He said this during the 2008 annual review meeting held in Maseru on July 29, 2009. He said since 2004, Lesotho performance in implementation of Global Fund grants has been growing from strength to strength.

Dr. Thahane mentioned that collaboration, team work and speed are vital to sustain the organizational growth. The Minister further challenged the Principal Recipient (PR) and Sub Recipients (SRs) to work harder and faster to increase the Lesotho performance to be the best.

He pointed out that the Government has been the sole PR and accountable for GF funds ever since its establishment and he challenged Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN) , who is going to be the second PR in Lesotho for the first time, to maintain the set standard of accountability and good performance in order to preserve the country credibility.

On behalf of the country, Dr. Thahane thanked the Global Fund for entrusting and providing grants to Lesotho to save lives of the people from fatal diseases of HIV and AIDS and TB.

Addressing the participants at the meeting, the Global Fund Grant Portfolio Manager, Mrs. Tatjana Peterson mentioned that the Lesotho’s performance in relation to grants’ implementation is good but the country has to strive for the best.

“It is encouraging to see the grants have transformed health services, food security, OVC education etc for the last five years throughout Lesotho,” he said.

Peterson warned that there is no enough money, therefore countries that are not spending their funds will be returned to the Global Fund to be reallocated to other interventions elsewhere. “This is a warning and challenging you to spend your funds timely and in responsible manner.”

She applauded Lesotho saying their grants’ spending has improved significantly compared to the past.
The countries that are spending and reporting timely will be reduced the work burden by reporting once per annum and receive all their annual disbursement at once adding that but for the countries that delay spending and reporting will countinue to issue quarter reports and receive quarter disbursements for each grant.

The Global Fund is in transition to move away from project financing to programmatic financing where there will be no grant closure but similar programs of previous grants would countinue to be funded in the up-coming grants.

However, she said, only national targets that are included in the National Strategic Plan (NSP) will be considered during the fund application. Currently, the GF is piloting to encourage countries to use their NSP in grant application and once the initiative is successful will be applicable to all applicants.
“The countries qualified to apply for NSP implementation funding will have to have strategies beyond 2012 and have not received Round 8 grant,” she added.

Meanwhile various sub recipients made presentations during the meeting while those who did not made presentations displayed their activities in the posters. The participants had opportunity to see the video of GF activities around the country. More than 150 participants attended the meeting. The participants are sub recipients, CCM members, development partners and stakeholders from different sectors of lives.

The annual meeting is held annually to review grants performance and agree on the way forward for the future.