This week on the e-Forum 2008 we begin discussions on a new theme and we would like to invite you to share your thoughts and experience.

This month’s theme focuses on Partnerships. The Global Fund represents a new approach to international health financing: It is a partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector, affected communities and technical partners. Partnerships take on a range of forms, from formal relationships to ad-hoc consultations. The Secretariat plays a facilitating and coordinating role, but in several cases - especially in relations between external partners and the Country Coordinating Mechanisms and its members - the Secretariat is not actively involved.

The partnership environment and mechanisms are undergoing a comprehensive review as part of the Five-Year Evaluation of the Global Fund. The Global Fund will develop a Partnerships Strategy which will aim to create a coherent approach to this area of work, including clear definitions of responsibilities and accountabilities. The recommendations made on this forum will feed both into the Partnership Forum meeting in Dakar and into the development of the Global Fund Partnerships Strategy.

The question for this week is (click on the question to participate):

How could the Global Fund better ensure that countries receive the capacity development support they need for the preparation of proposals and the implementation of programs?

Your answer could include (but does not have to be limited to): ways to obtain technical assistance for proposal development; possible obstacles to including technical assistance in a proposal; information on available technical assistance; ways to identify the technical assistance needs of sub-recipients and include these in grant proposals and in implementation plans – could the Global Fund do more to ensure that sub-recipients’ technical assistance needs are being met?; incentives to encourage principal recipients to spend technical assistance budgets in an effective, demand-driven manner; adjusting technical assistance to local needs; the involvement of civil society organizations as providers of technical assistance; measuring the quality of the technical assistance; best ways to promote in-country technical assistance and the better use of local resources.