmatic targets, efficient use of funds, dealing with implementation bottlenecks or long-term country capacity development, in order to maximize long-term, sustained impact.

Where to Request

Requests for technical cooperation are best coordinated through the Country Coordinating Mechanism or other country-level partnerships. And where possible, needs or requests for technical cooperation should be addressed to the local offices or embassies of the respective multilateral or bilateral partners. If there are unmet needs for technical cooperation, requests should be addressed to the relevant Global Fund country team, and the Secretariat can facilitate coordinating with partners on a response to the need.

The following selected organizations provide a large share of technical cooperation. We encourage countries and organizations to contact these providers directly, although both their Country Coordinating Mechanism and their Global Fund country team should be made aware of the request.

Type of technical cooperation Type of support and request channel
Bilateral technical providers
  • United States government provides technical support in the areas of prevention, care and treatment for the three diseases, as well as for health systems strengthening. To request assistance, work with the U.S. government representative on your Country Coordinating Mechanism.
  • Expertise France is the French international agency for technical expertise. There are four primary ways it operates:
    1. Bilateral cooperation with a partner agency or country
    2. Direct donor funding through a call for tender
    3. European twinning projects
    4. European Union-delegated management contracts
  • BACKUP Health is a global program commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and co-financed by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the European Union.

    With a primary focus on strengthening health systems, BACKUP provides technical and financial support in three core intervention areas:

    1. Strengthening civil society participation.
    2. Improving governance and coordination.
    3. Integrated people-centered health services.
  • The Japanese government provides a variety of technical cooperation, grants and concessional loans in the areas of infectious disease control, health systems strengthening and universal health care, mainly through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This support includes capacity strengthening in health service access (physical and financial), quality health services and health workforce. For more information, please contact your local Japanese embassy or JICA office.
Technical cooperation multilateral partners
  • World Health Organization supports countries at all stages of the Global Fund grant cycle including: conducting program reviews; developing technically sound national disease and health sector strategies; ensuring funding applications are evidence-based, comprehensive and prioritized; providing expert and peer review of applications; grant making and implementation. This support can be provided in various ways, including directly by WHO staff or by expert consultants through remote support, in-country missions, training workshops or facilitated peer reviews. Contact your WHO country office to request support.
  • UNAIDS Technical Support Facilities, operating in Asia-Pacific, Eastern and Southern Africa, and West and Central Africa, function as core platforms for providing vital technical support to Global Fund grantees in the regions, which are most heavily affected by the AIDS epidemic. In all other regions, UNAIDS provides technical cooperation through the UNAIDS Regional Support Teams and/or directly from UNAIDS country offices. This support is provided either directly by UNAIDS staff or through a network of quality-assured technical support providers. All requests for technical support should be channeled through the country office.
  • Stop TB Partnership, with its initiatives such as TB REACH and the Global Drug Facility, is a source of technical support and collaboration in areas related to TB response. Support ranges from community systems strengthening and high-level advocacy to improving case detection, finding missing cases and rapid uptake of new TB medicines and regimens. It also provides support for capacity strengthening in establishing systems for forecasting, quantification, supply planning and early warning.
  • RBM Partnership to End Malaria Support Partner Committee coordinates technical support to countries. Provided through consultants and partners, the support aids in funding request completion, including convening orientation meetings and simulated Technical Review Panels for peer review of funding requests, as well as expert review of near-final submissions. Support is tailored to country-specific needs, but may include support for the finalization of gap analyses, epidemiological mapping as well as assisting in completion of Global Fund templates, frameworks and budgets. In some cases, support for in-country consultative processes during the development of funding requests is available. Send requests to .
Community engagement strategic initiative
  • Community Engagement Technical Assistance. The community engagement strategic initiative offers short-term peer-to-peer technical assistance to communities most affected by HIV, TB and malaria, so they can meaningfully engage in Global Fund and related national processes. The Global Fund Board approved this strategic initiative to strengthen the leadership and engagement of communities throughout the Global Fund grant cycle. Send requests to .

For more information about general technical cooperation availability and specific areas of support, please contact your Fund Portfolio Manager. Specific areas include support for countries in transition, addressing sustainability issues, supporting challenging operating environments, strengthening Country Coordinating Mechanisms, strengthening data systems and supply chain.