Rwanda's Single Project Implementation Unit: An Effective Donor Coordination Platform in the Journey to Achieving Universal Health Coverage

Abstract

Following the devastating 1994 Genocide, the Government of Rwanda and its citizens have worked relentlessly to rebuild the country and reassemble a strong health system. Immediately after the genocide, global development partners sought to swiftly provide aid and support to the country to address urgent health system needs. However, inadequate coordination of the influx of aid resulted in duplicated efforts and inefficient health sector management. In 1998, the Central Public Investments and External Finance Bureau undertook the monitoring and evaluation of donor-funded projects and management of the Public Investment Program. However, the Bureau had limited time, resources, and health system expertise, impeding its efforts to effectively coordinate development partners. To address these inefficiencies, the Rwandan government next adopted a Sector-Wide Approach to coordinate the support of development partners at the sector level. Again, this coordination approach did not adequately consider the health sector's needs. In 2011, the Single Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) structure was created to coordinate national- and district-level government sectoral initiatives, including ensuring that intended populations were included in planning and decision-making processes. In the health sector, this included a focus on the overall goal of achieving universal health coverage. The health sector SPIU has aided Rwanda in addressing systemic financing issues at all health system levels. Challenges remain; in particular, the SPIU has struggled to align some development partners with the Government's planning calendar to maximize efficiency. It also needs to optimize the use of technology in the health sector to ensure timely decision making.

Keywords: Rwanda; donor coordination; efficiency; health financing; health system strengthening.