Abstract/Summary

Health and education sectors hold centre stage in ensuring that the benefits of economic growth and development are distributed more inclusively. GMS countries, in their development strategies and plans, give high priority to providing equitable access to health and education services at affordable prices. Policies and institutional frameworks for health and education are broadly similar across GMS countries. Resource commitments and functioning of institutional frameworks vary a great deal, however. Most health and education systems in the GMS are mixed hybrid systems, with the state playing a dominant role in services provision and the private sector complementing that role. As a result, non-state actors play only a limited role in policymaking and implementation. External development partners, especially multilateral institutions, fill this gap to a large extent. Some of the bilateral donors also play a notable but largely complementary knowledge-provision role. And, for various reasons, the research priorities of development partners are not always aligned to the priorities of the recipient-countries.