The annual funding decision (AFD) and disbursement processes are critical grant management functions of the Global Fund. These processes allow the Global Fund to commit and disburse approved grant funds appropriately and take action to ensure grants continue to achieve maximum impact. There are two main objectives: 

A. Decide on Annual Funding: Determine and commit the amount of funding that will be disbursed to the grant over the next 12 months of implementation¹ (plus a buffer period, up to 6 months), considering implementation performance, issues, and risks; and 

B. Disburse Funds: Disburse funds committed through the AFD to the Principal Recipient (PR), or third party on behalf of the PR, for the payment of goods and/or services.

The AFD and disbursement processes ensure:

1. grant funds are used for agreed objectives and outputs in an accountable manner whereby known or new risks are minimized and mitigated; 
2. AFDs consider grant and PR performance to ensure PRs focus on results and timely grant implementation;
3. AFDs are well documented and justified; and
4. Disbursements are released on time to implementers and third parties to ensure the continuation of grant activities.

The processes of submitting the cash disbursement requests and the GF’s internal process of determining the AFDs can be found in the Global Fund Operational Policy Manual: Make Annual Funding and Disbursement Decisions.