"There are a number of reasons why health ministers would find this initiative helpful...in order to harmonize health programs, this person who is minister of health must increase their knowledge. You need so many skills, you need training, and you need evidence,"

- Professor Eyitayo Lambo, Nigerian Minister of Health, 2003-2007

The Program

The Ministerial Leadership Initiative (MLI) has created an exciting program for health ministers and their teams to obtain tailored technical assistance and leadership support in the areas of health financing for equity, donor harmonization and alignment, and women's health, emboldening Ministers of Health to be pioneers of fundamental change in health policy.

The program - launched in Spring 2008 and extending through April 2011 - awards technical assistance to select countries.

Ministries of Health are often under-resourced, understaffed, caught up in responding to daily demands, and lacking the practical strategies needed to advocate for policy change. Armed with rigorous evidence, policy vision, and courage, health ministries can make a difference.

Country Support

MLI will offer assistance tailored to each country’s needs and may include:

  • Help making an investment case for reform
  • Technical or political strategy advice
  • Studies on the design or evaluation of the reform
  • Assistance to nurture reforms such as workshops
  • Placing a full-time advisor on a minister’s staff to provide ongoing support

Peer Learning Network

Ministers and senior staff from participating countries also will have opportunities over the course of the project to come together and share their experiences, discuss challenges they face and potential solutions, and develop supportive relationships with one another. These relationships will be cultivated through peer learning activities that bring the group of ministers together and increase their exposure to others working on similar issues. Activities include specialized study tours, in-country workshops, and attendance and participation in global meetings.

How were ministerial teams selected?

The call for proposal submissions, issued in late February 2008, was open to lower- and middle-income countries developing or implementing a reform to improve the equity of health financing and expenditure or to increasing harmonization and alignment of donor funds. Proposals were evaluated according to how well they complied with a set of ex-ante criteria relating to:

  • The presence of a leadership vision and team
  • Technical and political feasibility of the proposed reform with respect to the goal of improved financing, expenditure, or utilization equity
  • Political will, as expressed through the willingness to assign a high-level counterpart to interact with MLI on a day-to-day basis and allocation of needed resources to the reform
  • Geographical balance, with preference given to lower-income countries in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia

Contact us to learn how you can contribute to the project, or become involved in future projects.