Every act of wrongdoing undercuts our ability to save a life. Every act of wrongdoing undercuts our ability to prevent an infection, or to get someone healthier and more able to contribute to their community.
Corruption is unacceptable, in any form. As a partnership organization that invests a significant amount of public money for public good, the Global Fund has a special responsibility. Every dollar, euro, pound or yen raised must go where it is intended. The lives of people affected by HIV, TB and malaria rely on effective investment, and taxpayers in every country that contributes should demand full accountability.
The Global Fund has zero tolerance for corruption or misuse of funds. Whenever we detect misuse of funds, no matter what size, we pursue recoveries energetically so that no donor money is lost. When repayment is unreasonably delayed, we levy a two-for-one penalty.
To advance our anti-corruption efforts this year, the Global Fund's Office of the Inspector General launched I Speak Out Now! It's a campaign to encourage staff and grant implementers to denounce fraud, abuse and human rights violations in the programs we finance, and to prevent minor irregularities from escalating into major wrongdoing.
The campaign has a platform that describes how to make a report through safe, confidential and free channels.
It's worth remembering that the Global Fund operates with a high degree of transparency and accountability in all of its work, including applications for funding, funding decisions, grant performance, results, governance, and oversight. By openly publishing the Inspector General's audit and investigation reports, the Global Fund is a leader in transparency. The 2016 Aid Transparency Index rated the Global Fund in the top five of all international aid organizations.
Still, we can always do more. We do not ignore or shy away from risk. Instead, we approach it in a proactive way, with strict controls and monitoring, taking strong measures when needed. And we will continue to evolve our approach, making changes to deliver better in the future.
As a foundation, we implement a risk management framework, to build risk into the strategic planning, the decision-making and the overall culture of the Global Fund. We employ a "three-lines-of-defense" approach, which is standard practice in the financial services industry. At the Global Fund, our first line of defense is embedding risk management in the core practice of grant making; the second line is broad oversight coordinated by a Risk team; the third line is an independent Office of the Inspector General that conducts audits and investigations.
Where risk is high and financial management capacity is low, the Global Fund introduces a team of fiscal agents to control and monitor expenditures in real-time, while strengthening the capacity of grant implementers. The Global Fund has installed fiscal agent teams in 20 countries, where extra controls and monitoring are needed. Additional safeguard procedures, including measures to protect Global Fund grants when there are major concerns about governance in a country, have been implemented in another 16 countries. Approximately two-thirds of those safeguards were proactively put in place by the Global Fund to manage risk, and the remainder following recommendations by the Office of the Inspector General.
The Global Fund has one of the most robust independent auditing systems of any multi-lateral institution. An independent Office of the Inspector General conducts audits and investigations on grants. All audits and investigations by the Office of the Inspector General are openly published on the Global Fund website.
The Global Fund partnership is on track to reach 22 million lives saved by the end of 2016. We can only reach that milestone by being as fully effective as possible, with no room for corruption of any kind. That requires that everyone take part, and speak out whenever they see corruption, no matter how large or small. To fully embrace our mission, we all must be committed to identifying and reporting wrongdoing.