UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

Malawi… usher in the new era of democracy, good governance and rule of law” 21 , it seemsreasonable to hypothesize that the successful implementation of the “Three Ones” inMalawi has been helping to strengthen Malawi’s democratic institutions and processesand thus to yield positive externalities beyond the AIDS sector.“An extreme partnership”237As Malawi was developing effective mechanisms to mobilize, coordinate and monitor theAIDS response, several donors decided to pool their funds. By 2004, Malawi became thefirst example of a country that had pooled funding with some donors – an example of“extreme partnership” 22 in the words of the World Bank.Pooled funding means that general programme funding is provided in a commonaccount. These funds are available to finance any eligible programme expendituresaccording to a detailed, agreed financial plan that specifies which activities will be fundedby ‘earmarked’ donors, and which will be funded by pooled donors 23 .Pooled funds have reduced reporting requirements, drastically reduced transactions costs,improved the efficiency of development initiatives and decreased the tendency of donorsto dictate their terms to the country 24 . Roy Hauya, of the National AIDS Commission,said: “… the National AIDS Commission is not donor-driven anymore. Donors now askhow we want to do something instead of saying we should do this” 25 .UNAIDS played an important role in making this pooled funding happen in Malawiwhen, in 2004, it brought four donors together with the Malawi Government to create abasket of funds amounting to about US$ 72 million over five years.Morah explained: “The donors wanted pooled funding and tried it but got nowhere”.The donors had approached him explaining that they had tried to establish a commonbasket of funding but that the Malawi Government was not interested in participating.When Morah began talking with the government counterparts, he understood thatthey “were worried that pooled funding could readily translate to a ganging-up of thedonors, which was the last thing they wanted”. In the end, the government was willingto give pooled funding a try as long as the UN would facilitate the agreement. Morahwas officially invited to lead the process of bringing the donors and the governmentcounterparts together to negotiate the pool-funding arrangement.Mwale remarked that the UN played an important role in making this partnershiphappen: “I think UNAIDS played a very catalytic role in resolving our own problemsas a commission and with the donors. And we had endless meetings, in the night, in the21Office of the President and Cabinet (2005). Strategic Plan for the Department of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS.Lilongwe, Government of Malawi.22Brown J C, Ayvalikli D, Mohammad N (2004). Turning Bureaucrats into Warriors, Preparing and ImplementingMulti-sector HIV/AIDS Programmes in Africa. Washington, DC, The International Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment/The World Bank.23Southern African Development Community (2005).24Ibid.25Ibid.