In 2016, the Global Fund Board endorsed the decision for the Global Fund Technical Reference Group (TERG) to be allocated $22 million to implement the Prospective Country Evaluations (PCEs) for a three-year period , as part of its mandate to provide comprehensive assessment of the implementation and the impact of the Global Fund Strategy 2017-22 “Investing to End Epidemics”. In 2021, IOD PARC completed an external assessment of the PCE achievements and usefulness in 8 countries, assessing the extent to which the PCEs have achieved their original overall objectives. The primary objectives of the evaluation were: (i) to assess the extent to which the PCEs, through the country evaluation platforms, have generated the expected content and quality of evidence; and (ii) to assess the extent to which the PCEs have been useful for improving the programs at the country level and have provided inputs to improve the Global Fund business model, and if they added value in clear distinction to other mechanisms.

The evaluation team undertook a review of key documents and a small number of inception interviews, resulting in an evaluation matrix, detailed evaluation questions, and data collection tools that were validated by the Steering Committee (SC) at the end of the inception phase. This was followed by implementation of a mixed-methods approach, consisting of further documentary review and primary data collection from over 150 purposefully selected key informants. Data was analysed through a series of team meetings where emerging findings were discussed and tested, as well as through the thematic coding of findings using MaxQDA.

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