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Scalable, replicable programs

Developing Human Capacity
       - to strengthen service delivery
       - to support HIV/AIDS strategies

The HIV/AIDS epidemic, out-migration of staff, and ineffective human resource management have left health systems critically short of qualified workers. M&L's Human Capacity Development (HCD) activities are aimed at strengthening the health work force.

What is HCD?

In the context of the HIV crisis, Human Capacity Development (HCD) is defined as: developing the will, skills, capabilities and human resource management systems to enable people to respond effectively to HIV/AIDS. A stronger work force is needed to carry out expanded HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment programs. The goal of HCD is to increase the human capacity of the health sector.

HCD Framework

MSH has played a leadership role in the emerging global discussion of Human Capacity Development (HCD) by contributing to the design of the HCD Framework. The HCD Framework is a comprehensive strategy to increase human capacity by linking the realms of policy, the formal service sector, and the community. An organization seeking to establish a successful HCD strategy must look at the interplay between the four components of the HCD Framework:
  1. Legal, Policy, and Financial Requirements
     
  2. Human Resource Management
     
  3. Leadership
     
  4. Partnerships

What is HRM?

Organizations must invest in and manage their most valuable resource: people. Costs related to staff can consume 70 to 80 percent of an organization's budget. Human resource management (HRM) is defined as: the integrated use of systems, policies, and practices to recruit, maintain, motivate, and develop employees in order for the organization to meet its desired goals.

Effective human resource management (HRM) is critical to creating and sustaining high-performance organizations that can provide quality health services, carry out health sector reforms, and minimize the impact of HIV/AIDS on the health work force.

An effective HRM system:

  • increases staff morale and improves performance
     
  • increases the organization's ability to manage change
     
  • increases the organization's ability to achieve its goals
     

How M&L Can Help

MSH's Management & Leadership (M&L) Program can provide technical assistance to develop a national HCD strategy and to strengthen any of the four components of an HCD strategy. We also offer services and training to public-sector institutions and nongovernmental organizations to improve HRM systems and practices.

MSH has provided direct technical assistance in HRM to ministries of health and non-government organizations in Albania, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Romania, South Africa, and Uganda.

Program description More information on the human resource crisis in sub-Saharan Africa -
     [PDF - 328KB]

Story Human resource management in Uganda

Evaluation Note The transformation of the Family Life Education Program (FLEP) in Uganda -
     [PDF - 340 KB]

Available on the Electronic Resource Center (ERC):

Human Resource Management (HRM) Assessment Tool for HIV/AIDS Environments Version 1.0
 
"Human Resources: Managing and Developing Your Most Important Asset" (The Manager, Vol. 8, No.1, 1999).
This issue of The Manager discusses human resource development, its components, and its critical role in improving organizational performance.
 

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