Funder Group Field Trip

Concept

The openIMIS initiative has been established and continually supported since 2016 by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Representatives of these organizations form the ‘Funder Group’ of openIMIS and meet yearly to discuss the strategies and priorities for the development and expansion of the openIMIS initiative. The latest iteration of the ‘Funder Group Meeting’ (FGM) took place in November 2022 in Bonn, Germany. The meeting was organized by GIZ’s Global Programme Social Protection Innovation and Learning (GV SPIL), which functions as the coordination desk of the openIMIS initiative and is responsible for the implementation and coordination of activities related to the openIMIS initiative.

During the meeting in November 2022, it was agreed that the funder group would undertake a field visit to a partner country with an existing openIMIS implementation. The visit would allow for the funder group to observe openIMIS implementations closely and provide an opportunity to exchange with partners (scheme operators) who are using, managing, and benefitting from this Digital Public Good (DPG) . The visit would also provide context and information for strategic planning of the next phase of support for the openIMIS initiative, scheduled to start from September 2023. Additionally, the visit provides an opportunity for the funder group to interact with other development partners/agencies in country, understand their priorities, to inform the global discourse on openIMIS and DPGs.

In subsequent discussions between the coordination desk and the funder group, Nepal was chosen as the location for the field visit as it has not only one of the largest implementations of openIMIS, but also multiple implementations of openIMIS for a variety of social protection schemes and in cooperation with multilateral organizations (ILO). Being a country with strong development cooperation links for both Germany and Switzerland, a visit to Nepal presents an opportunity to discuss other areas of interest with various partners in country (eg. P4H, Digital Health, Digital Social Protection etc).

Dates

17.-21.04.2023

Delegation

• Alexander SCHRADE (Mr), Senior Policy Officer, Division Health, Social Protection and Population Policy Division / German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

• Olivier PRAZ (Mr), Senior Policy Advisor, Global Programme Health / Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)

Objectives

The primary objectives of the field visit are to:
a) Observe and understand openIMIS implementation in Nepal

• Observe the various functionalities supported by openIMIS in the various schemes – in communities, hospitals, at scheme operators.

• Interact with Health Insurance Board (HIB) & Social Security Fund (SSF)

• Interact with the bilateral GIZ programme “Support of the Health Sector Strategy” (S2HSS, BMZ funded) team

b) Interact with wider network of partners/agencies on topics closely related to openIMIS. Topics include, but not limited to:

• P4H, health financing

• Digital Health, Digital Social Protection

• Interoperability

c) Strategy development for next phase of the openIMIS initiative

Partners / agencies to meet

• GIZ S2HSS SHP/Digital Health teams

• SDC and BMZ country representatives

• Health Insurance Board & Social Security Fund

• Ministry of Health and Population

• Economic Development Partners
  o World Bank (health and social protection teams)
  o WHO (P4H)
  o ILO

• openIMIS community members (eg. developers, academia)