The Global Fund’s paradigm of oversight,monitoring, and results in Mozambique

Background

The Global Fund is one of the largest actors in global health. In 2015 the Global Fund was credited with disbursing close to 10 % of all development assistance for health. In 2011 it began a reform process in response to internal reviews following allegations of recipients’ misuse of funds. Reforms have focused on grant application processes thus far while the core structures and paradigm have remained intact. We report results of discussions with key stakeholders on the Global Fund, its paradigm of oversight, monitoring, and results in Mozambique.

Methods

We conducted 38 semi-structured in-depth interviews in Maputo, Mozambique and members of the Global Fund Board and Secretariat in Switzerland. In-country stakeholders were representatives from Global Fund country structures (eg. Principle Recipient), the Ministry of Health, health or development attachés bilateral and multilateral agencies, consultants, and the NGO coordinating body. Thematic coding revealed concerns about the combination of weak country oversight with stringent and cumbersome requirements for monitoring and evaluation linked to performance-based financing.

Results

Analysis revealed that despite the changes associated with the New Funding Model, respondents in both Maputo and Geneva firmly believe challenges remain in Global Fund’s structure and paradigm. The lack of a country office has many negative downstream effects including reliance on in-country partners and ineffective coordination. Due to weak managerial and absorptive capacity, more oversight is required than is afforded by country team visits. In-country partners provide much needed support for Global Fund recipients, but roles, responsibilities, and accountability must be clearly defined for a successful long-term partnership. Furthermore, decision-makers in Geneva recognize in-country coordination as vital to successful implementation, and partners welcome increased Global Fund engagement.

Conclusions

To date, there are no institutional requirements for formalized coordination, and the Global Fund has no consistent representation in Mozambique’s in-country coordination groups. The Global Fund should adapt grant implementation and monitoring procedures to the specific local realities that would be illuminated by more formalized coordination.

     

The Role of Major Donors in Health Aid to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

We investigated the major trends in health aid financing in the Democratic People''s Republic of Korea (DPRK) by identifying the primary donor organizations and examining several data sources to track overall health aid trends. We collected gross disbursements from bilateral donor countries and international organizations toward the DPRK according to specific health sectors by using the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development creditor reporting system database and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs financial tracking service database. We analyzed sources of health aid to the DPRK from the Republic of Korea (ROK) using the official records from the ROK''s Ministry of Unification. We identified the ROK, United Nations Children''s Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) as the major donor entities not only according to their level of health aid expenditures but also their growing roles within the health sector of the DPRK. We found that health aid from the ROK is comprised of funding from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, private organizations, local governments, and South Korean branches of international organizations such as WHO and UNICEF. We also distinguished medical equipment aid from developmental aid to show that the majority of health aid from the ROK was developmental aid. This study highlights the valuable role of the ROK in the flow of health aid to the DPRK, especially in light of the DPRK''s precarious international status. Although global health aid from many international organizations has decreased, organizations such as GFATM and UNFPA continue to maintain their focus on reproductive health and infectious diseases.     

The international community and the reconstruction of health care in South Eastern Europe

Today, with the aid of the international community [European Union (EU), World Bank (WB), World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), Global Fund (GF), Stability Pact, etc.] the ministries of health in transitional countries in the South Eastern Europe (SEE) region are in the process of expanding the capacities and skills of the health workforce in order to achieve successful health care reform and accomplish necessary steps for EU integration. The aim of this paper is to review international community support to reconstruction of the health care in SEE countries, with main focus on the EU and WB donors and projects. Review was done on the basis of existing donor reports, Internet search (search of official Web sites and electronic databases, check of references from selected documents, and use of a generic Internet search engine) and authors’ experience from different health projects. The governments of SEE countries, in order to create an effective and efficient health system, overcame a period of transition and soon or later became ready for the process of EU integration, and began working on the following issues: rehabilitation, reconstruction and equipping of health facilities; developing a health strategy and policy documents; legislation and financing framework; building institutional, human resource and management capacity; health care sector reform; support to public health development and restructuring of the pharmaceutical sector. In many SEE countries, the capacity of the Ministry of Health and Health Insurance Fund was strengthened, and policy and strategy documents were drafted to guide reorganisation and reorientation of health care services. The public health system was strengthened. A family medicine model was introduced and developed in most countries. Development of enabling legislation mostly followed proposed changes in the health system. Although progress on several important fronts in achieving transition and progress in the rehabilitation health sector in SEE countries is significant, a lot remains to be done. Experience in some countries can be used to stimulate, motivate and encourage professionals throughout the civil service to grasp with both hands the opportunities for positive change.     

