Sophie Smyth1, Anna Triponel2. 1. Beasley School of Law, Temple University. 2. Global Partnership for Education, World Bank.
Abstract
Experience teaches that the Framework Convention on Global Health (FCGH) will need a financing facility if it is to garner widespread acceptance among low-income countries. The promise of financing is a well-established carrot to encourage countries to assume new convention-imposed obligations that will be costly to carry out. Promising to provide financing as part of an intergovernmental call for commitment also activates a rights-based approach. For donor and recipient countries, a funding facility embodies an actualization of their commitment to a convention's collective undertaking to address a given issue. Donors signal their commitment through their contributions; recipients signal commitment through their efforts to use any support received to achieve the convention's objectives. This essay highlights the need for an FCGH financing facility, provides a preliminary sketch of what it should look like, and urges the facility's creators to adopt a bold and innovative approach that draws upon, but improves, current precedents.
Experience teaches that the Framework Convention on Global Health (FCGH) will need a financing facility if it is to garner widespread acceptance among low-income countries. The promise of financing is a well-established carrot to encourage countries to assume new convention-imposed obligations that will be costly to carry out. Promising to provide financing as part of an intergovernmental call for commitment also activates a rights-based approach. For donor and recipient countries, a funding facility embodies an actualization of their commitment to a convention's collective undertaking to address a given issue. Donors signal their commitment through their contributions; recipients signal commitment through their efforts to use any support received to achieve the convention's objectives. This essay highlights the need for an FCGH financing facility, provides a preliminary sketch of what it should look like, and urges the facility's creators to adopt a bold and innovative approach that draws upon, but improves, current precedents.