case development for a fund supporting csos active in national health policies presentation to the...

Case development for a fund supporting CSOs active in national health policies

Presentation to the IHP+ Steering Committee

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Table of Contents

• CSO-support fund as a public good

• What a CSO-support fund could look like

• How a CSO-support fund could be structured

• Next steps

• Annex

• Context

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The 2013 HPAF review identified strengths and showed potential for greater impact by adjusting grant size & duration, and supporting capacity building

• Grant duration: The time frame (12-18 months) is too short for advocacy work to cause significant change

• Grant size: $30,000 grants are too small to really make a difference, particularly in networks

• Focus of support: Grantees often lack capabilities that would allow them to have more impact and to focus on aid effectiveness

Areas for improvement

• HPAF fills an important niche as other grants in this space are usually much more earmarked to e.g., a specific disease area

• Grantees are able to adapt to a changing policy environment due to the flexibility allowed in work plans

• Grantees are provided with support locally

Strengths of HPAF

SOURCE: Dalberg 2013 Review of CSO engagement in national health policy processes supported through the HPAF

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Table of Contents




• Next steps

• Context

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Our interviews with HPAF stakeholders confirmed that there is a need for a support fund for civil society organizations engaged in national health policies

SOURCE: Dalberg interviews with HPAF-grantees, IHP+ CSO-representatives and IHP+ Steering Committee members

“Most NGOs focus on one issue and cannot engage in the broader health dialogue. This is probably because internationally there were always more funds available to support NGOs focused on particular issues.”

Donor

Building relationships with government officials takes time and money, especially given the poor infrastructure in my country.

CSO-representative

“We would really benefit from support in the form of trainings on lobbying skills, advocacy and campaigning tactics, strategy design, proposal writing and monitoring finances. It would also be valuable to receive help in networking with CSOs outside of our immediate area.”

Grantee

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Donors were reluctant to make contributions to a CSO-support fund, but there might be enough interest to have talks with a “coalition of the willing”

OperationsNot within focus area

SOURCE: Interviews with potential donors for a CSO-support fund focusing on strengthening health systems

Despite these concerns, 3 - 5 potential donors indicated that they could see the potential to contribute to a CSO-support if a more concrete

proposal were presented – each with their own ‘preferences’

Concerns brought up by donors

• Hard to measure / attribute impact

• No fit with focus area

• Overlap with existing support provided to CSOs engaged in health advocacy

• Budget cycle inflexibility and other internal internal constraints

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Table of Contents




• Next steps

• Context

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Stakeholders expressed their preference for a fund that supports coalitions (where possible) by providing grants and capacity building over a longer period

SOURCE: Interviews with HPAF stakeholders, desk research.

Focus and type of support

recommendations

Fund and grant characteristic

recommendations

• Continue to provide grants to CSOs focusing on national / local health systems

• Combine funding with (local) capacity building

• Provide assistance during the application process

• Help CSOs establish linkages with media & government

• Make grants more predictable and reduce admin effort

• Extend grant duration beyond 2 years

• Focus on coalitions where possible

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Donors and other stakeholders shared some “best practices” based on their experience with supporting CSOs to strengthen health systems

SOURCE: Interviews with HPAF stakeholders, http://www.thegpsa.org/; http://www.who.int/pmnch/en/

One donor provides assistance during the application process for grants to CSOs: seminars, online forum for applicants, workshops for shortlisted candidates and webinars on specific topics.

Donor

GPSA measures impact through a results framework developed for each project based on the pillars of governance (transparency, representation and voice, accountability, learning and improved results)

GPSA

The WHO organizes 5-day workshops in coordination with the International Budget Partnership where they bring together parliamentarians, government officials and CSOs.

WHO

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Table of Contents




• Next steps

• Context

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The HPAF fund can either be hosted by IHP+, by another organization or it can be an independent entity

CSO CSO CSO CSO

Fully independentIHP+ and external manager(as is)

HPAFManager and advisor

External Partner (Manager)

IHP+ Core Team (Coordinator)

IHP+ PTC(Advisor)

Other host

HPAF (Manager)

Host(Supervisor and Advisor)

Description

Steering Com-mittee (Oversight)

CSO – rep(Advisor)

IHP+

• IHP+ hosts the HPAF and an external partner manages the grants

• HPAF is a fully independent organization (option for external manager)

• HPAF is hosted and managed by another organisation (option for a separate earmarked fund)

Donor Donor Donor DonorDonor Donor Donor Donor Donor Donor Donor Donor

CSO CSO CSO CSO CSO CSO CSO CSO

Recommendation

Structure

SOURCE: Interviews with potential donors for a CSO-support fund focusing on strengthening health systems

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Potential host Evaluation of fit Openness to partner

+ Aligned scope+ Potential for a new fund for health policy+ Knowledge sharing potential through online platform- Questions raised around capacity of secretariat to accommodate- Limited results so far as the program is new- Word Bank procurement rules could pose a challenge (to be checked

with GPSA)

Willingness to explore further

+ Aligned scope+ Potential to be a host in principle+ Knowledge sharing potential in line with current network practice - Limited disease focus (RMNCH) - Supporting CSOS is a small part of the work- WHO systems have high administrative barriers - The structure may not allow for much direct support to CSOs

To be followed up with

+ Aligned scope+ Potential to be a host in principle:+ Knowledge sharing potential amongst members- Approach is not grant-based but direct support provision, with focus on

advocacy for government budgeting

To be followed up with

If HPAF were to be hosted by another organization, GPSA currently provides the best option in terms of fit and has expressed a willingness to partner

Preliminary recommendation

SOURCE: Interviews with potential donors for a CSO-support fund focusing on strengthening health systems, http://www.thegpsa.org/, http://internationalbudget.org/, http://jointlearningnetwork.org/what/challenge

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GPSA provides broad advocacy support to CSOs seeking to improve social accountability in a broad variety of sectors

Donor 44

No specific focus on

health

Health systems

Issue specific (e.g., HIV/AIDS

or RMNCH)

Specific advocacy support (e.g. shadow budget)

Broad advocacy support

Functional focus

Sect

oria

l foc

us

SOURCE: Interviews with potential donors for a CSO-support fund focusing on strengthening health systems, http://www.thegpsa.org/, http://internationalbudget.org/, http://jointlearningnetwork.org/what/challenge

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Table of Contents




• Next steps

• Context

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If the IHP+ Steering Committee decides to explore these options further, the next steps are securing donor support and detailing partner/ hosting arrangement

Prepare a concept note for interested donors

Interview potentially interested donors

1Reach out to high-

potential donors

Develop partnering/

hosting options

Interview PMNCH and IBP

Prepare a short memo for each potential partner/ host

Discuss and refine memo

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SOURCE: Interviews with potential donors and partners/hosts for a CSO-support fund focusing on strengthening health systems

case development for a fund supporting csos active in national health policies presentation to the...

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