Keeping a tight grip on the reins: donor control over aid coordination and management in Bangladesh

A long-standing consensus that aid coordination should be owned by recipient authorities has been eclipsed by accord on the desirability of recipient management of aid along-side domestic resources. Nonetheless, in many low and lower-middle income countries, donors remain remarkably uncoordinated; where attempts at coordination are made, they are often donor-driven, and only a small proportion of aid is directly managed by recipients. This paper draws on evidence from an in-depth review of aid to the health sector in Bangladesh to analyze the systems by which external resources are managed. Based on interviews with key stakeholders, a questionnaire survey and analysis of documentary sources, the factors constraining the government from assuming a more active role in aid management are explored. The results suggest that donor perceptions of weak government capacity, inadequate accountability and compromised integrity only partially account for the propensity for donor leadership. Equally important is the consideration that aid coordination has a markedly political dimension. Stakeholders are well aware of the power, influence and leverage which aid coordination confers, an awareness which colours the desire of some stakeholders to lead aid coordination processes, and conditions the extent and manner by which others wish to be involved. It is argued that recipient management of external aid is dependent on major changes in the attitudes and behaviours of recipients and donors alike.     

The pricing and procurement of antiretroviral drugs: an observational study of data from the Global Fund

The Purchase price report released in August 2004 by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria (Global Fund) was the first publication of a significant amount of real transaction purchase data for antiretrovirals (ARVs). We did an observational study of the ARV transaction data in the Purchase price report to examine the procurement behaviour of principal recipients of Global Fund grants in developing countries. We found that, with a few exceptions for specific products (e.g. lamivudine) and regions (e.g. eastern Europe), prices in low-income countries were broadly consistent or lower than the lowest differential prices quoted by the research and development sector of the pharmaceutical industry. In lower middle-income countries, prices were more varied and in several instances (lopinavir/ritonavir, didanosine, and zidovudine/lamivudine) were very high compared with the per capita income of the country. In all low- and lower middle-income countries, ARV prices were still significantly high given limited local purchasing power and economic strength, thus reaffirming the need for donor support to achieve rapid scale-up of antiretroviral therapy. However, the price of ARVs will have to decrease to render scale-up financially sustainable for donors and eventually for governments themselves. An important first step in reducing prices will be to make available in the public domain as much ARV transaction data as possible to provide a factual basis for discussions on pricing. The price of ARVs has considerable implications for the sustainability of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) treatment in the developing world.     

Fraud at the Global Fund? A viewpoint

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has contributed to remarkable health improvements in the three diseases since its creation in 2002. However, media reports about “astonishing losses” and fraud in Fund programs in 2011 caused several donors to suspend funding. The Fund's annual round of new financing was canceled, and a substantial reform program is being implemented. Two former senior managers of the Fund contend that fraud was never a major problem; rather than imposing harsh new controls on recipient countries that might impede health outcomes, the Fund should maintain the core elements of its innovative model and make selective rather than sweeping changes in its operations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building applied health research capacity in less-developed countries: problems encountered by the ADDR Project.

As governments and other donors renew their support for research scientists in less developed countries, it becomes important to consider new questions about the process of funding scientific research and scientific researchers. This paper argues that research capacity building is a development goal subject to structural constraints and cultural impediments among both donors and recipients. Using data from one specific research capacity building program, the Applied Diarrheal Disease Research Project (ADDR), we describe a set of constraints among donors, recipient institutions, and individual recipients of research grants. We then describe how ADDR supports its investigators, how it has responded to the identified constraints, and what obstacles it still faces. Research capacity building programs in health would be well-served by focusing more attention on research problem identification, and dissemination and application of research findings.     

