4. INTERVIEW<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

21 Jul 2021<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Author:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Arlette Campbell White<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Aidspan\u2019s founding father, Bernard Rivers, thinks of Aidspan as \u201ca loving watchdog\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Bernard Rivers is a retired economist with dual UK-US nationality. He was raised in the UK, where he earned a degree in mathematics and economics from Cambridge University. Since 1978 he has been based in the USA, except for a ten-year stint in Kenya. Prior to founding Aidspan, Bernard\u2019s career was diverse but always grounded in data analysis and political and social activism.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In this interview, Bernard chatted with me about what he laughingly calls his \u201cchequered career\u201d, and about how it was that he created Aidspan and the\u00a0Global Fund Observer<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Bernard, early on in your career you moved into investigative journalism in the UK. What kind of things were you investigating?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I graduated from university in 1969 in the midst of the rising civil rights movements, protests against the Vietnam war, and a general counterculture attitude among the young. This backdrop has always had an influence on my choices in life.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Over the next four years, during the day I was an economic planner for British Airways and during the night I was an activist, primarily regarding the 1971 civil war in the country that became Bangladesh.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I did well at British Airways, but for me, this was not a lifelong vocation. So in 1973, I resigned to become a freelance investigative journalist. I was especially interested in Western corporate activity in Africa \u2013 my gap year had been spent in Nigeria.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At that time, the United Nations policy of trade sanctions against Rhodesia\u2019s illegal white government was in full force; yet, although Rhodesia was a landlocked country, it was still managing to obtain all the oil it needed \u2013 nobody knew how. After four years of research, a colleague and I were finally able to prove, through\u00a0in a series of articles in the London\u00a0Sunday Times,<\/em>\u00a0that Shell, British Petroleum, and two other oil companies were secretly providing the oil through a chain of intermediaries. As a result of our expos\u00e9, we and a\u00a0Sunday Times<\/em>\u00a0staffer were jointly named\u00a0Journalist of the Year<\/em>\u00a0in the British Press Awards.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I then went on to research how oil reached\u00a0apartheid<\/em>\u00a0South Africa, combining my activism with my economic and analytical skills.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How did you move from this to software development? It seems quite a stretch \u2015 !<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I had become tired of being an impoverished activist (not least because I was now married with children), and I had become excited about computers, which I had learned to program while analyzing all my oil data.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At that time, small companies and non-profit organizations had just started to use computers. I found a niche in the market: I realized that big foundations supporting non-profit organizations needed help with tracking their data regarding proposals received and grants approved. So I wrote a program called\u00a0The Grants Manager<\/em>\u00a0and set up Riverside Software, Inc. in New York, which I ran from 1990 to 1996. In the end, the company had 15 staff and its software was used by over 650 US and UK foundations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I categorize this period of my life as being like jumping into a swimming pool and not knowing how to swim (i.e., how to run a company). So I \u201ctaught myself to swim\u201d. But then I found there were sharks in the water (i.e., competitors). Life went from being fun to being not so much fun. So in 1996, I sold Riverside Software to Blackbaud, the leading provider of fundraising software to NGOs. I then worked for Blackbaud as a senior executive. But it wasn\u2019t a good fit for me. I had forgotten what it was like to have a boss!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And how did the idea for Aidspan come about?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Well, I had just turned fifty. I contemplated retiring early, but I knew that would make me miserable. So I gave myself two years of self-funded time to find something to do that I liked and that could make a difference.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In particular, I wondered if there was any way in which I could combine my previous experiences in planning, activism, journalism, Africa, grant-making, data, computers and being my own boss \u2013 clearly, a bizarre and crazy objective! My interest in Africa had recently been heightened because AIDS in Africa was becoming so serious. So: could I use my skills in relation to AIDS in Africa?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 2001, a service called Break the Silence (BTS) was set up to enable thousands of people interested in AIDS in developing countries to share emails with each other via what was then known as a listserv, and I started following the discussion. Activists, together with sympathetic voices in many governments, were saying that the world\u2019s wealthy countries had to come up with billions of dollars to address AIDS, but it was unclear how this could be done.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At this time, Kofi Annan, the then Secretary-General of the UN, promoted the idea of there being one joint organization, rather than multiple bilateral agencies, through which funding could be channelled. Remarkably, he said that this new organization should not be part of the UN, because it should be controlled not just by governments but also by representatives of the NGO and corporate sectors. This concept was actively discussed during the rest of 2001.