Early Alert and Response System

Whereas the Global Fund is a financing mechanism, not an implementing agency, it has an important role to play in assisting recipients to identify problems in implementation and helping to find solutions to those problems. In general, it is preferred that this occurs by working with recipients and partners to support the coordination of technical assistance when it is needed.

The Early Alert and Response System (EARS) is a support mechanism designed to promote early identification of challenges to program implementation by facilitating the systematic sharing of information on grant progress within and outside the Secretariat. Principal Recipients, Country Coordinating Mechanisms, and partners (at national, regional, and global levels) are responsible for making grants work; the Global Fund Secretariat Portfolio teams and EARS will facilitate that process.

The EARS initiative began in 2005. A useful document, LFA Training Presentation on the Early Alert and Response System, provides an outline of the system.