This exploratory study seeks to understand the factors that will contribute to the sustainability of the A research brief to present the key findings of an exploratory study to understand the factors that will contribute to the stustainability of a Village Health Worker Scheme introduced into half the wards in Gombe State, northeastern Nigeria. The findings are based on a first round of qualitative interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders, to gain their views on what has worked well and what has proved challenging in setting up the scheme, to inform any future scale-up of the initiative to the rest of the state and across Nigeria.