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Arising from all this, the Global Fund was set up at the start of 2002, and its estimated annual needs were $2 to 3 billion. Through BTS, I met Tim France and Gorik Ooms, activist development professionals based in Thailand and Mozambique. Together, we created what we called the \u2018Equitable Contributions Framework\u2019.<\/strong>\u00a0This took the total amount of money that the Global Fund needed and carved it up according to the economic wealth of the individual countries that we felt could and should \u201cfund the Fund\u201d. We published our paper in April 2002 and circulated it to 20,000 people around the world. (It\u2019s reprinted here .)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At that time, I was still writing on the BTS listserv but I felt there should be a venue to provide more structured articles and feedback regarding Global Fund issues. So during the second half of 2002 I launched Aidspan and the\u00a0Global Fund Observer<\/em>\u00a0(GFO). Within 24 hours of announcing its existence, GFO had 1,000 subscribers and within two weeks there were 2,000.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tell me about those years with Aidspan and post-Aidspan<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

From 2002 to 2012 I ran\u00a0Aidspan<\/a>. It started in New York with me as the only employee, but I moved it to Kenya in 2007. For the first year or so I was able to fund Aidspan with my own money. This meant that instead of saying to potential donors \u2018I have a dream which might work\u2019, I could say \u2018I have a dream and I have proved it can work\u2019. This was a more appealing pitch! And it won Aidspan its first donor, the Open Society Institute, who invited me to submit a proposal for funding. OSI gave us $50,000 to start with. This paved the way for others. During Aidspan\u2019s first 10 years I raised nearly $10 million and my \u2018calling card\u2019 was the GFO as proof of relevance.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One key reason why the GFO was needed, at least during those early years, was that the Global Fund was never very good at explaining itself. The Fund used common but evasive terms like \u201cresource mobilization\u201d (I prefer the more honest \u201cgetting money\u201d), its grant-applications forms practically needed a PhD to be understood, and it was rarely candid about its mistakes. As a result, many people who needed to deal with the Global Fund found the GFO, with its friendly, candid and straightforward articles, to be a lifeline.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Another thing that people liked about GFO is that it had a very strict separation between fact and opinion. The great majority of GFO articles were labeled \u201cNews\u201d, and these never expressed any opinion at all. But from time to time we also ran an article labeled \u201cCommentary\u201d; these were always signed and were often quite opinionated.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After handing over the leadership of Aidspan to my successor in September 2012, I served until 2014 as a visiting fellow at Cambridge University and as a \u2018Senior Fellow\u2019 of Aidspan, which gave me the opportunity to publish a few more pieces about the Global Fund. Since then, my wife and I have had a delightful time doing all those things that retired grandparents so often do.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhile I ran Aidspan, Aidspan\u2019s loyalties were not to the Global Fund as an organization, they were to the\u00a0principles<\/u>\u00a0upon with the Fund was founded and to the\u00a0people<\/u>\u00a0whom the Fund served. I had a deep desire for the Fund to succeed. But if I ever felt that the Fund as an organization was clearly not living up to those principles or not doing its best for those people, I felt it was both appropriate and necessary for GFO to say so. For this reason, even though I often checked with the Fund regarding the factual accuracy of what GFO was planning to report, I never sought the Fund\u2019s approval for any forthcoming article. This point was made clear at the end of every issue of GFO, which said, and still says, \u201cThe Board and staff of the Global Fund have no influence on, and bear no responsibility for, the content of GFO or of any other Aidspan publication<\/em>\u201d. Bernard Rivers, former Aidspan Executive Director, on his vision regarding the independence of Aidspan and the Global Fund Observer<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Note from Arlette:<\/strong> As readers know,\u00a0Aidspan serves as an independent watchdog of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria<\/a>. It seeks to monitor, explain and critique the Global Fund, with the objective of increasing the effectiveness of the Fund and of the implementers of its grants. Nowadays, Aidspan is best known for its GFO online newsletter, which has nearly 15,000 subscribers, mostly development professionals, stakeholders, beneficiaries of Global Fund grants, Global Fund staff and implementers, and thematic and technical donors and partners. Aidspan covers its million-dollar-plus annual budget through grants from foundations and governments. It does not accept Global Fund money, perform paid consulting work, or charge for any of its products.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Bernard\u2019s email is bernard.rivers@gmail.com and his biography can be found at\u00a0http:\/\/bernardrivers.com\/about\/<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Tags:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Aidspan Board members<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Bernard Rivers<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Global Fund Observer<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n International AIDS Conference<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n"},{"title":"International aids conference","start":"2022-09-30 15:02:46","description":"\r\n Aidspan<\/h1>\r\n\r\n\r\n4. INTERVIEW\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n21 Jul 2021\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAuthor:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nArlette Campbell White\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAidspan\u2019s founding father, Bernard Rivers, thinks of Aidspan as \u201ca loving watchdog\u201d\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIntroduction<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nBernard Rivers is a retired economist with dual UK-US nationality. He was raised in the UK, where he earned a degree in mathematics and economics from Cambridge University. Since 1978 he has been based in the USA, except for a ten-year stint in Kenya. Prior to founding Aidspan, Bernard\u2019s career was diverse but always grounded in data analysis and political and social activism.