Global Fund Complaints Mechanism: How can people who use drugs use it effectively?

The Global Fund invests more than US$4 billion a year to support programmes in more than 100 low-and-middle-income countries and is committed to protecting and promoting human rights, including of key populations. It is therefore critical that corruption, fraud, human rights violations, mismanagement, and misuse of Global Fund funding are reported, investigated, and resolved. The Global Fund has charged the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) with the responsibility to investigate irregularities in programmes it supports and to provide effective complaints mechanisms for whistle-blowers to report all wrongdoings relating to Global Fund activities. The main objective of the mechanism is to ensure equal access to high quality services and programmes for all, and to provide communities with a secure communication channel to voice their concerns regarding alleged offences.

The OIG is independent of the Global Fund Secretariat. It reports directly to the Global Fund Board through its Audit and Finance Committee. This is to ensure transparency and objectivity of its work and to improve accountability of the Global Fund work at the national level and in the Secretariat.

The OIG’s mandate is wider than investigations. It also includes internal audits, in-country reviews, inspections, and counter-fraud, among others. However, this guide focuses only on the investigation side of the OIG work and explains step by step how people who use drugs can use this mechanism effectively to report human right violations, fraud, corruption, and other wrongdoings. To learn more what the OIG understands as wrongdoings, read the ‘What wrongdoings can you report?’ section below.

To encourage more people (whistle-blowers) to report any alleged wrongdoings and to promote the complaints mechanism, the OIG has launched the ‘I Speak Out’ campaign and e-learning platform. Visit their website ispeakoutnow.org to learn about different types of wrongdoings, read case studies, and to file a complaint. You can also find tips and advice on how to do it effectively as outlined in the report.