Abstract

The “Advancing Country Ownership for Greater Results: A Roundtable Dialogue” took place on January 12, 2012, and was hosted by the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health (MLI). Country ownership is viewed as an important step towards improving aid effectiveness for global health.  Yet, country ownership is a debated issue, particularly what it means in practical terms to donors, development partners, civil society, and country governments.

MLI organized the roundtable to share its lessons learned in working with health ministries and to give global health and development leaders a platform to address this issue. The discussion delved deeply into the structural and political challenges involved in trying to advance country ownership, as well as what it will take operationally to move beyond the rhetoric of country ownership to action.