Harmonization and Alignment: Applying "One Plan, One Budget, and One Report"

The key principle underpinning the process of harmonization and alignment is the establishment of “One-Plan, One-Budget and One-Report” to provide coordinated and effective efforts and predictable funding in support of results-oriented national plans and strategies. The process of alignment and harmonization has made good progress in Ethiopia, with the endorsement of the “Health Sector Development Program -HSDP- Harmonization Manual” by Ethiopian Government and Development Partners (DP) in 2007. In the framework of the International Health Partnership (IHP), and following the signature of the Global Compact in 2007, Ethiopia was the first country to sign a country-specific IHP Compact with its DPs in 2008, with the aim of scaling up the country’s efforts to achieve the health Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by accelerating the implementation of HSDP. While the “One Plan” component has been addressed by the HSDP as a single programme framework for coordinating health sector action, a critical step towards “One Report” has been the reform of the Health Management Information System, with a focus on the use of information for performance improvement at all levels of the health system. Furthermore, an overall increase in the amounts of funds disbursed by DPs to public implementing agents has been observed in Ethiopia, reaching a total of USD 422.35 million in 2010/11. A critical step towards “One Budget” has been the establishment of the MDG Performance Fund (PF) to facilitate resource pooling in order to finance the priorities under the HSDP, with an increasing number of DPs joining MDG PF. As a result, progress has also been made in developing partnership and increasing resource mobilization and utilization towards the achievement of MDGs. Health has moved in recent years from underinvestment, to single disease focus, and now to increased funding, harmonisation between FMOH and partners, and a systemic approach.