Though Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere and many of its health indicators are low, there are substantial, multi-sectoral efforts occurring within the country to improve both access to and quality of the country's health and education services. The LMS Program in Nicaragua, PRONICASS, works in partnership with both public and private organizations to improve social services. A central challenge is the lack of organization of the available resources dedicated to social service programs, which results in often inefficient and ineffective use of limited resources.
RESULTS
PRONICASS has been working with 49 organizations to apply leadership and management skills to improve performance in service delivery. More than 4,400 senior leaders have been trained in these practices, with more than 2,500 of them women. PRONICASS has helped transform and update the curriculum of seven medical specialties, including Pediatrics and Obstetrics, in public medical schools.
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Twenty-nine communities and 750 people in the departments of Leon, Nueva Segovia and Boaco were trained in and applied a guide to implement the new health care model of the Ministry of Health.
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PRONICASS has helped transform and update the curriculum of seven medical specialties, including Pediatrics and Obstetrics, in public medical schools.
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Within NicaSalud, a national network of NGOs, PRONICASS led an institutional reorganization initiative to develop budgeting, procurement, accounting and financial management systems. The approval and implementation of these systems permitted USAID certification that benefited 10 Nicasalud staff and its 27 affiliate NGOs.
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PRONICASS provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Education to develop educational plans to improve local development. To date, over 114 schools in 14 municipalities have begun this school planning process involving the participation of 3,500 school directors, teachers, students and parents.
EXPERIENCE IN COUNTRY
Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Activities in Nicaragua LMS was requested by the USAID Mission in Nicaragua to provide technical assistance to rapidly strengthen management of all Global Fund projects being implemented in the country. Management development assistance was required to ensure compliance with terms of existing projects. The project specifically called for strengthening the management and improving the communication of the Country Coordinating Mechanism as well as clarifying its internal roles and responsibilities. Using the systemic approach of “management by process,” which is being utilized in other LMS Nicaragua projects and elsewhere in Latin America, the technical assistance teams produced expected results within the two-month timeframe. A key tool produced during the LMS’s Global Fund work in the country was the “Early Alert System”. This system facilitates routine monitoring and decision-making concerning priority management and technical needs of sub-recipients.
The Management and Leadership Program | | |
