Experience in this Country
- Leadership, Management and Sustainability (LMS) Program 2005–2010
- Community Participation for Action in the Social Sectors (COMPASS) 2004–2009
- Action for West Africa Region (AWARE)-Reproductive Health 2003–2008
- Management and Leadership Program 2000–2005
- Advance Africa 2002–2004
- Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS) 1999–2009
Leadership, Management and Sustainability (LMS) Program
2005–2010The Leadership, Management and Sustainability (LMS) Program develops managers and leaders who achieve results in the areas of reproductive health, HIV & AIDS, infectious disease, and maternal and child health. LMS works with health organizations in the public and private sectors to create sustainable programs and systems through improved leadership and management. By strengthening management systems and increasing system-wide leadership, LMS improves the performance of health care organizations at all levels, develops human resources, and builds the capacity to anticipate and respond effectively to changing external environments.
Community Participation for Action in the Social Sectors (COMPASS)
2004–2009COMPASS Nigeria focuses on improving access to health and education within five Nigerian states, affecting 18 million men, women, adolescents, and children. The project encompasses 51 local government associations representing 66 percent of the population in the state of Lagos, Kano, Federal Capital Territory, Bauchi, and Nasarawa. The states vary widely in population and density, reflecting Nigeria’s disparity in wealth, health, and education in the north and south of the country.
COMPASS is managed by Pathfinder, Intl., and MSH works as a partner on one of the eight sectors of the project: child survival, including polio eradication in six additional states. The project is a $95 million endeavor by USAID, of which MSH manages $10 million. Currently, there are eight MSH staff members working on COMPASS.
The project goals include:
- Increasing access to both health and education facilities.
- Improving the quality of health and education services.
- Improving local communities’ ability to effectively participate in policy dialogue on health and education.
- Increasing demand for quality health and education services.
Action for West Africa Region (AWARE)-Reproductive Health
2003–2008AWARE works with West African regional health institutions and networks with potential for becoming local leaders in expanding and improving health services across the region, and in creating a regional response to reproductive health and HIV & AIDS issues as an alternative to country-by-country solutions.
AWARE works with selected regional health institutions to facilitate development of a network of Regional Technical Leadership Institutions. The project aims to strengthen these institutions through enhanced strategic planning, leadership development, and application of regional best practices in reproductive health and HIV & AIDS-each contributing to improved quality of family planning, reproductive health, infectious diseases and child survival services. By mobilizing social and donor capital and improving institutional effectiveness, the AWARE project aims to develop regional capacity and management expertise at local institutions, thus enabling advocacy for needed health policies that can reach all countries in the region.
MSH is a subcontractor responsible for the child survival, institutional capacity and regional commodity planning elements of the project. MSH is partnering with EngenderHealth, Abt Associates, and AED on the AWARE project.
Management and Leadership Program
2000–2005The M&L Program was designed to improve the performance of leaders, managers, and organizational management systems, and improve organizations' ability to anticipate and respond effectively to the changing external environment. Working with public, private, and nongovernmental organizations at all levels of the health sector, M&L strengthened individual employee, organization, and national program performance. These improvements contributed significantly to the delivery of high-quality health services.
In early 2003, the M&L Program carried out a management needs assessment and assisted the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in strategic planning. Afterward, M&L worked to address NPHCDA’s basic management and technical assistance needs identified in the agency’s strategic plan. After M&L assessed financial and programmatic accountability at all levels and implemented corresponding program changes, NPHCDA successfully implemented a pilot program for the collection of service statistics, which can be expanded for use at all health centers overseen by the organization. Additionally, it implemented a software package—originally developed by MSH in its Equity Project in South Africa—that greatly enhanced its ability to collect service statistics and use the data for decision-making.
Advance Africa
2002–2004Advance Africa was a family planning/reproductive health service delivery project designed to increase access to and improve the quality of clinical and nonclinical programs in sub-Saharan Africa. The project worked to increase capacity for informed decision-making by clients and communities, and for the public sector to sustain quality family planning/reproductive health service delivery programs. Advance Africa also worked with USAID missions to scale up existing efforts by closing gaps in service delivery, and building partnerships among public and private health and nonhealth organizations. The project implemented innovative approaches to revitalize family planning programs within the broad context of Africa’s HIV/AIDS pandemic. MSH was the prime of a consortium of six international organizations that managed implementation of the Advance Africa project.
With support from nongovernmental organization (NGO) Networks for Health, Advance Africa documented work done by Nigerian women's networks that had integrated family planning/reproductive health into their activities. The project held a workshop with representatives from the women’s networks, bilateral donors, USAID, and the public sector to identify potential constraints and opportunities. Advance Africa, inspired by the value of networking and consensus-building for decision-making used with this group, developed its strategic mapping tool—a participatory rapid assessment and group planning instrument—to increase participation in nonhealth networks and to identify potential partners for further activities.
Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS)
1999–2009As a technical assistance partner for newborn and child health to the USAID Bureau for Global Health, the Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS) Project develops and implements strategies to reduce preventable infant and childhood deaths in the developing world. MSH works as a partner in BASICS, which began its third phase in October 2004. Under this indefinite quantity contract (IQC), BASICS assists USAID/Washington Bureaus, USAID field missions, host-country governments, donor agencies, NGOs, PVOs, research institutions, and the private sector to scale up and increase the use of newborn and child health and nutrition interventions by families, communities, and health systems.
Since 1993, BASICS has worked to achieve substantial improvements in coverage and to expand effective newborn and child health interventions. BASICS focus areas include newborn health, essential nutrition actions like vitamin A supplementation, immunization, integrated management of childhood illness, treatment of diarrhea and pneumonia, and malaria control. In addition to strengthening the delivery of basic newborn and child health services, BASICS has expanded its technical scope to include pediatric HIV & AIDS, birth spacing, and child survival and nutrition in complex humanitarian crises. BASICS areas of expertise include assistance to countries on comprehensive strategies or selected interventions for newborn and child health, building partnerships, delivery of quality newborn and child health services, community-based treatment and private sector approaches to expand access to services, and capacity building and training.
From 1994 to 1999, the BASICS/Urban Private Sector Integrated Health project facilitated the development of the private health sector partnerships within the predominantly urban state of Lagos. BASICS developed the Community Partners for Health program to improve child health services and home health practices. This innovative model encouraged behavior change at both the clinic and home levels. Moreover, it reached families and childcare providers through collaborations with well-established, existing community-based organizations.
After Nigeria's political landscape changed in 1999, BASICS reorganized its strategy to work closely with the Ministry of Health and its development partners through 2004 to support integrated child health in the country.
Now in its third project cycle, BASICS is partnering with Food Basket Foundation International, a local nongovernmental organization, to introduce growth monitoring and promotion and hearth-based rehabilitation of malnourished children, developed by identifying neighbors who have well-nourished children and learning what and how they feed them. These two interventions are helping to improve the feeding of infants and young children, and are essential components of a USAID/Africa Bureau multisectoral project to reduce food insecurity.
