The government of Rwanda requested World Bank assistance to prepare a series of Poverty Reduction Support Grants (PRSGs) program. The PRSGs focused on three primary areas:

(a) increased financing for health services
(b) enhanced stewardship, management and governance efforts
(c) increased availability, quality and efficiency of health services.

In order to achieve these objectives in an efficient and transparent manner, the PRSGs has supported the scale up of performance-based financing. GPOBA Technical Assistance funds financed a study which reviewed the efficacy of previous OBA schemes in an effort to draw lessons and determine the best elements of each scheme for national scale up.

• Project Factsheet on Rwanda
   
• Performance-based contracting in health: The experience of three projects in Africa
   

GPOBA’s Technical Assistance has assisted the Government of Rwanda in its efforts to inform policy formulation with respect to performance based financing.

GPOBA Technical Assistance supported the comparison of two OBA schemes in Butare and Cyangugu with each other and with two districts without the schemes. By comparing health sector performance in the OBA districts against those financed by traditional input-based schemes, this study helped quantify the benefits of OBA. It also helped to flesh out the most promising elements of each scheme.

Miriam Schneidman