Global Financing Facility (GFF) Strategy Refresh

Timeline: Octobre 2019 – Mars 2020 | Status: Completed

Nigéria

Project Overview

As countries work towards achieving better health outcomes for women, children, and adolescents, financing mechanisms must continually evolve to respond to changing priorities, emerging evidence, and implementation realities. Periodic strategy reviews are therefore essential to ensure that investments remain aligned with national needs and deliver maximum impact.

Between Octobre 2019 and Mars 2020, the Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (HSDF), with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank, contributed to the Global Financing Facility (GFF) Strategy Refresh process in Nigeria.

The Global Financing Facility is a global partnership that supports countries to improve the health and nutrition of women, children, and adolescents through smarter financing, stronger systems, and coordinated investments. The strategy refresh provided an opportunity to assess progress, identify emerging priorities, and strengthen the strategic direction of GFF-supported efforts.

HSDF's role focused on generating evidence, facilitating stakeholder engagement, and supporting strategic discussions that would help shape future investments and programme priorities.

Health financing priorities and programme needs evolve over time. As countries implement reforms and investments, new challenges emerge while existing priorities may require adjustment. To remain effective, financing strategies must be regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to address the most pressing health system needs.

For initiatives such as the Global Financing Facility, maintaining alignment between investments, government priorities, and health outcomes requires ongoing learning, evidence generation, and stakeholder engagement.

HSDF supported the strategy refresh process through technical analysis, stakeholder engagement, and evidence-informed planning. The project focused on:

Supporting strategic reviews of existing priorities and investments.
Facilitating engagement with government and development partners.
Generating evidence to inform future planning and decision-making.
Identifying opportunities to strengthen programme effectiveness and impact.
Supporting alignment between financing strategies and national health priorities.
Contributing to discussions on sustainable health financing and systems strengthening.

The work emphasised collaboration and evidence-based decision-making to ensure that future investments reflected both national priorities and emerging health sector needs.

The GFF Strategy Refresh helped create an opportunity for reflection, learning, and strategic planning. By supporting the review of existing approaches and identifying areas for improvement, the initiative contributed to stronger alignment between investments and health system priorities.

The project reinforced the importance of adaptive planning and continuous learning in health financing, helping ensure that resources are directed towards interventions and strategies capable of delivering lasting improvements in health outcomes.