In countries affected by conflict health systems often break down. Emergency assistance is often the main source of care. As recovery begins so should the process of rebuilding health systems. However, in practice not enough is known about how effective different approaches are. The ReBUILD Consortium is a research partnership funded by the UK Department for International Development. We are working in Cambodia, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Zimbabwe to explore how we can strengthen policy and practice related to health financing and staffing. In health financing we are investigating how different financing strategies affect the poorest households. Our work on human resources studies different management innovations and opportunities for reallocating roles among health professionals.