The Principal Recipient (PR) is nominated by the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) and confirmed by the Global Fund Secretariat as the grantee for Global Fund funding. It is the entity legally responsible for grant proceeds and implementation results in a recipient country, and Global Fund guidelines specify that the PR should be a local entity whenever possible. Under the Global Fund dual-track funding policy, two separate entities can serve as PR for grants covering the same disease component.

Once a proposal has been approved, the PR works with the Global Fund Secretariat to develop a Grant Agreement, which sets out the funds to be provided to the programme, the terms and conditions under which the funds will be made available, and programme results to be achieved over time.

Once the agreement has been signed, grant funds are disbursed to and managed by the PR, who may in turn channel funds to other organizations (Sub-recipients (SRs)) to implement activities under the grantee’s oversight. The PR reports on a regular basis to the Secretariat on results achieved against the agreed performance targets, on expenditures against budgets and on progress against any Conditions Precedent (CP) detailed in the Grant Agreement or other Global Fund requirements. The PR may be a non-governmental organization (NGO), a public entity (such as a government ministry), a private-sector organization or a development agency.

UNDP is nominated as an interim PR in countries facing challenging operating environments and when the Global Fund and the CCM have not found a suitable local entity for the role. During programme implementation, UNDP is expected to develop the capacity of one or more local entities to assume the role of PR as soon as possible.