Grant Advisory Board

One of the key roles of the MENA H Coalition, within its role as the Applicant of the Global Fund supported Middle East and North Africa Multi-country Grant, is oversight of grant implementation.

The role of the Grant Advisory Board (GAB) would be to provide insight and feedback on implementation to both in country and regional activities

Who are we looking for?

Each member of the GAB shall fulfil the following criteria:

• Commitment. Members of the GAB must be prepared to commit the time required to fulfil their duties as specified in these Terms of Reference and in the Oversight Plan.    
• Independence. GAB members must not be directly involved in programme implementation if at all possible; where this is not possible mitigation arrangements need to be put in place via the conflict of interest guidance.
• Technical competencies. The GAB membership should collectively possess certain core expertise that will enable the group to effectively identify, address and monitor a broad range of risks and challenges.  Each member of the GAB must therefore possess proven expertise and experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Programme management and implementation
• Financial management, including budgeting, accounting, tax and regulatory issues, auditing
• M&E
• Disease-specific expertise
• Bio prevention and treatment
• Human Rights
• Gender and Equality
• Advocacy
• Organisational Development
• Resource Mobilisation
• Governance
• Key Population Expertise
• Sustainability

Underpinning Principles

The work of the GAB is based upon the following principles and all members must abide by these principles.

Partnership – The only way to defeat AIDS is by working together, including government, civil society, and communities living with the disease, technical partners, the private sector, faith-based organisations, academics, and other multilateral and bilateral agencies. All those involved in the fight should be involved in the decision-making process. The GAB will communicate and coordinate as needed with other Global Fund supported regional bodies, such as the Technical Support Group of the Middle East Response grant and the MENA Regional Civil Society and Community Support, Coordination and Communication Platform.

Country Ownership – The countries where are our regional networks support programmes to fight AIDS know how to solve their own problems. The principle of country ownership means that countries determine their own solutions to fighting the disease and take full responsibility for ensuring the implementation of these solutions.

Consensus – The GAB operates as a consensus group designed to promote strategic partnership in the development and implementation of HIV services for Key Populations.

Aligned to national health policies – The GAB ensures that programme implementation is aligned and harmonised with the thrust and direction of the health sector and other regional/national policies on the promotion of health in the MENA region.

Key Affected Populations – The GAB recognises that key affected populations contribute valuable insights, guidance, and oversight to implementing organisations as Board Members, staff, grant recipients, technical assistance providers and beneficiaries – due to their direct experience and personal investment in the response to HIV.

The GAB determines that a group will be deemed to be a key population if it has been identified as one of the Key Population groups which the grant focuses on, namely:

1. Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and their partners.
2. People who sell sex (SW) and their partners and clients.
3. People who inject drugs (PWID) and their partners.

Key Populations in the HIV Response:

Gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men; women, men and transgender people who inject drugs, and/or who are sex workers; as well as all transgender people, are socially marginalised, often criminalised and face a range of human rights abuses that increase their vulnerability to HIV. In every nation that reliably collects and accurately reports surveillance data, gay men and other men who have sex with men, women and men who inject drugs, sex workers, and transgender people – in particular transgender women – have higher HIV risk, mortality and/or morbidity when compared to the general population. Access to, or uptake of, relevant services is significantly lower for these sub-populations than for other groups. AIDS is the second highest cause of death among adolescent and young people globally. The MENA region is traditionally a conservative region with serious challenges to effectively assessing and addressing HIV among young people. Adolescent and young people have been consistently left behind in the MENA HIV response, not only regarding meaningful participation, but also accessing needed services. The GAB is committed to ensuring representation of key populations in the GAB itself.

Gender

The GAB recognises that women contribute valuable insights, guidance, and oversight due to their direct experience and personal investment in the response to HIV. The GAB also recognises that gender inequality does exist and that it must do all that it can to address that inequality. In order to achieve this, the GAB will work to support the engagement of women representatives and women’s organisations, including organisations of women living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, in its processes. The GAB is committed to:

• Ensuring that the GAB processes effectively address gender inequalities within the project. 
• Ensuring women living with HIV have the opportunity to represent their networks.
• Ensuring gender issues are specifically addressed when determining membership renewal.
• Ensure representation and diversity of gender in the GAB itself

GAB Structure

The GAB shall have a two-phased approach over the three-year grant.

In Year 1 the GAB will be a standing committee of the MENA H Coalition and shall comprise eight members, as follows: 

Five technical/programmatic members, one from each country implementing the program

• One member representing the MENA H Coalition
• Two members representing regional offices of Multilateral agencies

1. The members specified should not be staff members whose salaries are fully or partially funded by the grant whose only responsibility is working on grant implementation. This is to support mitigation for conflict of interest. 
2. The five technical/programmatic members are not representing their country per se but rather are bringing specific expertise to the GAB that will support its oversight role.
3. In Year 2 of the grant the GAB will shift to being supported/hosted by UNAIDS and will no longer be a standing committee of the MENA H Coalition, but rather a standalone entity.

Membership term    

Members of the GAB shall be elected or appointed for an initial term of one year.

Members can be reappointed for the following two years subject to performance, engagement and commitment to the GAB. This will be determined by the following criteria:

1. Attendance. Members must attend at least 75% of meetings.
2. Communication. Members must proactively communicate with the GAB and respond to emails and other communications in a timely manner.
3. Commitment. Members must deliver on any commitment they make to the GAB within the time specified.
4. Adherence. Members must abide by the underpinning principles and general terms of this Terms of Reference.

The GAB will determine a process to evaluate performance against these criteria if necessary.