Realist evaluation of the role of the Universal Health Coverage Partnership in strengthening policy dialogue for health planning and financing: A protocol

Introduction: In 2011, WHO, the European Union and
Luxembourg entered into a collaborative agreement to
support policy dialogue for health planning and financing;
these were acknowledged as core areas in need of
targeted support in countries’ quest towards universal
health coverage (UHC). Entitled ‘Universal Health Coverage
Partnership’, this intervention is intended to strengthen
countries’ capacity to develop, negotiate, implement,
monitor and evaluate robust and integrated national health
policies oriented towards UHC. It is a complex intervention
involving a multitude of actors working on a significant
number of remarkably diverse activities in different
countries.
Methods and analysis: The researchers will conduct a
realist evaluation to answer the following question: How, in
what contexts, and triggering what mechanisms, does the
Partnership support policy dialogue for health planning and
financing towards UHC? A qualitative multiple case study
will be undertaken in Togo, Liberia, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso and Niger. Three steps
will be implemented: (1) formulating context–mechanism–
outcome explanatory propositions to guide data collection,
based on expert knowledge and theoretical literature;
(2) collecting empirical data through semistructured
interviews with key informants and observations of key
events, and analysing data; (3) specifying the intervention
theory.
Ethics and dissemination: The primary target audiences
are WHO and its partner countries; international and
national stakeholders involved in or supporting policy
dialogues in the health sector, especially in low-income
countries; and researchers with interest in UHC, policy
dialogue, evaluation research and/or realist evaluation.