Kathmandu, January 3:

The meeting of the Country Co-ordination Mechanism held today decided to make UNDP the principal recipient of the Seventh Round Fund, worth $36 million, of the Global Fund.

Earlier, the CCM members had proposed that the Ministry of Health and Population should be the sole PR, as the administrative expenses of INGOs was too huge a sum. “But there was

no option left,” said CCM member Rishi Raj Ojha.

The government failed to win the Global Fund’s confidence as it hasn’t yet spent the $1.8 million of the Second Round Fund that Nepal received in 2002. Therefore, the Technical Review Panel — a board of the Global Fund — sought an independent entity to act as PR of the Seventh Round Fund.

Although the cabinet took a decision to constitute an HIV/AIDS and STD Control Development Board three months ago, it has not been formed till date.

On November 15, the TRP wrote to the Nepali government asking it to furnish clarifications in six weeks on the procedure of handing over the PR’s role to a semi-autonomous body.

The TRP letter has clearly said that if the requested clarifications were not settled within the stated time, the proposal would no longer be eligible for funding. Further delay could prove expensive to the HIV programme.