What Is Country Ownership Anyway? Rethinking Global Health Partnerships

The concept of country ownership has become increasingly visible in donor policy and strategy, yet definitions vary and there is little clarity and great diversity in how this concept is articulated and practiced by donor and recipient countries. Health experts from Ethiopia, Mozambique, Uganda and Zambia will discuss why and how the U.S. government and host country actors--governments and civil society—are redefining their relationship. Our panelists will reflect on PEPFAR and other global AIDS programs in the last decade to suggest how the U.S. Global Health Initiative's key principle of country ownership may be applied to achieve specific donor and host country objectives. Our panel will attempt to answer some key questions: What is the U.S government's definition of country ownership and does this resonate with that of host country governments'? What are the objectives of country ownership? And what are the challenges to getting to a more shared definition and practice of this concept?

On Monday, June 21, 2010 Center for Global Development hosted a discussion on What is Country Ownership Anyway? Rethinking Global Health Partnerships featuring opening remarks by Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Minister of Health, Ethiopia and Chair, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The panel included Nandini Oomman, Director, HIV/AIDS Monitor, Center for Global Development; Warren Buckingham, Director, Country Program Support, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator; Caesar Cheelo, Zambia Principal Investigator, HIV/AIDS Monitor; Lecturer, Economics Department, University of Zambia; Dirce Costa, Mozambique Principal Investigator, HIV/AIDS Monitor; Development Economist, Austral-COWI Consulting; Donald Shriber, Deputy Director for Policy and Communication, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;  Freddie Ssengooba, Uganda Principal Investigator, HIV/AIDS Monitor; Lecturer, Makerere University School of Public Health; and Janis Timberlake, Director of Country Programs, Global Health Initiative Launch Team, Global Health Bureau, USAID. Lawrence MacDonald, CGD Vice President of Communications and Policy Outreach, moderated the discussion.

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