I will be attending the 11th Annual Review of the Health Sector in Diri Dawa, Ethiopia, this week.  I am excited at the prospect of this important event in the calendar of Ethiopia's cycle of health planning and implementation, which I hope will provide a rich source of data on progress in Ethiopia's health outcomes, including on the implementation of Ethiopia's IHP+ compact. I understand that there will be over 400 delegates, with all of the key IHP+ signatories and other major players represented, so it provides me a great opportunity to learn more about actual progress, perceptions of progress, and expectations of the IHP+ - both now and in comparison to those held at the signing of the compact in August 2008.  I will also be looking how the annual review process works as an accountability mechanism in Ethiopia, asking delegates whether the right issues are being discussed and at the right level of detail.

The annual review represents a key moment for IHP+Results in our data collection process in Ethiopia.  We are committed to drawing on existing monitoring processes in each IHP+ country, and this is one of the principal moments in Ethiopia.  We are also committed to using existing data where it is relevant to the questions we are trying to address, and so I will be looking to collect the most up to date information that is presented at this annual review.  In this way, I aim to reassure IHP+ signatories in Ethiopia that we are doing all that we can to align with country-led processes as much as possible.

As we are still at the start of our 3 year evaluation, an important process that we are currently going through is finding out exactly what work has been undertaken so far and the different organisational dynamics that exist. This week is the ideal opportunity for me to do this and I am looking forward to finding out more. Ethiopia is the first country to have an annual review since our evaluation begun, so hopefully it should provide us with some useful insights and lessons to learn for the future. I will make sure I update you on how it went - keep an eye on my Blog (click here to receive automatic updates)!

Hailom Banteyerga is the IHP+Results Country Researcher for Ethiopia