The Management and Leadership (M&L) Program is a five-year program funded by the Office of Population and Reproductive Health of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The M&L Program is designed to improve the performance of leaders and managers; the performance of organizational and programmatic management systems; and the ability to anticipate and respond effectively to the changing external environment.

Building Organizational Capacity
Management and leadership are viewed by many as a "soft" science. We at MSH believe that the science of management, leadership, and organizational capacity building produces the hardest of results. Without it, human, financial and material resources go underutilized at best. USAID Missions have recognized this by investing over $13.6 million dollars per year in M&L programs. The enormous health challenges facing lesser developed countries require good systems which are managed and led well. These challenges are not static-leaders and managers must continue to hone their abilities. The programs they employ must continually evolve so that their organizations rise to new challenges in reproductive health, such as the human capacity crisis, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, changes in funding levels and sources, and decentralization.

There are hundreds of organizations that can benefit from organizational capacity building, management, and leadership assistance. Scaling up is about management and leadership. M&L's goal is always to enable others to use the practical programs and resources we have developed. In this way we contribute to the development of the next generation of leaders in reproductive health.

Producing Results
Egypt—average number of post partum care visits per client doubled from 2 per client to 4 per client in a Dawar district health center.

Guinea—the coverage of fully immunized children went from 0% to 62% in 12 months in the Boké, region.

Guatemala—APROFAM increased sustainability of clinic services from 88% to 122%. IPPF 2003 Annual Western Hemisphere Regional meeting in the Dominican Republic recognized APROFAM for the highest level of clinic self-financing in the Hemisphere.

Bolivia—improved organizational capacity of the faith based organization, COMBASE. Four out of five of its clinics serving 1,500,000 people recovered over 100% of their costs.

Business Planning Program—delivered through partners, 20 NGOs/FBOs in Latin America and Africa have raised $420,000 from sources such as the Belgian government, the Dutch Church, and ANESVAD.

Virtual Leadership Development Program—delivered to over 600 participants in teams in 25 countries. Teams exchange solutions across countries to common challenges in reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and other health issues.

Nicaragua—Municipal management and leadership training program, now in the hands of the MOH, is being expanded nationwide by 550 Ministry facilitators reaching over 4,000 managers. This program is being funded by PAHO and other non-USAID sources.

The M&L Program Flyer (PDF) (also in Spanish)

The Principles of Developing Managers Who Lead

Go to Stories fom the Field to see how better leadership and management practices led to improvements in work climate and management systems, resulting in higher quality health services.