Programme transition
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The sustainable handover or “transition” of programmes being managed by UNDP to national entities can be one of the results of capacity development processes.
Capacity development activities are given top priority in all countries where UNDP is acting as a channel for donor funding to reach the implementation level, onward granting to both government bodies and civil society organizations. The aim is to transition management and implementation of these programmes to national entities once capacity in the national organization is strong.
UNDP has designed a range of tools, guidance and templates to support transition processes, which have been tested in a number of countries and can be adapted for the country context. UNDP works in partnership with country partners to build sustainable systems to enable transition of programmes to national entities.

Programme transition planning
Working in partnership
Capacity development and transition
Timing of transition planning
Managing risk
After transition
In many countries UNDP does this through a crucial advisory role, through health coordinating mechanisms such as Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanisms or directly to implementing partners. UNDP also provides substantial health procurement support to national governments including strengthening supply chains to ensure uninterrupted access to quality assured medicines, continuing to procure health products after transition of other functions.
In addition, UNDP supports countries in planning and transitioning from donor support to domestically funded health programmes through support for developing investment cases, analysing domestic funding options and revenue generation, and support to social contracting mechanisms.

The country context is an important element in transitioning to national PRs. A phased transition approach may be the most appropriate over a longer period in fragile countries that have been affected by conflict or natural disasters, or those with challenging operating environments. Where the Global Fund has an Additional Additional Safeguard Policy in place, extra strengthening of oversight and accountability systems and programme governance might be needed before the transition can take place.
Dual PR models—Transitioning from a PR role to a joint PR role. This allows the gradual transfer of implementation responsibility and capacity rather than moving all responsibilities at once.
A staggered approach—Where UNDP manages multiple Global Fund grants UNDP can transition the PR role for one grant but remain as the PR for the other grants to be transitioned at a later time. This allows the new PR to benefit from UNDP mentoring and support and ensures a smooth transition and gradual transfer of responsibilities while maintaining high grant performance.
Phased transition—The transition can be divided into two phases, to ensure that those areas that require more time to develop the necessary capacity are transitioned later.
The Global Fund has developed Transition Readiness Assessment Tools to support the process. For more information visit: https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/sustainability-transition-and-co-financing/
Key resources
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Transition Framework The sustainable transition or handover of the Principal Recipient (PR) role from UNDP to one or more national entities can be one of the results of a capacity development process.XLSX 0.1 MB
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Transition Plan Template This tool is designed to note the capacity of potential PRs and to detail activities that need to take place before transition to a new Global Fund PR can fully occur.XLSX 0.1 MB
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Transition & Systems Development Planning Tool This tool is detailing milestones and activities that need to take place before transition to a new Global Fund Principal Recipient (PR) can fully occur.XLSX 0.1 MB
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Transition Plan Narrative Report Template This template was created to strengthen capacity development and transition planning in the health sectorDOCX 0.1 MB
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Capacity Development and Transition Planning Tool The tool is designed for assessing the capacity of potential PRs and to detail activities that need to take place before transition to a new Global Fund Principal Recipient (PR) can fully occur.XLSX 0.1 MB
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Civil Society Organization Capacity Assessment and Development Tool This tool is to support the capacity assessment and development of CSOs, covering programme management, monitoring and evaluation, financial management and procurement.DOCX 0.1 MB
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Capacity Development and Transition Plan Belarus To further enhance the national systems to improve the performance of the Global Fund nominated Principal Recipient to strengthen the delivery of national HIV and TB Responses.PDF 0.1 MB
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Generic TOR CD and Transition Planning Example document and template for writing Terms of Reference for Capacity Development and Transition Planning.DOCX 0.1 MB
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Zambia MOH UNDP GF Case Study Report Strengthening national capacity to fight AIDS, TB, and malaria: a case study on the partnership between UNDP, The Global Fund and the Ministry of Health in ZambiaPDF 1.1 MB
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Process for a Sustainable Transiton in Iran Case Study on the transition of the tuberculosis grant in the Islamic Republic of Iran.DOCX 1.1 MB
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Transition Milestones Examples The transition milestones were developed to measure the successful implementation of the Transition of the PR to national entities.DOCX 0.5 MB