This document discusses 11 projects funded by a CDC-PEPFAR grant administered by the University of the Western Cape Centre for Research in HIV and AIDS since 2008. It provides background on the shift towards promoting country ownership and integration from 2010. It then analyzes the impact of this focus on the projects, questions that arose as they attempted to incorporate with the South African government, and identifies 3 key areas for the future: what relation funding has to decision-making power, what level of government holds "ownership", and how local governments can sustain externally funded projects in resource-poor settings.