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On Nov 1, the next Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria will be announced. We previously challenged the Fund to ask the candidates to publish an election platform, to give credibility to the selection. The Fund replied that “your approach would inject into the process the very politics that we have been trying to keep out of it”. The names of the five candidates have leaked into the public domain, and here we present their details. Hilde Johnson has many years of experience in high-level leadership, notably as Development Minister of Norway from 1997 to 2005. She has extensive experience of delivering results in low-income countries, in mobilising funds, and in international advocacy. Johnson has wide knowledge of international institutions and financing, and has been involved in global health issues, especially HIV/AIDS, new preventive technologies, such as microbicides, and the health-personnel crisis in Africa. Johnson is senior adviser to the President of the African Development Bank, and has long experience in Africa where she worked directly with communities. At the Global Fund, she plans to focus on the delivery of financial resources, making the money work on the ground, and delivering successful outcomes for those affected by HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria. Michel Kazatchkine was the director of the French National Agency for AIDS Research from 1998 to 2005, involved in clinical research and the evaluation of programmes in many countries in the developing world. Early last year, he became France's ambassador against HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases. He had previously chaired the Global Fund's Technical Review Panel, and was a member of WHO's Scientific and Technical Advisory Group on tuberculosis. Kazatchkine wants the Fund to expand, with a strong and transparent leadership with high-quality dialogue with the Fund's Country Co-ordinating Mechanisms. He wants longer-term commitments from donors, hopefully with donations from countries with emerging economies and with more from the private sector. It is key, he feels, that partnerships are built at the country and global levels. Jim Kolbe has been a Republican Congressman for Arizona since 1985. He chairs the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs of the House Appropriations Committee. In that role, he is responsible for the funding of most US foreign aid programmes; the USA is the Global Fund's largest donor, and Kolbe has been a supporter since the Fund started. Kolbe has a vision beyond US borders: HIV/AIDS is a disease that interconnects the world, he has said. Bill Roedy is Vice Chairman of MTV Networks and President of MTV Networks International. He became an ambassador for UNAIDS in 1998, and has led his company's global efforts to promote HIV/AIDS education, fight complacency, and lessen stigma. He chairs the Global Media AIDS Initiative Leadership Committee, and previously chaired the Global Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS. Roedy knows the importance of working with the Fund's public-health experts, and wants the Fund to raise and spend more money in evaluated and transparent programmes. The Fund needs to spend faster and better on the ground, he says, with beneficiary countries leading the response rather than the Fund. Michel Sidibe, from Mali, is the director of the Country and Regional Support Department at UNAIDS. He has worked for over 26 years in international public health and development. He sees the Global Fund as the world's most potent weapon to achieve global health equity and wants the Fund to be a leading catalyst to achieve the health Millennium Development Goals. His high-level management skills will bring together staff, partners, and stakeholders to deliver the best results, he believes. He wants true partnerships with grassroots organisations, technical experts, and heads of states in beneficiary countries, especially to eliminate any connotations of dependency and to achieve gender and racial equity. The Fund, he says, will benefit most from innovative financing mechanisms, public–private partnerships, and a revitalised replenishment system. The key criteria for this post are to optimise the Global Fund's grant performance, to accelerate results, and to mobilise resources, including getting donors to honour their pledges. Most importantly, the appointee needs to understand the importance of evaluation, and to break down the dependencies that can arise from being a donor or a recipient, ensuring that the relationship is one of true partnership. From the five candidates, Johnson, Kazatchkine, and Sidibe lead the field, with the edge going to Sidibe because of his strong first-hand experience of Africa. |
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