Organization > Overview

A transparent, effective, and accessible arrangement resulting in an open and free-flowing conduit for information, feedback, and action is proposed. The IHP+ includes partner countries, H-8 agencies, bilateral donors, and civil society and private sector partners.

Inter-agency Country Health Sector Teams are the key component of the IHP+ process. These teams vary by country, but are led by representatives of the national government (Ministry of Health), and consist of development partners, including the H8 country-team members, bilaterals, local civil society, private sector, or other implementing bodies at the country level.

The inter-agency Core Team, based in Geneva, Washington DC, and Brazzaville, is responsible for day-to-day coordination with all IHP+ development partners (for more, see Core Team TORs, Annex 1 of the IHP+ Workplan). The Core Team provides technical and administrative support to the needs and demands of inter-agency country health sector teams, with the Harmonization for Health in Africa initiative serving as the mechanism of coordination of technical support and capacity building in Africa.

The Core Team is responsible for communicating directly with the Civil Society focal points. Currently, a process for increased meaningful engagement of civil society is being taken forward (for more, see “the Way Forward” of the 23 May 2008 CS Forum).

The Scaling up Reference Group (SuRG), is jointly chaired by WHO and the World Bank and is responsible for providing oversight and strategic direction to the IHP+ process and the Core Team (for more, see SuRG TORs, Annex 2 of the IHP+ Workplan). The SuRG is responsible for advising the Core Team on implementation of the IHP+ process and identifying and fixing existing and/or potential bottlenecks.

 The SuRG has two components:

  1. The business SuRG consists of two representatives of each of the H8 agencies and Civil Society (one northern, one southern) and oversees the regular business of the IHP+ and meets once a month by videoconference.
  2. The steering SuRG and consists of the H8 representatives, representatives from bilateral and multilateral institutions, and Civil Society (one northern, one southern), meeting every two months and providing oversight and feedback from a broader group.

The monthly and bi-monthly videoconferences serve as a forum to discuss mutual accountability, bottlenecks to implementation, and progress towards the signing of the country compact and as a forum to discuss political support of the IHP+ process and improved harmonization among key stakeholders.

The Development Partners group consists of the SuRG and bilateral and multilateral institutions, and civil society, and is responsible for advising the Core Team on implementation of the IHP+ process at the global- and country-level and identifying and fixing existing and/or potential bottlenecks. Development partner videoconferences serve as a forum to discuss mutual accountability, bottlenecks to implementation, and progress towards the signing of the country compact and take place every other month. Development partner videoconferences also serve as a forum to discuss political support of the IHP+ process and improved harmonization among key stakeholders. A representative from Civil Society will participate in the development partner videoconferences and is responsible for coordinating with the broad range of civil society stakeholders at the global and country level.

Inter-agency thematic working groups have been temporarily established on six strategic areas of the IHP+ process:

  • National Strategies and Plans :: A. Cassels    casselsa@who.int                       Work in progress
  • Monitoring and Evaluation ::      T. Boerma     boermat@who.int
                                                   E. Bos                 Ebos@worldbank.org                 Work in progress
  • Aid Effectiveness and Health ::   A. Cassels   casselsa@who.int                      Work in progress
  • Results-Based Financing ::         A. Batson     abatson@worldbank.org            Work in progress
  • Health Services Delivery ::                                                                          Work not yet started
  • Health Financing and Social Protection ::                                                       Work not yet started
                                                    This work will be taken forward as part of the Providing for Health                                                 (P4H) work-plan, which is under development.

These temporary working groups are responsible for generating necessary and relevant knowledge work to facilitate increased harmonization and alignment between development partners and national stakeholders (including civil society and the private sector). They will exist only so long as the work produced is necessary and relevant to the IHP+ objectives, with an emphasis on the value added to the countries. Civil Society will participate in each of the thematic working groups.

The Civil Society Consultative Group is being developed based on a transparent process of self-selection. The Consultative Group will work in conjunction with the Core Team and other CS representatives on the SuRG and thematic working groups in supporting the implementation of the IHP+ at the global and country levels. Terms of reference, mandate, and representation are currently being developed by members of Civil Society. For more information, please contact:

 

Sue Perez ::                  Treatment Action Group                       (sue.perez@treatmentactiongroup.org)
Elaine Ireland::              Action for Global Health                       (eireland@aidsalliance.org)

 Kate Krackenberger ::    World Bank                                         (kkrackenberger@worldbank.org).