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIn this interview, Bernard chatted with me about what he laughingly calls his \u201cchequered career\u201d, and about how it was that he created Aidspan and the\u00a0Global Fund Observer<\/em>.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nBernard, early on in your career you moved into investigative journalism in the UK. What kind of things were you investigating?<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI graduated from university in 1969 in the midst of the rising civil rights movements, protests against the Vietnam war, and a general counterculture attitude among the young. This backdrop has always had an influence on my choices in life.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOver the next four years, during the day I was an economic planner for British Airways and during the night I was an activist, primarily regarding the 1971 civil war in the country that became Bangladesh.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI did well at British Airways, but for me, this was not a lifelong vocation. So in 1973, I resigned to become a freelance investigative journalist. I was especially interested in Western corporate activity in Africa \u2013 my gap year had been spent in Nigeria.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAt that time, the United Nations policy of trade sanctions against Rhodesia\u2019s illegal white government was in full force; yet, although Rhodesia was a landlocked country, it was still managing to obtain all the oil it needed \u2013 nobody knew how. After four years of research, a colleague and I were finally able to prove, through\u00a0in a series of articles in the London\u00a0Sunday Times,<\/em>\u00a0that Shell, British Petroleum, and two other oil companies were secretly providing the oil through a chain of intermediaries. As a result of our expos\u00e9, we and a\u00a0Sunday Times<\/em>\u00a0staffer were jointly named\u00a0Journalist of the Year<\/em>\u00a0in the British Press Awards.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI then went on to research how oil reached\u00a0apartheid<\/em>\u00a0South Africa, combining my activism with my economic and analytical skills.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nHow did you move from this to software development? It seems quite a stretch \u2015 !<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI had become tired of being an impoverished activist (not least because I was now married with children), and I had become excited about computers, which I had learned to program while analyzing all my oil data.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAt that time, small companies and non-profit organizations had just started to use computers. I found a niche in the market: I realized that big foundations supporting non-profit organizations needed help with tracking their data regarding proposals received and grants approved. So I wrote a program called\u00a0The Grants Manager<\/em>\u00a0and set up Riverside Software, Inc. in New York, which I ran from 1990 to 1996. In the end, the company had 15 staff and its software was used by over 650 US and UK foundations.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nI categorize this period of my life as being like jumping into a swimming pool and not knowing how to swim (i.e., how to run a company). So I \u201ctaught myself to swim\u201d. But then I found there were sharks in the water (i.e., competitors). Life went from being fun to being not so much fun. So in 1996, I sold Riverside Software to Blackbaud, the leading provider of fundraising software to NGOs. I then worked for Blackbaud as a senior executive. But it wasn\u2019t a good fit for me. I had forgotten what it was like to have a boss!\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd how did the idea for Aidspan come about?<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWell, I had just turned fifty. I contemplated retiring early, but I knew that would make me miserable. So I gave myself two years of self-funded time to find something to do that I liked and that could make a difference.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIn particular, I wondered if there was any way in which I could combine my previous experiences in planning, activism, journalism, Africa, grant-making, data, computers and being my own boss \u2013 clearly, a bizarre and crazy objective! My interest in Africa had recently been heightened because AIDS in Africa was becoming so serious. So: could I use my skills in relation to AIDS in Africa?\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIn 2001, a service called Break the Silence (BTS) was set up to enable thousands of people interested in AIDS in developing countries to share emails with each other via what was then known as a listserv, and I started following the discussion. Activists, together with sympathetic voices in many governments, were saying that the world\u2019s wealthy countries had to come up with billions of dollars to address AIDS, but it was unclear how this could be done.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAt this time, Kofi Annan, the then Secretary-General of the UN, promoted the idea of there being one joint organization, rather than multiple bilateral agencies, through which funding could be channelled. Remarkably, he said that this new organization should not be part of the UN, because it should be controlled not just by governments but also by representatives of the NGO and corporate sectors. This concept was actively discussed during the rest of 2001.