Dear Sopo,

 

It feels good, seeing your concerns about the financial situation of the BCA workplan. It really shows your commitment to the key priorities agreed by the BCA and word the work we are doing together. I also understand it as a strong support to the country office. Country office is responsible for smooth implementation of the BCA and securing resources is part of our work. Luckily we have strong support of variety of technical units.

 

Indeed we expected much more resources for the UHC to be secured by the EU-LUX-WHO Partnership. Months ago when we have learnt about the available funds, I have formally complain to the headquarters, which was fully supported by the Barcelona office. Immediately we have also started internal discussions with Sarah (Thomson), Tamas (Evetovits) and Hans (Kluge). Both, Barcelona office and the Regional Office committed that they will provide additional resources for Georgia, if needed. We still need to be very careful with spending available funds, which means that your email is very reasonable and timely.

While implementation of the BCA is responsibility of the country office and we take care for most of the administrative and other tasks, all our decisions and all main financial transactions are done in close collaboration with the respective technical units. We maintain very high level of internal transparency additionally to very strict administrative and financial rules.

For this reason Georgian participation at both courses has been discussed with Sarah and Triin. For participation at Observatory Summer School the decisive factor is to link quality of services with strategic purchasing. Strategic purchasing is very important part of the UHC, and we see quality of services as important part of strategic purchasing. If the ministry feels the same, than for sure it is worth investing in such capacity building. We see Maia (deputy minister) as very important participant, having in mind the preferences(interest as well as high position and thus capacity to influence future processes in Georgia. Other possible candidates are someone from the SSA and from the Health care Department (is it deputy minister, director or head or somebody else is up to the ministry). We plan to cover the course fee (up to 2500 USD and flight ticket). I think we will not be able to pay any per diem, as course fee covers hotel, meals, all materials and transfer from/to the airport in Venice. I think we will be able to fund two persons; it would be very difficult to fund 4 persons, maybe we could manage 3 participants, if they are really strong candidates. We can discuss details once you have names. Observatory may not accept all applications (in this case we can negotiate with them their decision), and we discuss funding once we have all names.

 

WHO Barcelona Course on Health Financing for Universal Health Coverage (15 to 19 October 2018 in Barcelona, Spain) is also very interesting and Barcelona office very much supports participation of Georgian high level representatives. Symbolic course fee will need to be paid by the participants and covers tuition, course materials, coffee breaks and lunches on all five days of the course, plus one dinner reception. Participants will be responsible for covering the costs of travel, accommodation and subsistence while in Barcelona. This has also been discussed with Sarah and Triin. Having in mind the focus of our work and also the fact that practically all deputy ministers are new, this course might be considered even more important than the OBS Summer School. It would be great to see there all 3 deputy ministers, but not sure if this is possible due to internal issues at the ministry. I guess we could consider funding 3-4 participants, only exceptionally more. Again this very much depends on the names and the impact that nominated high level participants could have on the future development in the country. I am afraid we would have to fund air tickets and reduced per diem (as some meals are included in the course). We will struggle with funds, but again, this is something I need to worry about and will for sure discuss it with the Barcelona office and finally with Hans if there will be a need to escalate it to such level.

 

WHO commitment to support Georgia is very high. While we have to be rational, we are also willing to consider all proposals/requests from the side of the member state that are rational and will have positive impact at the country level. We will do our best to match resources with the needs. It will not be easy, but after discussions with Tamas and Hans, I am optimistic.

We may relocate some funds within the workplan, when it comes so far (and if possible). As a Head of the Country Office I will do my best to receive more funds from the EU-LUX-WHO Partnership, although this pretty much arbitrary decision of the headquarters.

 

I don’t think there is a need to alarm the minister about the financial constraints. It is enough if he is informed that financial situation is complex and that entire WHO (from headquarters to the regional office, Barcelona office and country office) does its best to support Georgia. Overall his presence at the high level conferences (i.e. Sitges, Tallinn) and governing bodies (WHA, RC), incl. possible adjacent meetings and his personal engagement and confirmation that the assistance provided by WHO is important for Georgia, really matters. Donors, as well as internal (WHO) decision makers need to hear that from the member state, and this helps us securing funds for the work at the country level.

For sure we will be able to continue with technical assistance at similar intensity as in the first months of 2018.

 

Finally let me also inform you that during the last days we managed to secure funds for the HBSC survey. The situation was pretty much desperate and despite the value was small (under 20,000 USD) it was still raised to the level of directors (Nedred Emiroglu, Claudia Stein, Bente Mikkelsen), as survey was recognized as an important opportunity that does not appear every year. All listed directors provided strong support and after the intervention of Bente it was Moscow office (led by Joao Breda) and respective technical unit (led by Martin Weber) that provided funds. Hopefully we will be able to raise the agreement for Performance of Work with the NCDC before end of this week.

 

Again, it is real pleasure working closely with you, as your support and dedication is strong motivation also for the country office and our overall engagement.

 

Best regards,

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Marijan,

 

Could you be so kind and clarify once more, which costs for this course and for Barcelona course on Health System Financing (October 2018), are planned to be covered form BCA budget. Afterward we will decided number of participants.

 

As you mentioned from your previous email at this stage we have 336,000 USD available in BCA budget, out of this we have 120,000 USD available for the UHC and this money  is not enough for the envisaged work and we may need to secure additional funds even for the second half of 2018.   For the Ministry strengthening UHC program is priority, if we are out of money even for the second half of 2018 and WHO cannot provide any technical assistant within the UHC partnership program we need to discuss this issue with the Minister.

 

After receiving the feedback from you I will inform you regarding the decision on participation for mentioned courses and further steps.  

 

 

 

Dear Maia,

 

This is a kind reminder that only one week left  for applying to the Venice Summer School.

The application form is attached.

I kindly advise you that applications are sent directly to the OBS with copy to me, so I can liaise with the Observatory.

Attached you can find the pdf and the word application form, whichever is more suitable for you.

 

Best regards,