Duplication of effort across Development Projects in Nigeria: An example using the Master Health Facility List

OBJECTIVE: Duplication of effort across development projects is often the resultant effect of poor donor coordination in low- and middle- income countries which receive development assistance. This paper examines the persistence of duplication through a case study of health facility listing exercises in Nigeria. METHODS: Document reviews, key informant interviews, and a stakeholder’s meeting were undertaken to identify similar health facility listing exercises between 2010 and 2016. RESULTS: As an outcome of this process, ten different health facility listing efforts were identified. DISCUSSIONS: Proper coordination and collaboration could have resulted in a single list grown over time, ensuring return on investments. This study provides evidence of the persistence of duplication, years after global commitment to harmonization, better coordination and efficient use of development assistance were agreed to. CONCLUSIONS: The paper concludes by making a proposal for strategic leadership in the health sector and the need to leverage information and communications technology through the development of an electronic Health Facility Registry that can archive the data on health facilities, create opportunity for continuous updates of the list, and provide for easy sharing of the data across different country stakeholders thereby eliminating duplication. KEYWORDS: Aid Effectiveness, Donor coordination; Health Facilities; Health Information System; Health Systems; International Cooperation; Master Facility List