Here is an informercial from UNOPS on their PR role.
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UNOPS in new Global Fund role in Myanmar
Mon, 24 Jan 2011
Yangon - UNOPS has been selected to act as a ‘Principal Recipient’ of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Myanmar.
The organization has provided fund monitoring services to the Global Fund before but this is the first time it will play such a key role in running a programme.
UNOPS has planned an ambitious agenda with a wide range of services in all three diseases. The programme includes the provision of antiretroviral drugs for 30,000 people living with HIV, the distribution of 1.3 million insecticide treated nets, anti-malaria treatment for over 2,500,000 patients and anti-tuberculosis treatment for 290,000 patients during the first two years. Capacity building initiatives for health care providers and large scale prevention activities across the country are also included.
Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the main source of finance for programmes to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, with approved funding of $ 21.7 billion for more than 600 programmes in 150 countries. It provides almost a quarter of all international financing for AIDS globally, two-thirds for tuberculosis and two-thirds for malaria. UNOPS is currently a Local Fund Agent responsible for providing monitoring and evaluation services for the Global Fund, in 14 countries.
In Myanmar there are over 240,000 people living with HIV, 230,000 suffering from tuberculosis and over 400,000 reported cases of malaria. The country receives the lowest per capita foreign aid in the region, estimated at $10.6 per person per year, according to the 2010 Human Development Report. To put it in context Lao People's Democratic Republic receives $79.8 per person and Cambodia $50.5 per person.
The Global Fund will provide grants worth $105 million over two years in Myanmar, allowing access to care and treatment to those most in need. UNOPS is to manage $60.56 million of that pool, with the mandate to coordinate and oversee the implementation of the grant. UNOPS has been chosen as a Principal Recipient for Myanmar together with Save the Children.
The Principal Recipients are recommended by the Global Fund’s Myanmar Country Coordinating Mechanism, a partnership of local stakeholders from non-governmental organizations, multilateral and bilateral agencies, the public and private sectors, and people living with or affected by the diseases.
UNOPS and the Global Fund Secretariat have already developed and signed grant agreements which determine how the funds will be disbursed and implemented. UNOPS will now manage the grants and use a number of sub-recipients to provide direct prevention, care and treatment to the beneficiaries.
UNOPS responsibility as Principal Recipient includes the delivery of targets set in the grant agreement, in collaboration with selected sub-recipients under the oversight of the Country Coordinating Mechanism.
In 2006, UNOPS was selected by the Three Diseases Fund to serve as fund manager in Myanmar, providing a simple and transparent instrument to finance a nationwide programme of activities combating HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.
Providing fund management services to Three Diseases Fund has enabled UNOPS to act as a qualified and experienced Principal Recipient on behalf of the Global Fund.
http://www.unops.org/english/whatwedo/news/Pages/UNOPS-in-new-Global-Fund-role.aspx
