The 10th RBM Partnership Board endorsed the concept of Harmonization of partner efforts to help countries scale-up for impact (SUFI) by mobilizing resources; overcoming bottlenecks; and establishing the 'three ones' at country level. The Board endorsed the revitalization of the Harmonization Working Group to facilitate these actions.

The purpose of the Harmonization Working Group is

• to develop a formal partnership mechanism to facilitate and harmonize partners' timely support in response to countries identified needs.
• to support the establishment of the 'three ones' (one coordinating mechanism; one plan and one M&E system) at country level.

At the 12th RBM Board Meeting (May 10, 2007) the Harmonization Working Group made a presentation on a proposed shift in Partnership focus: from change-management to country implementation support.
View/download the HWG presentation [PPT 1M]
View also Letter from Working Group Co-Chairs on HWG Global Round 7 Support Consultant Selection Process [PDF 590K]

Fourth HWG Meeting

Geneva, 18-19 February 2008 - Over 30 representatives of different constituencies of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership (RBM) convened today for the 4th meeting of the RBM Harmonization Working Group (HWG). The participants reviewed the progress made in 2007 and highlighted the key areas in which malaria-endemic countries would receive assistance in 2008.
Fifteen African governments will receive technical support by the RBM Partnership on preparing their Global Fund Round 8 malaria proposals in 2008. Countries, which were awarded Global Fund grants in 2007 will receive additional assistance in signing the grants and accessing the awarded funds.
The RBM Partnership will support 21 African countries to develop comprehensive needs assessments and business plans to scale-up malaria control interventions and achieve impact.
The RBM partners agreed to develop a system for identifying and clearing funding bottlenecks on country level.
The RBM Harmonisation Group convenes twice a year to exchange experiences, assess needs, detect gaps and harmonise planning towards RMB's targets for reducing the burden of malaria by 2010.

Third HWG Meeting

The Harmonization Working Group met to develop a methodology to evaluate the support they provide to countries for their Global Fund round 7 proposals; to consolidate inputs for the overall RBM 2007-2008 workplan; to agree on an operating framework for the RBM HWG Early Warning System and the Malaria Implementation Support Team; and to define its role in the ACT subsidy roll out.

Second HWG Meeting

The second Harmonization Working Group meeting focused on developing a 2007 workplan, planning upcoming country validation missions, developing strategies to support countries in different categories (including support to countries for the development of Global Fund round 7 proposals), planning the country showcase/partner's discussion meeting and detailed work on validation, gap analysis and programme support tools.

First HWG Meeting

The 11th RBM Partnership Board (10-11 November, Geneva) approved the convening of the HWG's first meeting for 13-14 November 2006. At the first meeting, countries were categorized by the type of support they needed from the partnership. Sub-working groups were formed to develop strategies to support countries in different categories and to perform other important tasks such as identify/develop validation/ gap analysis tools; plan for a country showcase meeting/partner's discussion; and work towards an early warning system to facilitate support to countries facing implementation difficulties.