Ghana's GFF journey so far: Similarities with the Giraffe

About the Author

Pearl Opoku-Youngmann is a Liaison Officer with Global Financing Facility (GFF) in Ghana. She holds a master’s in research and Public Policy. She has worked with the health sector for the past 10 years facilitating policy dialogue, project coordination, stakeholder management and human resource management.  She seeks to continue supporting governments and other clients to coordinate their projects and work collaboratively with project stakeholders to achieve desired objectives.

Ghana’s GFF journey so far: Similarities with the Giraffe

At the beginning of Ghana’s journey with the Global Financing Facility (GFF) in October 2019, the GFF was described as a Giraffe because of its features of like great height from its long neck and legs (representing a visionary partnership) and unique body patterns (representing diversity depending on the country context).

The Journey

The Ghana-GFF partnership was birthed in October 2019 and the country immediately leveraged the GFF to begin the process of implementing the Universal Health Coverage Roadmap for 2030 (UHC Roadmap, 2030) through the development of an Investment Case for Health which metamorphosed into the Health Sector Medium Term Development Plan (HSMTDP,2022-2025). The process has been long and winding and fraught with several challenges including but not limited to different ideas on what the GFF represented and what it brought to the table, what the IC meant within the country’s planning and budgeting context and its implications thereof, who the stakeholders should be and subsequently COVID-19 and its disruptive impact on the focus, approach, process, and pace of developing document.

Over several months of stakeholder engagement and perseverance, an almost complete document has been developed under the strong leadership of the Ministry of Health and the immense and tireless efforts of Development Partners. Through the course of this obstacle-ridden journey, the initially comparison of the partnership with a giraffe’s characteristics were brought to bear. Let’s look at some of them.

Giraffelike Features

The first and most unique feature of the giraffe is its height from a long neck and long legs. This represented visionary partnership for Ghana looking to implement the UHC Agenda for 2030. The Ministry’s leadership was key in the direction for Ghana’s first IC should cover the next four years during which results will be monitored for course correction.

Another similar characteristic of the giraffe and the partnership was the ability to run steadily with the herd and leave no one behind. Unlike most Investment Cases which might be parallel in nature, Ghana’s Ministry of Health proposed that Ghana’s IC incorporate strategies and interventions aimed at improving RMNCAH-N outcomes within the context of strengthening the entire primary health care system through improvements in quality, utilization, and equity.

A third unique feature of this partnership was the practice of continually seeking new resources. Giraffes though tall and fast runners are aware of their limitations by virtue of their physical structure which often leads to resource depletion in their environment and so tend to move on to support their survival. Ghana in recognition of the finite resources for health engaged various stakeholders to sensitize them and receive inputs on the strategic direction for health and welcomed the Resource Mapping exercise that the GFF supports to better understand the resource landscape in the health sector, have a tool for expenditure tracking and a living tool for planning, budgeting and advocacy for resources and better allocation of same. The Ministry’s Resource Mobilization and Planning & Budgeting units are also constantly seeking out opportunities to engage with strategic partners in a bid to raise additional resources for health.

Let’s hear about your country

Undoubtedly, each country has had a different journey and a unique set of characteristics as far as the GFF partnership is concerned. Let us know how similar your country is to Ghana, what animal the GFF is to your country and how. Would love your feedback.