The Global Fund's Best Friend?

摘要

By Bernard Rivers's own description, he's a "loving watchdog" of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, "a dog that spends much more of its time wagging its tail than barking," he adds. Rivers and his two-person team here run Aidspan, which began publishing an electronic newsletter, the Global Fund Observer, shortly after the fund opened for business in 2002. The Observer, published every month or so and now a must-read for nearly 8000 subscribers in 170 countries, offers original analyses of Global Fund data. These include a grants-evaluation system that tracks whether disbursements are on time, news reports on Global Fund board meetings, and critical editorials about how the fund can improve. He has endorsements on his Web site from the current director of the fund, the chair of its board, and the head of UNAIDS. Rivers is "very open-minded and stubborn at the same time," says Peter van Rooijen, a former board member of the Global Fund, who now heads the International Civil Society Support in Amsterdam. "He performs his watchdog role quite eloquently." But when Rivers triggered an investigation of the Global Fund itself, its spokesperson, Jon Liden, publicly complained. The investigation unfairly stained the credibility of the leadership, Liden now says, noting that the probe found no serious wrongdoing.