Critical interactions between Global Fund-supported programmes and health systems: a case study in Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, investment by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) has played an important role in scaling up the response to HIV and tuberculosis (TB). As part of a series of case studies on how Global Fund-supported programmes interact with national health systems, we assessed the nature and extent of integration of the Global Fund portfolios within the national HIV and TB programmes, the integration of the HIV and TB programmes within the general health system, and system-wide effects of Global Fund support in Papua New Guinea. The study relied on a literature review and 30 interviews with key stakeholders using the Systemic Rapid Assessment Toolkit and thematic analysis. Global Fund-supported activities were found to be largely integrated, or at least coordinated, with the national HIV and TB programmes. However, this has reinforced the vertical nature of these programmes with respect to the general health system, with parallel systems established to meet the demands of programme scale-up and the performance-based nature of Global Fund investment in the weak health system context of Papua New Guinea. The more parallel functions include monitoring and evaluation, and procurement and supply chain systems, while human resources and infrastructure for service delivery are increasingly integrated at more local levels. Positive synergies of Global Fund support include engagement of civil-society partners, and a reliable supply of high-quality drugs which may have increased patient confidence in the health system. However, the severely limited and overburdened pool of human resources has been skewed towards the three diseases, both at management and service delivery levels. There is also concern surrounding the sustainability of the disease programmes, given their dependence on donors. Increasing Global Fund attention towards health system strengthening was viewed positively, but should acknowledge that system changes are slow, difficult to measure and require long-term support.     

Maternal health development programs: comparing priorities of bilateral and private donors

Background

The face of international aid for health and development is changing. Private donors such as foundations and corporations are playing an increasingly important role, working in international development as direct operators or in partnerships with governments. This study compares maternal health programs of new development actors to traditional governmental donors. It aims to investigate what maternal health programs large governmental donors, foundations and corporate donors are conducting, and how and why they differ.

Methods

A total of 263 projects were identified and analyzed. We focus on nine categories of maternal health programs: family planning services, focus on specific diseases, focus on capacity building, use of information and communication technology (ICT), support of research initiatives, cooperation with local non-state or state partners and cooperation with non-local non-state or state partners. Data analysis was carried out using Generalized Linear Mixed-Effects Models (GLMER).

Results

Maternal health policies of public and private donors differ with regard to strategic approaches, as can be seen in their diverging positions regarding disease focus, family planning services, capacity building, and partner choice. Bilateral donors can be characterized as focusing on family planning services, specific diseases and capacity-building while disregarding research and ICT. Bilateral donors cooperate with local public authorities and with governments and NGOs from other developed countries. In contrast, corporations focus their donor activities on specific diseases, capacity-building and ICT while disregarding family planning services and research. Corporations cooperate with local and in particular with non-local non-state actors. Foundations can be characterized as focusing on family planning services and research, while disregarding specific diseases, capacity-building and ICT. Foundations cooperate less than other donors; but when they do, they cooperate in particular with non-state actors, local as well as non-local.

Conclusions

These findings should help developing coordination mechanisms that embrace the differences and similarities of the different types of donors. As donor groups specialize in different contexts, NGOs and governments working on development and health aid may target donors groups that have specialized in certain issues.

     

The introduction of new vaccines into developing countries II. Vaccine financing

The development of new vaccines for important childhood diseases presents an unparalleled opportunity for disease control but also a significant problem for developing countries: how to pay for them. To help address this problem, the William H. Gates Foundation has established a Global Fund for Children's Vaccine. In this paper, we discuss the allocation of this and other similar funds, which we call Global Funds. We propose that allocation of the Global Funds to individual countries be guided in part by a Vaccine Procurement Baseline (VPB). The VPB would set a minimum of 0.01% of gross national product (GNP) as an amount each developing country would devote to its own vaccine procurement. When this amount is not sufficient to procure the vaccines needed by a developing country, the Global Funds would meet the shortfall. The amount required of donors to maintain the Global Funds would be about $403 million per year for both existing EPI vaccines as well as for a hypothetical group of five new vaccines costing $0.50 per dose and requiring three doses per child. Including program costs, poor developing countries currently spend about 0.13% of GNP on EPI immunizations. In contrast, the United States, as one example donor country, spends about 0.035% of GNP for childhood immunization including several new vaccines. This paper analyzes the Global Funds requirements for hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines. After a ramp-up period, needier countries would eventually require about $62 million for hepatitis B and $282 million for Hib at current prices. Various additional criteria could be used to qualify countries for participation in the Global Funds.     