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nArising from all this, the Global Fund was set up at the start of 2002, and its estimated annual needs were $2 to 3 billion. Through BTS, I met Tim France and Gorik Ooms, activist development professionals based in Thailand and Mozambique. Together, we created what we called the \u2018Equitable Contributions Framework\u2019.<\/strong>\u00a0This took the total amount of money that the Global Fund needed and carved it up according to the economic wealth of the individual countries that we felt could and should \u201cfund the Fund\u201d. We published our paper in April 2002 and circulated it to 20,000 people around the world. (It\u2019s reprinted here .)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAt that time, I was still writing on the BTS listserv but I felt there should be a venue to provide more structured articles and feedback regarding Global Fund issues. So during the second half of 2002 I launched Aidspan and the\u00a0Global Fund Observer<\/em>\u00a0(GFO). Within 24 hours of announcing its existence, GFO had 1,000 subscribers and within two weeks there were 2,000.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTell me about those years with Aidspan and post-Aidspan<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nFrom 2002 to 2012 I ran\u00a0Aidspan<\/a>. It started in New York with me as the only employee, but I moved it to Kenya in 2007. For the first year or so I was able to fund Aidspan with my own money. This meant that instead of saying to potential donors \u2018I have a dream which might work\u2019, I could say \u2018I have a dream and I have proved it can work\u2019. This was a more appealing pitch! And it won Aidspan its first donor, the Open Society Institute, who invited me to submit a proposal for funding. OSI gave us $50,000 to start with. This paved the way for others. During Aidspan\u2019s first 10 years I raised nearly $10 million and my \u2018calling card\u2019 was the GFO as proof of relevance.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOne key reason why the GFO was needed, at least during those early years, was that the Global Fund was never very good at explaining itself. The Fund used common but evasive terms like \u201cresource mobilization\u201d (I prefer the more honest \u201cgetting money\u201d), its grant-applications forms practically needed a PhD to be understood, and it was rarely candid about its mistakes. As a result, many people who needed to deal with the Global Fund found the GFO, with its friendly, candid and straightforward articles, to be a lifeline.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAnother thing that people liked about GFO is that it had a very strict separation between fact and opinion. The great majority of GFO articles were labeled \u201cNews\u201d, and these never expressed any opinion at all. But from time to time we also ran an article labeled \u201cCommentary\u201d; these were always signed and were often quite opinionated.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAfter handing over the leadership of Aidspan to my successor in September 2012, I served until 2014 as a visiting fellow at Cambridge University and as a \u2018Senior Fellow\u2019 of Aidspan, which gave me the opportunity to publish a few more pieces about the Global Fund. Since then, my wife and I have had a delightful time doing all those things that retired grandparents so often do.\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cWhile I ran Aidspan, Aidspan\u2019s loyalties were not to the Global Fund as an organization, they were to the\u00a0principles<\/u>\u00a0upon with the Fund was founded and to the\u00a0people<\/u>\u00a0whom the Fund served. I had a deep desire for the Fund to succeed. But if I ever felt that the Fund as an organization was clearly not living up to those principles or not doing its best for those people, I felt it was both appropriate and necessary for GFO to say so. For this reason, even though I often checked with the Fund regarding the factual accuracy of what GFO was planning to report, I never sought the Fund\u2019s approval for any forthcoming article. This point was made clear at the end of every issue of GFO, which said, and still says, \u201cThe Board and staff of the Global Fund have no influence on, and bear no responsibility for, the content of GFO or of any other Aidspan publication<\/em>\u201d.\r\nBernard Rivers, former Aidspan Executive Director, on his vision regarding the independence of Aidspan and the Global Fund Observer<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\nNote from Arlette:<\/strong>\r\nAs readers know,\u00a0Aidspan serves as an independent watchdog of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria<\/a>. It seeks to monitor, explain and critique the Global Fund, with the objective of increasing the effectiveness of the Fund and of the implementers of its grants. Nowadays, Aidspan is best known for its GFO online newsletter, which has nearly 15,000 subscribers, mostly development professionals, stakeholders, beneficiaries of Global Fund grants, Global Fund staff and implementers, and thematic and technical donors and partners. Aidspan covers its million-dollar-plus annual budget through grants from foundations and governments. It does not accept Global Fund money, perform paid consulting work, or charge for any of its products.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nBernard\u2019s email is bernard.rivers@gmail.com and his biography can be found at\u00a0http:\/\/bernardrivers.com\/about\/<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n <\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\nTags:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAidspan Board members<\/a>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nBernard Rivers<\/a>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nGlobal Fund Observer<\/a>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nInternational AIDS Conference<\/a>\r\n\r\n"},{"title":"Test events wireframes","start":"2022-11-18 10:04:36","description":"\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Test events wireframes<\/p>\r\n  <\/p>\r\n test<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n"},{"title":"Test Events","start":"2023-01-20 10:37:01","description":"\n\r\n\r\n\rTest\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r"},{"title":"","start":"2023-01-20 11:52:45","description":"\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"},{"title":"Test calendar","start":"2023-01-20 11:55:45","description":"\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"},{"title":"Global Fund-Related Events at the Toronto International AIDS Conference","start":"2023-01-20 12:41:03","description":" \r\n \r\n R\u00c9SUM\u00c9<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\nDetails are provided on all events at next week's International AIDS Conference in Toronto that deal with the Global Fund. The first of these events is an informal get-together for readers of GFO<\/em> and of the Aidspan Guides.