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Why is country ownership an important issue for South Africa to address?

Stated country and donor priority

Selected examples

SOURCE: Botswana HIV/AIDS response stakeholder interviews; team analysis

‘Effective stewardship will help eliminate

duplication of efforts and address gaps’

‘Effective accountability will keep us focussed on

delivering impact and not performing activities’

‘All the four dimensions together – political ownership/stewardship, institutional and community ownership, capabilities and accountability ensure a sustainable response’

‘A vibrant civil society will play a pivotal role in

driving government accountability’

‘’Country ownership ensures we have, or are effectively building, the capabilities needed to deliver across the entire response’

‘As donors, we want to provide targeted and time-bound support and not run parallel health systems’

Improves programme efficiency and effectiveness

Promotes sovereignty and political accountability

Enables sustainability

‘Country ownership is a key element of the Paris

Declaration that we signed’

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What do we mean by country ownership?

“”

Ability to execute national strategies according to plan, and innovating where necessary

Accountability

Political leadership / stewardship

Capabilities

Institutional ownership

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What is country ownership?

SOURCE: HIV/ AIDS stakeholder interviews

“ ”Leadership across all activities with Government as the first amongst equals

“”

A government driven agenda with multi-stakeholder partners contributing to the process

“”

A vibrant civil society that can mobilise resources, steer activities, contribute to the strategic framework and set governance

“”

A system which ensures empowerment of local structures which have responsibility to deliver results

“”

Necessary capacities with both technical and professional skills to deal with all HIV/AIDS response requirements

“”

Ability to execute national strategies according to plan, and innovating where necessary

“”

A response that is delivering results to which contributing partners are held accountable

“ ”A nationally driven strategy that talks to the country’s current needs

▪ Enable participants to add their own comments for each theme

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Working definition of country ownership

Ownership criteria Description

▪ Local institutions (e.g., Government, NGOs, civil society, private sector) own the final decisions for each stage (e.g., final sign-off of resource allocation decisions)

▪ Local institutions manage the funds and have responsibility for programs

Institutional ownership

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Capabilities ▪ Local institutions (Government, NGOs, civil society, private sector) either have

the capabilities required to perform activities in each stage or effectively outsource them

▪ Local institutions have the ability to dynamically modify programs based on evidence and feedback from each stage

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Accountability▪ Local institutions are accountable for results to country citizens and international

stakeholders through mechanisms where: – responsibilities are identified with consequences for failure in performance– measures are robust– transparency is present in information and processes– mechanisms for input and feedback from civil society

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Political ownership/ stewardship

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▪ Government has a clear aspiration for what should be accomplished in each stage with input from stakeholders (civil society, private sector, NGOs, and donors)

▪ Government is the architect of the overall process and facilitates input from civil society, private sector, NGOs, and donors

▪ Government has visibility and oversight into specific activities (“who does what”) conducted by stakeholders in each stage

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Political ownership/stewardship – what does great look like?

Government first among equals

Clearly articulated government aspiration

Government architecture of entire business system

Government visibility and oversight into all response activities

Description

▪ A significant and stable resource investment from government (finances, infrastructure, etc)

▪ Government leading across all stages of the business system in a way that incorporates input from all stakeholders (from strategy to evaluation)

▪ Government has a clear aspiration for what should be accomplished at each stage of the business system including strategy, priorities, indicators, etc

▪ Government provides architecture around all stages of the business system including roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders, national and district level operational plans and mechanisms to collect stakeholder input/feedback

▪ Government has visibility and oversight into specific activities (“who does what”) conducted by stakeholders at each stage of the business system (from strategy to evaluation)

SOURCE: Draws upon concepts from: “Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness,” 2005; “Accra Agenda for Action”, 2008; “Three Ones Key Principles”, UNAIDS 2003; Yogesh Rajkotia, USAID Rwanda; South Africa HIV/AIDS response stakeholders

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