March 27, 2006

Latin American Health Sector Reform Initiative (LACHSRI) Launches the Business Planning Program (BPP) for Municipalities and CORE Plus

LMS and its program partner, PROCOSI (a Bolivian NGO network), held a 5-day "launch week" in Managua for teams from two Nicaraguan municipalities and four municipalities from the Copán area of Honduras. The BPP for municipalities and CORE Plus are complementary tools that are helping the municipalities offer better services to their clients. Participants were introduced to the BPP methodology and a schedule for completion of each module of the program was determined. A closing reception is planned for August 2006 at which time the municipal teams will present their business plans to donors, philanthropists, and other investors. Application of CORE Plus in the municipalities will be carried out in parallel. The tool helps municipalities cost the services they provide, make decisions about prices they charge (if any), determine if staff are assigned to activities that make the best use of their time, and provide input to business planning with concrete information about the cost of providing services.