Why is country ownership so important?
“When there is ownership, ownership leads to commitment. I cannot commit to something I do not own.… The best ownership is when it’s owned by the community. So people are informed, they know what is going on, they know what we are doing where. We involve them in planning, we involve them in monitoring and evaluation. They check us. That can prevent any corruption from happening. When I say ownership, it should be owned by the people.”
–Ethiopian Health Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, from John Donnelly’s “Ethiopia’s Tedros: No ownership, no scale,” part three of the 8-part blog series called “In the Driver’s Seat: A Series on Country Ownership of Health Programs” featured on the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health website.
Country ownership is at the core of the vision for the LMG project
Through embracing the principles of country ownership, gender equity, and evidence-driven approaches, the LMG Project seeks to direct the values and goals of the project to foster better health outcomes for all.
The work of the LMG project is guided by the principles of the Paris Declaration, which underscores the importance of country ownership, as well as U.S. Global Health Initiative (GHI) principles (below), which include an emphasis on encouraging country ownership and investing in country-led plans:
Principles underlying the foundation of the GHI:
- Focus on Women, Girls, and Gender Equality
- Encourage country ownership and invest in country-led plans
- Strengthen and leverage other efforts
- Increase impact through strategic coordination and integration
- Build sustainability through health systems strengthening
- Promote learning and accountability through monitoring and evaluation
- Accelerate results through research and innovation
Read our blog post on Country Ownership and the Tao of Leadership by Jim Rice.
June 2012 USAID Interagency Report on Country Ownership.
Examples of How LMG Promotes Country Ownership
LMG/Vietnam
The LMG program in Vietnam is another example of LMG’s commitment to ensuring country ownership. The LMG-Transition Support Project (LMG-TSP) is designed to support Viet Nam’s HIV/AIDS response in transitioning to greater country ownership and greater sustainability. The project’s aim is to facilitate development of an evidence-based transition approach to inform the policy, coordination and planning required for greater country ownership through the following result areas:
1. Leadership: support transition policies and processes at central and provincial levels.
2. Human Resources: support capacity to plan and implement effective human resource transitions.
3. Finance: support funding options for an efficient and sustainable HIV/AIDS response.
Host Country Client Engagement
Support to host country health sector leaders is taking place in these countries:
LMG Webinars Promote Knowledge Exchange with Host Country Clients
Participants in LMG webinars on the role of gender in strong M&E for health systems L+M+G were based in these countries: Guyana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Afghanistan, and Myanmar.