Linking local knowledge with global action: examining the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria through a knowledge system lens

New global public health institutions are increasingly emphasizing transparency in decision-making, developing-country ownership of projects and programmes, and merit- and performance-based funding. Such principles imply an institutional response to the challenge of bridging the "know-do gap", by basing decisions explicitly on results, evidence and best practice. Using a knowledge systems framework, we examine how the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has affected the ways in which knowledge is used in efforts to combat these three diseases. We outline the formal knowledge system embedded in current rules and practices associated with the Global Fund's application process, and give three examples that illustrate the complexity of the knowledge system in action: human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) policy in China; successful applications from Haiti; and responses to changing research on malaria. These examples show that the Global Fund has created strong incentives for knowledge to flow to local implementers, but with little encouragement and few structures for the potentially valuable lessons from implementation to flow back to global best practice or research-based knowledge. The Global Fund could play an influential role in fostering much-needed learning from implementation. We suggest that three initial steps are required to start this process: acknowledging shared responsibility for learning across the knowledge system; analysing the Global Fund's existing data (and refining data collection over time); and supporting recipients and technical partners to invest resources in linking implementation with best practice and research.     

The impact of global health initiatives on the health system in Angola

We assessed the impact of global health initiatives (GHIs) on the health care system of Angola, as a contribution to documenting how GHIs, such as the Global Fund, GAVI and PEPFAR, influence the planning and delivery of health services in low-income countries and how national systems respond. We collected the views of national and sub-national key informants through 42 semi-structured interviews between April 2009 and May 2011 (12 at the national level and 30 at the sub-national level). We used a snowball technique to identify respondents from government, donors and non-governmental organisations. GHIs stimulated the formulation of a health policy and of plans and strategies, but the country has yet to decide on its priorities for health. At the regional level, managers lack knowledge of how GHIs’ function, but they assess the effects of external funds as positive as they increased training opportunities, and augment the number of workers engaged in HIV or other specific disease programmes. However, GHIs did not address the challenge of attraction and retention of qualified personnel in provinces. Since Angola is not entirely dependent on external funding, national strategic programmes and the interventions of GHIs co-habit well, in contrast to countries such as Mozambique, which heavily depend on external aid.     

Critical interactions between Global Fund-supported programmes and health systems: a case study in Thailand

As part of a series of case studies on the interactions between programmes supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and health systems, we assessed the extent of integration of national HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria programmes with the general health system, the integration of the Global Fund-portfolios within the national disease programmes, and system-wide effects on the health system in Thailand. The study relied on a literature review and 34 interviews with key stakeholders using the Systemic Rapid Assessment Toolkit and thematic analysis. In Thailand, the HIV, TB and malaria programmes' structures and functions are well established in the general health care system, with the Department for Disease Control and the Ministry of Public Health's network of health providers at sub-national levels as the main responsible organizations for stewardship and governance, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation, planning, and to some extent, demand generation. Civil society groups are active in certain areas, particularly in demand generation for HIV/AIDS. Overall, the Global Fund-supported programmes were almost fully integrated and coordinated with the general health system. The extent of integration varied across disease portfolios because of different number of actors and the nature of programme activities. There were also specific requirements by Global Fund that limit integration for some health system functions namely financing and monitoring and evaluation. From the view of stakeholders in Thailand, the Global Fund has contributed significantly to the three diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS. Financial support from the early Global Fund rounds was particularly helpful to the disease programmes during the time of major structural change in the MoPH. It also promoted collaborative networks of stakeholders, especially civil societies. However, the impacts on the overall health system, which is relatively well developed, are seen as minimal. One major contribution is the establishment of a health service system for neglected population groups. No specific negative impacts on the health system were raised.     

