16 International working arrangements

In a rapidly moving field, there is a need for a mechanism for updating concepts and language, and providing practical guidance on emerging issues. To add value to country-level development work, such a mechanism must be able to draw on a range of national experience. Secondly, sector-specific developments in health need to be tied into more general work on aid instruments, macro-economic development, public expenditure management and poverty reduction. Thirdly, individual agencies will need to establish arrangements for addressing the relationship between domestic and development policies, and dealing with the systemic issues (such as procurement and financial disbursement rules) that arise in the course of preparing sector-wide programmes.

International technical working group on health SWAps

An International Technical Working Group has been established to take forward a programme of work agreed by participants at the Dublin meeting, This group will track developments in relation to health SWAps, carry out analytic work on the introduction of sector-wide approaches in a range of different national circumstances, and disseminate information on emerging best practice.

Members include the initial core group that organised the Copenhagen and Dublin meetings and commissioned work on the Guide (Danida, DFID, the European Commission, Irish Aid, the World Bank and the World Health Organization); national policy makers and experts, who have served as a reference group for initial conceptual work on SWAps; and, on a co-opted basis, the focal points of individual working groups.

To ensure that work on sector-wide approaches in health contributes to, and benefits from, similar efforts in other sectors, and develops in relation to thinking on overall macro-economic policy and budget management, the Technical Working Group will establish links with bodies such as the Economic Management Working Group of the SPA.