R4D co-chaired the financing task force at the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA). The work of the GHWA Financing Task Force focused on three areas: (i) identifying, validating, and synthesizing empirical and programmatic evidence on HRH financing issues; (ii) guiding how this evidence can be used by policy makers in implementing HRH financing policies, in regards to retention and distribution; (iii) providing Ministries of Health and Education with the tools to estimate the cost of alternative plans and policies on employing and training HRH. The Financing Task Force produced the following materials:
- A framework paper called Financing and Economic Aspects of Health Workforce Scale-up and Improvement, which reviews and synthesizes the literature and programmatic experience to date on HRH financing. This paper is being adapted into a training module for graduate level training in health economics.
- An action paper called What Countries Can Do Now: Twenty-Nine Actions to Scale up and Improve the Health Workforce (WCCDN), which provides recommendations on actionable steps for implementing effective HRH financing policies.
- A hands-on, ready to use Excel-based tool called Resource Requirements Tool (RRT) which helps countries to estimate and project the resources required for meeting their HRH plans; analyze the plans’ affordability; simulate “what if” scenarios; and facilitate the monitoring of scale up plans. It can also contribute to the development of the cost and financing component of Human Resource Management Information Systems. The tool has been applied in countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Liberia, Mozambique, Malawi, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Peru, Sierra Leone.