Behind the scenes: International NGOs’ influence on reproductive health policy in Malawi and South Sudan

ABSTRACT

Global health donors increasingly embrace international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) as partners, often relying on them to conduct political advocacy in recipient countries, especially in controversial policy domains like reproductive health. Although INGOs are the primary recipients of donor funding, they are expected to work through national affiliates or counterparts to enable ‘locally-led’ change. Using prospective policy analysis and ethnographic evidence, this paper examines how donor-funded INGOs have influenced the restrictive policy environments for safe abortion and family planning in South Sudan and Malawi. While external actors themselves emphasise the technical nature of their involvement, the paper analyses them as instrumental political actors who strategically broker alliances and resources to shape policy, often working ‘behind the scenes’ to manage the challenging circumstances they operate under. Consequently, their agency and power are hidden through various practices of effacement or concealment. These practices may be necessary to rationalise the tensions inherent in delivering a global programme with the goal of inducing locally-led change in a highly controversial policy domain, but they also risk inciting suspicion and foreign-national tensions.     

Managing external resources in Mozambique: building new aid relationships on shifting sands?

The Mozambican health sector is recovering from war and general disruption. This massive endeavour is supported by several donor agencies, which contribute a substantial proportion of national health expenditure. The final years of the war and the transition period have seen an extreme fragmentation of the health sector. To correct it, serious efforts to coordinate the plethora of aid agencies and related external inputs have taken place. This paper reviews the actors present on the Mozambican health scene and their interactions. The existing aid management mechanisms are described and their effectiveness appraised. The factors affecting both the process and its outcomes are analyzed. Given the prevailing complexity, this research presents a number of tentative conclusions. First, the evidence suggests that coordination efforts have paid off. However, progress has required intense and sustained work. Incremental approaches, where donor demands are progressively raised as the system is strengthened, have been crucial. The initiative has come mainly from donors, with the Ministry of Health receptive and reactive. When the recipient administration has been able to take advantage of donor initiatives, success has ensued. Individual people have been crucial in shaping the process. Critical factors contributing to positive developments on both sides of the donor-recipient relationship have been frankness, risk-taking and a long-term perspective.     

Responses to donor proliferation in Ghana’s health sector: a qualitative case study

ObjectiveTo investigate how donors and government agencies responded to a proliferation of donors providing aid to Ghana’s health sector between 1995 and 2012.MethodsWe interviewed 39 key informants from donor agencies, central government and nongovernmental organizations in Accra. These respondents were purposively selected to provide local and international views from the three types of institutions. Data collected from the respondents were compared with relevant documentary materials – e.g. reports and media articles – collected during interviews and through online research.FindingsGhana’s response to donor proliferation included creation of a sector-wide approach, a shift to sector budget support, the institutionalization of a Health Sector Working Group and anticipation of donor withdrawal following the country’s change from low-income to lower-middle income status. Key themes included the importance of leadership and political support, the internalization of norms for harmonization, alignment and ownership, tension between the different methods used to improve aid effectiveness, and a shift to a unidirectional accountability paradigm for health-sector performance.ConclusionIn 1995–2012, the country’s central government and donors responded to donor proliferation in health-sector aid by promoting harmonization and alignment. This response was motivated by Ghana’s need for foreign aid, constraints on the capacity of governmental human resources and inefficiencies created by donor proliferation. Although this decreased the government’s transaction costs, it also increased the donors’ coordination costs and reduced the government’s negotiation options. Harmonization and alignment measures may have prompted donors to return to stand-alone projects to increase accountability and identification with beneficial impacts of projects.     

Critical interactions between Global Fund-supported programmes and health systems: a case study in Lao People's Democratic Republic