<\/em>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe Toronto International AIDS Conference will take place from this coming Sunday (August 13) to Friday August 18. The events that specifically deal with the Global Fund are listed below, in date order. All sessions will be in English. The only one that will offer translation (into French and Spanish) is the session on 16 August on The Global AIDS Architecture.\r\n\r\nTwo of the events will be organized by Aidspan, publisher of GFO. The first is item (A) - an informal get-together on Sunday to which all readers of GFO<\/em> and of the Aidspan Guides<\/em> are warmly invited, both to meet each other and to provide feedback. The second is item (F), on Tuesday, a skills-building session on how to participate in the development of proposals to the Global Fund\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nA: Sunday 13 August, 11:00 to 13:00 - Reception<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSession title: Informal get-together for readers of Global Fund Observer (GFO)<\/em> and of the Aidspan Guides.<\/em><\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> International Living and Learning Centre (London and Paris rooms), 240 Jarvis Street, Toronto. (From the Metro Toronto Convention Center, go about six blocks East on Front Street to Jarvis St., then six blocks North on Jarvis St. Or take the Yonge St. subway line to the Dundas stop, then walk two blocks East on Dundas St. E. to Jarvis St., then turn North on Jarvis St. The meeting location, at 240 Jarvis St., is between Dundas St. E. and Gerrard St. E.)\r\n\r\nOrganizer:<\/strong> Aidspan (publisher of GFO<\/em>)\r\n\r\nSession description: <\/strong> This informal get-together is intended to enable readers of GFO <\/em>and of the various Aidspan Guides <\/em>to provide feedback to Aidspan (specifically, to Bernard Rivers, editor of GFO, and David Garmaise, author of most of the Aidspan Guides<\/em>). All readers of GFO <\/em>and of the Aidspan Guides <\/em>are warmly invited (no RSVP needed). Light refreshments will be provided.\r\n\r\nGFO now has a circulation of over 10,000, but Aidspan receives very little feedback from readers. Aidspan would therefore like to hear comments on the strengths and weaknesses of GFO, and suggestions regarding topics for future issues.\r\n\r\nFeedback is also sought on the most recent Aidspan Guides<\/em> (The Aidspan Guide to Round 6 Proposals to the Global Fund<\/em> and The Aidspan Guide to Developing Global Fund Proposals To Benefit Children Affected by HIV\/AIDS)<\/em>, and on earlier Guides<\/em> on (a) building effective CCMs, (b) implementing Global Fund grants, and (c) obtaining technical assistance. Aidspan would like to know whether readers found the Guides<\/em> helpful, how they could be improved, what topics should be covered in future Guides, and other services and products that Aidspan could usefully provide.\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nB: Sunday 13 August, 14:45 to 16:45 - Satellite session<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSession title:<\/strong> Supporting civil society engagement in Global Fund implementation: sharing experiences and perspectives<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> Session Room 9\r\n\r\nOrganizer: <\/strong>International HIV\/AIDS Alliance, in collaboration with the Global Fund\r\n\r\nSession description: <\/strong>This session will examine lessons from civil society involvement in managing Global Fund grants and sub-grants. The session will also consider the perspectives of the Global Fund, the United Nations Development Programme and international civil society advocates on strengthening the meaningful contribution of civil society to Universal Access to HIV\/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care and support.\r\n\r\nCo-Chairs will be Fareed Abdullah (Director of Technical Support, International HIV\/AIDS Alliance) and Jacob Gayle (Member of the Private Foundations Delegation to the Global Fund Board). Speakers will include Alvaro Bermejo (Executive Director, International HIV\/AIDS Alliance), Andriy Klepikov (Executive Director, International HIV\/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine), Magatte Mbodj (Executive Director, Alliance Nationale Contre le SIDA, Senegal), Promboon Panitchpakdi (Executive Director, Raks Thai Foundation, Thailand), Duncan Earle (Team Leader, Operational Partnerships and Country Support, Global Fund), Elhadj As Sy (Director, HIV\/AIDS Group, UNDP), Luiz Loures (Associate Director, Global Initiatives, UNAIDS), Richard Burzynski (Director, International Council of AIDS Service Organisations), and Christoph Benn (Director of External Relations, Global Fund)\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nC: Sunday 13 August, 17:00 to 18:30 - Satellite session. <\/strong>(Note: This event occurs at the same time as the next event in this list.)\r\n\r\nSession title: From the workplace to the community - Co-investment to access prevention, treatment and care in public-private partnership<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> Skills Building Room 4\r\n\r\nOrganizer: <\/strong>ILO and GTZ, supported by Global Fund and Global Business Coalition\r\n\r\nSession description: <\/strong>Over the past few years, many companies have started to provide HIV\/AIDS prevention, treatment and support services to their workers. Some companies have found the need to extend these services so that they are also provided to family dependents and community members. This extension has been conducted, in part, through partnerships with other stakeholders, both within and outside the private sector. This coordinated joint investment of public and private resources has become known in recent years as \"co-investment\".