MALARIA: Malaria Grant to Gabon Terminated for Poor Performance

David Garmaise
The Global Fund has terminated a Round 5 malaria grant to Gabon because of poor performance. The decision was taken by the Board in December 2010, using the Board's email-based voting system. The grant was scheduled to run until December 2011. At the time of the decision to terminate, there was about $5 million left from the grant's lifetime budget of about $18 million.
The Global Fund Secretariat had recommended that the grant be terminated on the basis that the PR, the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, had failed to meet the conditions imposed when the grant was approved for Phase 2 in August 2008.
At the time of Phase 2 review, the grant was rated B2, which is considered unsatisfactory. The Phase 2 grant agreement included a condition that if performance was not acceptable by the end of 12 months (later extended to 16 months), the grant would be terminated. After 16 months, the Secretariat conducted a detailed programmatic and management assessment of the grant and concluded that performance was still unsatisfactory. The assessment revealed that the grant was still performing at a B2 level in terms of target achievement. Other problems identified included inadequate financial reporting, low programme management capacity (despite training that had been provided), and poor planning of M&E activities.
The Ministry of Health had taken over the responsibility of managing the grant from the former PR, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), at the start of Phase 2. The Secretariat said that a transition plan was developed by the UNDP, but was not systematically implemented due to tensions between the PRs. However, UNDP provided training to the new Programme Management Unit on Global Fund procedures, supported the development of the Manual of Procedures and provided other assistance during the transition.
Some of the implementing block constituencies on the Board opposed the Secretariat's recommendation to terminate the grant, but there were not enough votes to stop the recommendation from being confirmed.
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