In Lao PDR, investment by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has played an important role in scaling up the response to HIV and tuberculosis (TB). As part of a series of case studies on how Global Fund-supported programmes interact with national health systems, we assessed the nature and extent of integration of the Global Fund portfolios within the national HIV and TB programmes, the integration of the HIV and TB programmes within the general health system, and system-wide effects of Global Fund support in Lao PDR. The study relied on a literature review and 35 interviews with key stakeholders using the Systemic Rapid Assessment Toolkit and thematic analysis. In Lao PDR, the HIV and TB programmes remain vertical and mostly weakly integrated with the general health system. However, Global Fund investments have extended the network of facilities delivering care at local level, resulting in greater integration with primary care and improved access for patients, particularly for TB. For HIV, as the prevalence remains low, services primarily target high-risk groups in urban areas. Less integrated functions include procurement and drug supply, and monitoring and evaluation. HIV and TB programmes are only starting to coordinate with each other. Global Fund-supported activities are generally integrated within the national disease programmes, except for monitoring and evaluation. Synergies of Global Fund support with the health system include improved access to services, institutional strengthening and capacity building, improved family planning (with wider condom distribution through HIV/AIDS social marketing programmes), and the delivery of add-on interventions, such as vaccinations and health education, alongside Global Fund-supported interventions at community level. Unintended consequences concern the lack of alignment between national stated priorities (maternal and child health) and the strong focus of external partners, such as the Global Fund, on financing communicable disease programmes.     

Study raises questions about measurement of 'additionality,'or maintaining domestic health spending amid foreign donations

Donor nations and philanthropic organizations increasingly require that funds provided for a specific health priority such as HIV should supplement domestic spending on that priority-a concept known as "additionality." We investigated the "additionality" concept using data from Honduras, Rwanda, and Thailand, and we found that the three countries increased funding for HIV in response to increased donor funding. In contrast, the study revealed that donors, faced with increased Global Fund resources for HIV in certain countries, tended to decrease their funding for HIV or shift funds for use in non-HIV health areas. More broadly, we found many problems in the measurement and interpretation of additionality. These findings suggest that it would be preferable for donors and countries to agree on how best to use available domestic and external funds to improve population health, and to develop better means of tracking outcomes, than to try to develop more sophisticated methods to track additionality.     

Drug donations to developing countries

Developing countries often receive donations of drugs from corporations and governments during acute emergencies or as part of long-term development aid. However, donated drugs are often not relevant to the circumstances in the receiving country, many drugs arrive unsorted and under trade names with no international non-proprietary name, they may arrive in the wrong quantities, the quality of donated drugs does not always comply with donor countries' standards, and they often arrive without adequate package inserts or production information, and sometimes under a brand name unfamiliar in the recipient country. Local doctors often do not know how to use the drugs since they are not usually available in their country. The level and quality of communication between donors and recipients must be improved, and recipients advised on how they should specify the kind of help they need. Drug donations should benefit recipients as much as possible and be based upon receiving countries' expressed needs. Furthermore, only drugs of acceptable quality should be donated to other countries, no drugs should be donated which have been issued to patients or doctors and then returned to pharmacies for disposal, and after arriving in the recipient country, all drugs should have a remaining shelf-life of at least 1 year. In the acute phase of an emergency, it is better to send a standardized kit of drugs specifically designed for that purpose. Once the acute phase of an emergency ends, a donation in cash for the local or regional purchase of medical supplies will be more welcome than additional donations.     

Stakeholder perceptions of aid coordination implementation in the Zambian health sector

In this study, we analysed stakeholder perceptions of the process of implementing the coordination of health-sector aid in Zambia, Africa. The aim of coordination of health aid is to increase the effectiveness of health systems and to ensure that donors comply with national priorities. With increases in the number of donors involved and resources available for health aid globally, the attention devoted to coordination worldwide has risen. While the theoretical basis of coordination has been relatively well-explored, less research has been carried out on the practicalities of how such coordination is to be implemented. In our study, we focused on potential differences between the views of the stakeholders, both government and donors, on the systems by which health aid is coordinated.A qualitative case study was conducted comprising interviews with government and donor stakeholders in the health sector, as well as document review and observations of meetings. Results suggested that stakeholders are generally satisfied with the implementation of health-sector aid coordination in Zambia. However, there were differences in perceptions of the level of coordination of plans and agreements, which can be attributed to difficulties in harmonizing and aligning organizational requirements with the Zambian health-sector plans. In order to achieve the aims of the Paris Declaration; to increase harmonization, alignment and ownership – resources from donors must be better coordinated in the health sector planning process. This requires careful consideration of contextual constraints surrounding each donor.