Total available funding: USD$500 million, initially. Public and private donors are able to direct additional resources to the Global Fund through C19RM to scale up the COVID-19 response and support systems for health across the grant portfolio.

Eligibility: Countries with a Global Fund allocation for the 2020-2022 period can access an amount equivalent to up to 10% of their allocation. This ceiling includes the use of savings and reprogramming under existing grants.

The immediate additional amount of funds available for each country is 3.25% of the 2020-2022 allocation period, provided the country has not yet used savings and reprogramming exceeding 6.75% of this allocation.  Application Process: The application is submitted through the CCM or the regional coordinating mechanism preferably by 31 May and no later than September 2020 so that emergency funding can reach countries as soon as possible.  

The funding request is divided into two parts:  

• Priority 1 for the most urgent activities. This is capped at 3.25% of the 2020-2022 country allocation. The Global Fund will respond within 10 days to this request.  

• Priority 2 for supplementary interventions. This is capped at 10% of the 2020-2022 country allocation minus the amounts already requested for C19RM Priority 1 and approved grant flexibilities/reprogramming. These supplementary requests could be awarded later if more funds are made available.  

• All applications should demonstrate that an inclusive engagement with civil society and key affected populations took place to formulate the demand. C19RM funds are additional and will not be deducted from the 2020-2022 allocation. Funding must be fully utilized by June 2021.  

Countries are asked to submit this request form completed and endorsed by the CCM to C19RM@theglobalfund.org with the Global Fund Country Team in copy. Instructions to apply can be found here.

Implementation: C19RM funds must be implemented through an existing country grant and principal recipient, regional and multi-country grants. It can be used for three areas, to:

1. mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on current HIV, TB and malaria programs. 

2. reinforce the national COVID-19 response 

3. invest in urgent improvements in health and community systems

Funding Source: The US$500 million that the Board approved for the C19RM response mechanism remained available from the 5th Replenishment and will be used to help counter the threat of COVID-19 in order to protect the Global Fund’s ability to invest US$13.6 billion for the three diseases and reinforce health systems in the 6th Replenishment cycle.

The US$500 million were intended for “portfolio optimization”, in which unused funds from grants are returned to the Global Fund and reassigned to other grants for high-impact investments.  However, there is very limited scope for further portfolio optimization in this cycle, as in-country partners are focusing on the COVID-19 response and mitigation activities for existing programs, hence the Board decision to assign those funds to C19RM instead.

Global Fund COVID-19 Flexibilities and Response Mechanism