Health sector development: from aid coordination to resource management

Aid coordination has assumed a prominent place on health policy agendas. Th is paper synthesises the findings of research undertaken to explore the cha nging practices of aid coordination across a number of countries. It begins by reviewing the key issues giving rise to increased attention to aid coor dination in the health sector. The second section describes, assesses and c ompares the strengths and weaknesses of the dominant mechanisms or instrume nts which were found to be employed to coordinate health sector aid in the case studies. From this analysis, four factors become clear. First, in many countries, co ordination mechanisms have been introduced as a part of an incremental proc ess of trying out different approaches - there is no one model that stands out at any one time. Secondly, some instruments function largely for consul tation, predominantly coordinating inputs, while others are more directive and operational, and are used to manage inputs, processes and outputs. Thir d, many of the mechanisms have not excelled, although, fourth, it is diffic ult to judge the effectiveness or impact of aid coordination. It is therefo re argued that concern with the effectiveness of aid coordination arrangeme nts must give way to a broader analysis of the processes, outputs and outco mes governing the use of both external and domestic resources, focusing on institutional characteristics, the distribution and nature of influence amo ng the actors, and the interests which they pursue through the aid regime. These factors varied considerably across the countries indicating that aid management is context dependent and subject to continuing changes. Finally, the paper looks at the findings in the light of the introduction of sector -wide approaches.