LHSS Promising Practices: Advancing Universal Health Coverage through Better Planning and Budgeting at the Subnational Level

The capabilities and systems needed to strengthen health planning and budgeting are widely known. However, less is understood about practical approaches to strengthen health planning and budgeting, especially at the subnational level where, in decentralized contexts, health managers often struggle to carry out their required functions related to planning and budgeting of limited health resources.

This brief discusses promising practices identified by the USAID Local Health System Sustainability Project (LHSS), Abt Global, and other partners in working with government and non-government stakeholders to strengthen health planning and budgeting at the subnational level. The practices 

highlight why and how to put subnational level actors at the forefront of any reforms to improve health outcomes through resource optimization.

These promising practices also address the gap in knowledge about practical approaches to help subnational actors become able stewards of resource allocation and use processes. Implemented together, these practices can improve planning and budgeting, while paving the way for longer-term reforms aimed at optimizing resources for health at the subnational level.