\r\n\r\nThis session will describe practical experiences of successful co-investment projects such as those involving Lafarge in Nigeria and Unilever in Kenya. The objective is to provide a good understanding of the meaning of co-investment, and to introduce newly developed guidelines on co-investment.\r\n\r\nTopics to be discussed include \"Opportunities for co-investment partnerships in the different phases of the Global Fund grant process\" and \"Examples of successful co-investment partnerships involving the Global Fund in Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi\".\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nD: Sunday 13 August, 17:00 to 18:30 - Satellite session. <\/strong>(Note: This event occurs at the same time as the previous event in this list.)\r\n\r\nSession title:<\/strong> The Role of Innovative Financing in Achieving Universal Access<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> Session Room 12\r\n\r\nOrganizers: <\/strong>Global Fund and Friends of the Global Fund Europe\r\n\r\nSession description: <\/strong>Given the enormous financing needs for the global fight against HIV\/AIDS, it is increasingly accepted that national health budgets and overseas development assistance must be supplemented with funding obtained through innovative financing mechanisms.\r\n\r\nThis session will bring together government and NGO experts on new sources of finance. These speakers will provide the latest information on mechanisms such as the international solidarity levy on airline tickets, and the International Finance Facility pilot project to raise funds for the Vaccine Fund. A panel discussion will include representative from countries benefiting from and implementing innovative financing initiatives, and will look at the use of these additional resources for financing treatment through the International Drug Purchase Facility (IDPF).\r\n\r\nSpeakers will include Richard Feachem (Executive Director, Global Fund), Michel Kazatchkine (France's Ambassador on HIV\/AIDS), Carole Presern (UK Foreign Office, and Global Fund board member), Sylvie Chantereau (Managing Director, Friends of the Global Fund Europe), Robert Filipp (Head of Innovative Financing, Global Fund), Peter van Rooijen (Global Fund board member representing Developed Country NGOs), and Christoph Benn (Director of External Relations, Global Fund).\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nE: Monday 14 August, 18:00 to 20:00 - Satellite session<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSession title:<\/strong> Response to Emerging Epidemics: Global Fund Experience<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> Session Room 11\r\n\r\nOrganizer: <\/strong>Global Fund\r\n\r\nSession description:<\/strong> This session will focus on the emerging AIDS epidemics in three regions that are too often neglected in AIDS debates: the Middle-East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and South Asia. Speakers from India, Russia and Saudi Arabia will speak briefly about the emerging epidemics in their regions and the urgent need for a comprehensive response that includes strategic prevention programs. This will be followed by a panel discussion by representatives from Global Fund-financed programs in India, Jordan and Russia who will share their first-hand experiences of delivering services for the prevention and treatment of HIV. Innovative HIV prevention ads and short videos showing country programs will also be screened during the session.\r\n\r\nPanellists will include Richard Feachem (Executive Director, Global Fund), Peter Piot (Executive Director, UNAIDS), Prince Walid bin-Talal (Saudi Arabia, to be confirmed), Vladimir Pozner (Journalist, Russia), Nafisa Ali (Chair, Action India), Lieve Fransen<\/a> (Vice-Chair, Global Fund), Sujatha Rao (Director General, National Aids Control Organisation, India), Ali As' Ad (Secretary General, Ministry of Health, Jordan), Alexey Bobrik (Deputy Director, Open Health Institute, Russia), Hind Khatib Othman (Interim Deputy Chief of Operations, Global Fund), Nafis Sadik (UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV\/AIDS in Asia), and Lars Kallings (UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV\/AIDS in Eastern Europe).\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nF: Tuesday 15 August, 14:15 to 17:45 - Skills-building workshop<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSession title:<\/strong> How to Participate in the Development of Proposals to the Global Fund<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> Skills Building Room 10\r\n\r\nOrganizer: <\/strong>Aidspan\r\n\r\nSession description:<\/strong> This workshop will discuss the process for developing proposals to the Global Fund, with particular emphasis on how NGOs can be involved in the preparation of the proposals. Because the vast majority of Global Fund proposals are submitted by CCMs, the workshop will focus primarily on CCM proposals.\r\n\r\nThe workshop will describe the basic philosophy and principles of the Global Fund, the types of initiatives the Global Fund will support, and who can submit proposals. The workshop will discuss the Global Fund's applications process, and the proposal development process that CCMs should follow. About half of the workshop will consist of guidance for both CCMs and NGOs concerning how NGOs can be involved in the CCM's proposal development process. Participants will be asked to share their experiences regarding the Global Fund's application process.\r\n\r\nOne of the most common weaknesses of proposals to the Global Fund is that applicants only start thinking about what the proposal should focus on after the Fund has issued its formal Call for Proposals. Although the deadline for submitting Round 6 proposals has only just passed, CCMs and NGOs are encouraged to start thinking now<\/u> about their focus for proposals to be submitted in future rounds.\r\n\r\nThe workshop will be led by David Garmaise (author of The Aidspan Guide to Round 6 Applications to the Global Fund<\/em>) and Bernard Rivers (editor of Aidspan's Global Fund Observer).