HATS at HLF-3

The Task Team on Health as a Tracer Sector prepared a Report “Effective Aid – Better Health” which was displayed and mentioned in various fora.

A side-event on predictability of health aid offered a qualitative contribution to the debate on this central dimension of aid effectiveness. The discussion built on a set of documents, in particular the OECD study on donor practices on forward planning of aid expenditures and a study commissioned by the WHO on the “Donors constraints to provide long-term health aid”. The discussion illustrated why aid is currently un-predictable, the difficulties that derive from this for planning and budgeting in countries, the real blockages for making aid more predictable, the promising ways to make health aid to countries more predictable (Innovative Finance Facility for  Immunisation, International Health Partnership+), the options for increased spending for health including for health personal, the contribution of results-based financing to longer-term funding and use of country systems.

In the Round Table 8 on sector application of the Paris Declaration, members of the task team on health as a tracer sector insisted on the key factors to ensure solid planning and avoid sector narrow approaches, on the need to invest in key areas such as results-based management, Public and Financial Management and information management, whilst considering that time is needed to manage successful sector reforms.

The Round Table 9 on Aid Architecture underscored that managing for results and ownerships were central to the Global Funds and Programs, that there was progress on providing more predictable funding to countries. Remaining challenges include better integration within country systems but Global Programs and Funds are engaged in a continuous learning and adaptation process.