Performance-based funding ensures that funding decisions are based on a transparent assessment of results against time-bound targets.

As a financing method, performance-based funding promotes accountability and provides incentives for recipients to use funds efficiently to achieve results. Performance-based funding emerged in the 1970s in the tertiary education sector in the United States; it was developed to improve the quality of education by funding results attained rather than funding according to the size of an institution or standard budgeting procedures.

Today, the performance-based funding model is used by a number of development organizations and initiatives (including the GAVI Alliance, the Millennium Challenge Account and the European Commission) as a way to ensure the accountability, efficiency and effectiveness of programs being funded.

Why performance-based funding at the Global Fund?

Performance-based funding lies at the heart of the Global Fund's operating model:

Raise it. The Global Fund continually raises funds to dramatically increase resources to fight three of the world's most devastating diseases.

Invest it. The money received from donors is channeled to program implementers for grants operating in 140 countries around the world.

Prove it. The achievements of grant activities are measured against performance indicators and the results are used for ongoing funding decisions. The proven performance of Global Fund grants is critical to raising additional funding from donors.

Global Fund programs are provided with initial funding based on the quality of their applications. In order to receive subsequent financing, they must demonstrate results against defined performance targets. These targets are proposed by the country (for approval by the Global Fund), thereby ensuring they are appropriate to the national context and local program realities. Performance-based funding at the Global Fund provides a platform for grants to demonstrate that they can convert financing into results, enabling further funds to be committed to the programs achieving results and impact in fighting AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.

The Global Fund's system of performance-based funding was developed to:

Link funding to the achievement of country-owned objectives and targets
Ensure that money is spent on delivering services for people in need
Provide incentives for grantees to focus on programmatic results and timely implementation
Encourage learning to strengthen capacities and improve program implementation
Invest in measurement systems and promote the use of evidence for decision-making
Provide a tool for grant oversight and monitoring within countries and by the Global Fund Secretariat
Free up committed resources from non-performing grants for re-allocation to programs where results can be achieved

Lifted from The Global Fund Website (www.theglobalfund.org)

March 24 is World TB Day

World TB Day, falling on March 24th each year, is designed to build public awareness that tuberculosis today remains an epidemic in much of the world, causing the deaths of several million people each year, mostly in developing countries. It commemorates the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch astounded the scientific community by announcing that he had discovered the cause of tuberculosis, the TB bacillus. At the time of Koch's announcement in Berlin, TB was raging through Europe and the Americas, causing the death of one out of every seven people. Koch's discovery opened the way towards diagnosing and curing TB.

Photo: "Smile with No Worries" by Kai Buhay

THE GLOBAL FUND WELCOMES US$750 MILLION PROMISSORY NOTE FROM THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

Davos, Switzerland - The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria warmly welcomes the announcement by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to strengthen its financial commitment to the Fund through a US$750 million promissory note.

Mr Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation made the announcement today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Announcing the contribution, Gates said: "These are tough economic times, but that is no excuse for cutting aid to the world's poorest. The Global Fund is one of the most effective ways we invest our money every year."

The Gates Foundation has been a strong supporter of the Global Fund since its creation in 2002. It has previously contributed USD 650 million and today’s announcement brings its total investment in the Global Fund to US$1.4 billion.