Global Fund Seeks Agency Support To Rebuild Reputation

Arun Sudhaman 15 Dec 2011

GENEVA--The Global Fund is seeking PR agency support to help regain credibility following a difficult year at the world’s largest financier of anti-AIDS, TB and malaria programmes.

The Holmes Report understands that at least four firms, including a mix of networks and UK independents, are pitching for the business in Geneva, following an initial RFP earlier this year. The review follows sustained scrutiny and allegations regarding corruption and misuse of funds at the global health body, amid reports that it is facing a severe funding shortfall,

The three-year contract is believed to be worth around $400K per year.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a public/private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. At the end of 2010, it had approved funding of US$21.7 billion, supporting more than 600 programmes in 150 countries.

Revelations regarding misuse of funds have caused some countries to suspend donations until the completion of an audit in 2011. A Global Fund internal investigation also identified 13 countries, most in Africa, where several million dollars' worth of antimalarial drugs had been stolen and presumably sold on the black market.

In response, the Global Fund is currently formulating a reform programme, which will be rolled out in early 2012, and requires a strong communications element to help the organisation reposition itself as a an efficient channel of resources, amid austere economic conditions.

In addition, the financial crisis has contributed to a funding shortfall at the body. In 2012, a mid-term meeting for donors will be used to highlight this shortfall. Accordingly, making the case for additional resources will form a central part of its communications strategy.

According to the RFP, the organisation is seeking a support for PR, crisis comms and media training. Counsel is being sought in such areas as development finance, poverty reduction, global public health and health systems. “More specifically, the contractor shall provide services that address the ways in which these issues impact the organization's work in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria,” adds the brief.

The Global Fund has worked with Hill & Knowlton in the past. It is understood that the firm is involved in the pitch, along with Edelman, Finsbury and Freud Communications.

The Global Fund did not respond to request for comment as this story went live.

Category : Public Affairs

Tags : Charities and not for profits, Healthcare, Crisis management, Account moves

Comments

Arun Sudhaman- 12/16/2011 11:06:54 AM

Jon thanks for your comment. I'll deal with your various points in turn. 1. I emailed a media contact listed on the Global Fund website two days ago requesting comment on this story, and have not received any response. 2. The tender for this brief, also available on your website, points out that two PR objectives are to reposition the Global Fund around its reform programme, and help it address a funding shortfall. 3. There is no suggestion that any donor has walked away, merely that some (including Germany & Sweden) suspended funding pending an audit, as has been widely reported. 4. I think the Global Fund does enormously important work and I'm very happy to see that it is transparently engaging with criticism.

Jon Liden- 12/16/2011 4:48:40 AM

The Global Fund has in fact never recieved a request to comment on any of the claims above. Had we indeed been asked, we could have clarified that in fact, the request for proposals is a routine renewal of PR services which we do every third year - not some attempt at hiring a PR company to "help regain credibility". There is no need for that. The Global Fund is blazing a trail in terms of transparency and accountability in the field of development assistance,and we therefore announce publicly when we find any insufficient accounting in our grants - regardless of whether it is a photocopied reciept or plain fraud. In grant payments of more than US$14 billion to 150 countries, there is no surpirse that we have found some irregularities. While this has led to a healhty debate about the Global Fund and how it should evolve in its second decade of existence this year, no donor has walked away from the Fund. On the contrary,indications are good that the U.S. Congress will maintain its current funding levels of the Global Fund in its 2012 budget despite its current financial challenges - the loudest vote of confidence anyone could wish for. While the press has had a field day shooting the messenger of a new level of transparency in development aid, the Global Fund has continued its development towards an ever more efficient channel for health funding. Good PR services are part of our strategy to be excellent in all we do. And the very high quality of the companies we have to choose from indicates we will have a great partner in our future work.