US embassy cable - 04SANTODOMINGO6028

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 006028 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G, WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC; DEPT PASS USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: DR, ECON, EFIN, KHIV 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN AIDS OFFICE TELLS GLOBAL FUND IT WILL 
MEET JAN 31 DEADLINE FOR MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENTS 
 
 
1.  Summary.   Appointees of the new Dominican administration 
told visiting representatives from the Global Fund for AIDS, 
TB and Malaria (GFATM) that they will quickly improve 
management to qualify for the first tranche of the USD 47m 
grant.  GFATM gave the administration until January 31.  The 
grant has been pending for 20 months.  End summary. 
 
2.  Representatives from the Global Fund for AIDS, TB, and 
Malaria (GFATM), Dr. Arletty Pinel and Ricard Lacort visited 
Santo Domingo the week of October 18-22.  They called on a 
broad array of stakeholders, including NGOs, donors 
(including USAID), the Ministry of Health AIDS and Sexually 
Transmitted Infections Directorate, the Dominican private 
sector, and the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) of the 
GFATM. 
 
3.  Pinel and Lacort told USAID at the outset of their visit 
of deep concern that the Presidential AIDS Council 
(COPRESIDA), named Principal Beneficiary of the USD 47 
million GFATM agreement, had not taken appropriate and timely 
steps to qualify for the first tranche of the grant agreed 20 
months earlier.  A preaward audit conducted by Price 
Waterhouse Coopers had identified a number of managerial 
weaknesses in the four principal management areas: finance, 
procurement, program, and monitoring and evaluation. 
 
4. Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, inaugurated in 
mid-August, appointed Dr. Alberto Fiallo as Executive 
Director of COPRESIDA.  Fiallo gave a presentation on 
Wednesday evening, pointing out the deficiencies in Copresida 
management capacity that he inherited and giving his 
recommendations for correcting them.  USAID considers that 
his assessment is on target. 
 
4.  At a Friday meeting with the Country Coordinating 
Mechanism Dr Fiallo reprised his presentation.   Global Fund 
representative Ricard Lacort responded with a matrix of the 
actions that Copresida and the CCM would have to complete by 
January 31, 2005, in order to remain eligible for Global Fund 
resources.  Lacort said that in the nearly two years since 
the award was approved, Copresida has made slow and unsteady 
progress in fulfilling the conditions of the preaward survey. 
 If Copresida and the Dominican Republic could not show 
concrete progress by January 31 they would  risk having the 
award cancelled. 
 
Comment 
 
5.  As a member of the CCM, USAID  has been witness to the 
poor quality of previous COPRESIDA management.  Embassy 
agrees with much of Dr. Fiallo,s assessment of Copresida, 
including particularly the lack of organized information, the 
absence of a monitoring and evaluation system, a low level of 
community and local government participation, and an overly 
centralized management and decision making process.  Embassy 
agrees with the Global Fund approach of setting a tight 
deadline for performance.  The USAID mission will support 
COPRESIDA with technical assistance through contractor 
FHI/Conecta.  Embassy is cautiously optimistic that the 
change in administration, and particularly the change of 
leadership at COPRESIDA will revitalize this grant and 
associated programs. 
HERTELL