<\/em>\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nG: Wednesday 16 August, 10:45 to 12:15 - Skills-building workshop<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSession title:<\/strong> Managing Implementation Challenges in Global Fund Grants<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> Skills Building Room 5\r\n\r\nOrganizer: <\/strong>Global Fund\r\n\r\nSession description: <\/strong>Global Fund grant recipients often run into similar challenges when implementing programs. This interactive workshop presents participants with the five most common implementation challenges that grant recipients face, looks at how to identify problems early on, and talks about how to manage them - and even how to avoid them from the start.\r\n\r\nThe workshop, facilitated by the Fund's Christoph Benn (Director of External Relations), will include information on the ways in which the Global Fund helps grant recipients to deal with implementation problems with the support of its technical partners. Global Fund Operations staff, representatives of technical partners and grant recipients that have successfully dealt with implementation problems will be in attendance to answer questions.\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nH: Wednesday 16 August, 16:15 to 17:45 - Panel discussion. <\/strong>(Note: This event occurs at the same time as the next event in this list.)\r\n\r\nSession title:<\/strong> Global Fund: Current Developments and Resource Mobilization<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> Global Village - SH 2\r\n\r\nOrganizer: <\/strong>NGO members of Global Fund board delegations\r\n\r\nSession description:<\/strong> This panel discussion will have two main themes. First, it will review the outcomes of the Fund's recent Partnership Forum in Durban, focussing on ways in which civil society can be more involved in Global Fund processes. Second, it will review the Fund's current resource mobilization situation, focussing on developments at the recent Replenishment meeting and on whether or not there is likely to be sufficient funding for Round 6.\r\n\r\nSpeakers will include Mandeep Dhaliwal (lead facilitator of the recent Partnership Forum), Christoph Benn (Global Fund Director of External Relations), Liz Mataka (Global Fund board member representing developing country NGOs), Asia Russell (Global Fund alternate board member representing developed country NGOs), Shaun Mellors (International HIV\/AIDS Alliance), Bernard Rivers (editor, Global Fund Observer<\/em>), and Peter van Rooijen (Global Fund board member representing developed country NGOs).\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nI: Wednesday 16 August, 16:15 to 17:45 - Symposium. <\/strong>(Note: This event occurs at the same time as the previous event in this list.)\r\n\r\nSession title:<\/strong> The Global AIDS Architecture: Where Do We Go From Here? The Impact of Global Policies and Initiatives on Country and Local Responses to HIV\/AIDS<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> Session Room 2\r\n\r\nSession description:<\/strong> This session will examine the extent to which affected countries are more able to respond to the HIV\/AIDS pandemic as a result of global policies and initiatives such as the Global Fund, the \"Three Ones\" and the Global Task Team, \"3 by 5\", Universal Access, PEPFAR, and the World Bank MAP. It will examine the current state of the Global AIDS architecture and will review what more needs to be done to deliver the needed response.\r\n\r\nThis session will be a roundtable in which leaders from health ministries, national AIDS programs, global initiatives, multilateral and donor agencies and civil society will discuss the impact (both positive and negative) that these policies and initiatives have had on country-led responses.\r\n\r\nParticipants will include Richard Burzynski (International Council of AIDS Services Organizations, ICASO), Olive Edwards (PLWHA, Jamaica), Elhadj As Sy (UNDP), Charity Ngilu (Minister of Health, Kenya, to be confirmed), Michel Sidibe (UNAIDS), Richard Feachem (Global Fund), Robin Gorna (DFID, UK), Mark Dybul (PEPFAR), Mari\u00e2ngela Batista Galv\u00e3o Sim\u00e3o (Brazil National AIDS Commission), and Sisonke Msimang (civil society, South Africa).\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nJ: Wednesday 16 August, 18:00 to 20:00 - Satellite session<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSession title:<\/strong> Scaling Up Towards Universal Access - The Role of the Global Fund<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue:<\/strong> Session Room 11\r\n\r\nOrganizer: Global Fund<\/strong>\r\nSession description: <\/strong>This session will be divided between speakers sharing their first-hand experiences of treatment scale-up in Global Fund-financed countries (including Ethiopia, Malawi, Haiti, Russia and Thailand), and a panel discussion between these speakers and representatives from UNAIDS and the Global Fund. The focus of this session is to examine progress towards universal access (and obstacles encountered) in countries with a range of prevalence rates, with the aim of showing that universal access is in many cases absolutely possible if we work together.\r\n\r\nThe session will conclude with a short reception to allow speakers and conference attendees to continue the discussion in an informal manner.\r\n\r\nSpeakers will include Richard Feachem (Executive Director, Global Fund), Stephen Lewis (UN Special Envoy on HIV and AIDS in Africa), Daniel Low-Beer (Senior Manager, Performance, Evaluation and Policy, Global Fund), Paul Farmer (Partners in Health, speaking on Haiti and Rwanda, to be confirmed), Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Minister of Health, Ethiopia), Dr. Erik Schouten (HIV\/AIDS Coordinator, Malawi Ministry of Health), Alexei Bobrik (Deputy Director, Open Health Institute, Russia), Dr.Taweesap Siraprapasiri (Ministry of Public Health, Thailand), Bernhard Schwartl\u00e4nder (Director of Performance, Evaluation and Policy, Global Fund), Kevin de Cock (WHO), and Christoph Benn (Director of External Relations, Global Fund).