The GFMD supporting framework was first set up in Brussels in 2007. Assisting the Chair-in-Office are a number of actors that include a Chair’s Taskforce comprised of national and -- if required by the annual Chair -- some international experts; a network of country focal points, the Troika that includes the current, past and future Chair; the Steering Group (SG), now comprised of 30 governments; and the Friends of the Forum (FOF), comprised of all GFMD States Members and Observers. At the Philippine GFMD, the Friends of the Forum decided to establish the GFMD Support Unit (SU) which, has been providing the annual GFMD Chair-in-Office with administrative, financial, and logistical assistance since 2009. The SU also helped establish in 2010, and continues to administer the GFMD Platform for Partnerships.

In all the GFMD meetings, the Chair's Taskforce has supported the Chair with the substantive preparations for the meeting; the Steering Group has provided political and conceptual support to the process and the Chair; the Friends of the Forum have helped with governance of the process through the country focal points; and the Troika of past, present and future Chairs has provided strategic guidance.