Giving a Voice: Empowering Women to Lead
Gender is one of the most important factors to consider in designing, managing, and delivering primary and preventive health services. In 2001, MSH published an issue of The Manager on "Managing Reproductive Health Services with a Gender Perspective" (PDF - 150KB). The issue provides a simple, step-wise guide to mainstream gender-sensitive initiatives into health programs. A key component of the analysis is assessment of the service delivery organization’s own readiness to adopt a gender-sensitive approach, which is influenced by organizational leadership and culture, including gender relations within the organization itself.
Through its global work developing managers who lead at all levels of the health system, the Leadership, Management and Sustainability (LMS) Program is empowering teams to take on the organizational performance and service delivery challenges they face every day. Developing leadership and management capacity fosters greater confidence, often giving a voice, courage, and resolve to staff who were previously quiet or not heard, and frequently contributing to positive changes in gender relations and organizational culture.
Tanzania: Building Confidence
In January 2006, LMS initiated a leadership development program (LDP) in Kigoma, Tanzania in collaboration with ACQUIRE/EngenderHealth. The fertility rate is high—6 children per woman—in this remote province of western Tanzania, and the number of family planning users low. Three district teams and six health facility teams enrolled in the LDP, which is to last five months. "At the beginning of the program the women—usually nurses, midwives, and outreach workers—were passive. They waited for instructions from male physicians," reports Joan Galer, LMS's Leadership Development Specialist. "But as the program went on, and the women find out that this is about understanding the real needs of clients and communities, and organizing the teams to work together towards common goals, their strengths come to the forefront. They begin to speak up, and become leaders of their programs and facilities."
Egypt: Developing Advocates
For more than three years, the Aswan governorate of Egypt has offered a Leadership Development Program, expanding upon and sustaining the work conducted with MSH in 2002–2003. Women, including nurses and outreach workers, are now facilitators and are bringing the Program to other governorates. They have been transformed, becoming the strongest advocates for family planning and other reproductive health needs of their clients. And they are able to present their results to high levels of the Ministry of Health and Population. In February 2006, a group of women presented at a conference of stakeholders, including the Governor of Aswan, and USAID Mission staff. The Governor noted the ability of the nurses to logically explain the process of leadership development and how they achieved service delivery results with their district and health facility teams.
Afghanistan: Empowering Health Professionals
The Association for the Empowerment of Women Health Professionals of Afghanistan, an organization dedicated to raising the position of women in the health care sector, is working in partnership with LMS to strengthen their leadership skills and receive technical assistance in governance. LMS provided assistance in conducting the Association’s first formal election of its officers. Members include physicians, mid-wives, nurses, and technicians. They are becoming advocates for women’s health in Afghanistan.
Kenya: Connecting Leaders
Margaret Wambete, a teacher by profession and her colleagues Elsa Ouka and Lucy Cheshire participated in the Virtual Leadership Development Program (VLDP) that MSH conducted in 2004 in Africa. At the time, they were members of the Kenya Network of Religious Leaders living with HIV/AIDS, working at the grass roots level, raising awareness about HIV/AIDS one person at a time, and trying to combat the stigma that so hinders HIV/AIDS outreach efforts. Soon after completing the program, they set off on their own to create a new organization, the Kenya Network of HIV Positive Teachers (KENEPOTE). Over the past two years they have attracted more than 1,500 members. When Margaret, Elsa, and Lucy first began the VLDP, they had no computer experience at all—they had to travel to a nearby village and ask for help to participate in the online portions of the program. By week 13, they were all active members of the forums, contributing to the message boards, and became a leading team in the program. As a result of their participation in the VLDP, they established a strong foundation for their new organization, and are continuing to expand their advocacy and outreach work.
When managers and service providers learn to lead—to enable others to face challenges and achieve results—women health workers become empowered. They learn how to lead in their work teams, their communities, and their families. They learn approaches for facing challenges and achieving results. They learn how to inspire themselves and others to face the most difficult challenges and keep going. Such examples of leadership and organizational development show that the experiences are lending strength to achieving greater gender equity in even the most challenging environments around the world.