\r\n\r\n++++++\r\n\r\nK: Thursday August 17, 10:00 to 12:00 - Dialogue<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSession title: Overcoming Challenges and Reflecting on Best Practices: Strengthening NGOs' Involvement with the Global Fund at the Country Level<\/strong>\r\n\r\nVenue: <\/strong>Radisson Admiral Hotel, 249 Queen's Quay West (Rain Dance Meeting Room)\r\n\r\nOrganizer: Open Society Institute (OSI), jointly with three delegations to the Global Fund board (Developing Country NGO, Communities, and Developed Country NGO), and the Program on International Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health.<\/strong>\r\n\r\nSession description:<\/strong> The session will provide space for NGOs, Global Fund representatives, and other actors in the process to reflect on NGOs' experiences in engaging in Global Fund processes at the country level, and to discuss factors that inhibit or enable civil society participation in CCMs and access to funds. (As space is limited, kindly RSVP to Lila Elman at lelman@sorosny.org by Wednesday, August 16th.)\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>"},{"title":"Second Roundtable Meeting of the 3rd Phase Capacity Strengthening Project of the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) and a Resource Mobilization Sensitization Workshop for SAIs","start":"2023-08-23 08:05:11","description":" \r\n\r\n<\/strong>\r\n\r\nDate: September 4th to 7th, 2023<\/strong>\r\n\r\nLocation: Kigali, KIGALI SERENA HOTEL<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWe are delighted to invite you to the International Roundtable on Accountability in Donor-Funded Health Programs, scheduled to take place from September 5th to 7th, 2023. This prestigious event is organized in partnership with SAI Rwanda, Aidspan, BACKUP Health, and esteemed representatives from the Global Fund and Gavi. The primary objective of this roundtable is to foster a comprehensive dialogue on the critical topic of accountability in donor-funded health programs.\r\n\r\nThe agenda follows:\r\n\r\nDay 1 - September 5th, 2023:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n- 08:30 - 09:00 - Registration\r\n- 09:00 - 09:15 - Welcome address and introduction of participants and organizations by SAI Rwanda\r\n- 09:15 - 09:45 - Opening Remarks by Aidspan & BACKUP Health and AG of host country official opening speech\r\n- 09:45 - 10:00 - Overview of workshop objectives and expected outcomes by Aidspan\r\n- 10:00 - 10:30 - Coffee Break\r\n- 10:30 - 10:45 - Keynote Address by Global Fund Executive Director: Importance of Accountability in Donor-Funded Health Programs\r\n- 10:45 - 11:00 - Keynote Address by Gavi Interim Executive Director: Implementation of National Accountability Systems for Donor Funding\r\n- 11:00 - 11:45 - Presentation of SAI Capacity Development Project performance and Q&A\r\nPanel Discussion & Q&A: \"The SAI Capacity Development Project: Review of the Third Phase\"\r\n- AFROSAI-E\r\n- CREFIAF\r\n- Gavi\r\n- Global Fund\r\n- 11:45 - 13:00 - Lunch Break\r\n- 14:00 - 14:30 - AFROSAI-E Presentation: \"The Role of National Risk Assurance Providers in Health Program Management\"\r\n- 14:30 - 15:30 - Countries' interactive plenary presentation on challenges and potential solutions for implementing effective systems National Accountability Systems for Donor Funding (SAIs \u2013 DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe)\r\n- 15:30 - 16:00 - Coffee Break\r\n\r\nDay 2 - September 6th, 2023:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n- 9:00 - 9:15 - Aidspan Presentation: Community Engagement\/auditing strategies for Accountability\r\n- 9:15 - 9:45 - CREFIAF: Promoting Stakeholder Engagement and Participation and Opportunities for Collaborations.\r\n- 09:45 - 10:15 - SAI Rwanda: Experiences with Finance and Programmatic auditing donor-funded health programs\r\n- 10:15 - 10:45 - Coffee Break\r\n- 10:45 \u2013 11:30 - Interactive plenary session - Lessons Learned and Best Practices in SAI Auditing of Global Fund and Gavi-supported Health Programs (SAIs \u2013 DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe)\r\n- 11:30 - 11:45 - Presentation: Gavi and Global Fund in-country Risk assurance mechanism\/providers engagement and capacity-development \u2013 experiences and plans\r\n- 11:45 - 12:45 - Panel Discussion: \"Sustainable Capacity Development & Long-term Accountability in Health Programs\"\r\n- 12:45 - 13:00 - Aidspan introduction to afternoon experience sharing session.\r\n- 13:00 - 14:00 - Lunch Break\r\n- 14:00 - 15:30 - Experience Sharing Session: \"Lessons from the SAI Capacity Development Project: Successes, Challenges, and Best Practices\"\r\n- 15:30 - 16:00 - Coffee Break\r\n\r\nDay 3 - September 7th, 2023:<\/strong>\r\n\r\n- 9:00 - 9:40 - Roundtable Discussion: Domestic Resource Mobilisation for Sustainable Health Financing: Roles of Assurance Providers and Public Accounting Committees (Sustainability, Domestic Financing, and Co-financing in Health Programs, including how to assure the counterpart funding\/co-financing).\r\n- 09:40 - 10:00 - Interactive Session: \"Promoting SAI Engagement in Health Program Auditing in Sub-Saharan Africa\"\r\n- 10:00 - 10:30 - Coffee Break\r\n- 10:30 - 12:30 - Interactive Session: \"Promoting SAI Engagement in Health Program Auditing in Sub-Saharan Africa\" collaboration with other assurances provides\/mechanisms\r\n- 12:30 - 13:00 - The Future of Donor-Funded Health Programs: Transparency, Accountability, and Alignment to Country Systems\r\n- 13:00 - 14:00 - Lunch Break\r\n- 14:00 - 15:00 - Final Plenary Session: \"Moving Forward: Strategies, Collaboration, and Commitments\"\r\n- 15:00 - 15:30 - Closing Remarks & Networking Session\r\n- 15:30 - 16:00 - Coffee Break"}], selectable: true, selectHelper: true, eventClick: function(event) { alert('Title: ' + event.title + '\nDescription: ' + event.description); }, }); }); --> Aidspan Name* Email* Categories* Observateur du FondsMondial Global Fund Observer Please solve this to proceed* Subscribe Aidspan Nom* E-mail* Catégories* Global Fund Observer Observateur du Fonds Mondial Close this module Newsletter SubcriptionsNewsletter Subcriptions Subscribe to our  newsletter below and never miss the latest updates. EmailEnter your email address Subscribe Close this module Newsletter Signup Subscribe to our weekly newsletter below. EmailEnter your email address Subscribe Original text Rate this translation Your feedback will be used to help improve Google Translate