Developing Competencies for Health Sector Managers

Global Health Workforce Alliance

Conference

Kampala, Uganda

March 4, 2008

Elizabeth H. Howze, ScDDivision of Global Public Health Capacity

DevelopmentSustainable Management Development

Program

Coordinating Office for Global Health

What this talk is about

•Definitions and frameworks•Core competencies needed•Examples of good practice•Observations & future directions

Competence: Definition*

• Competence is a standardized requirement for an

individual to properly perform a specific job. It

encompasses a combination of knowledge, skills

and behavior utilised to improve performance.

• The state or quality of being adequately or well

qualified, having the ability to perform a specific

role.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competence_%28human_resources%29

SMDP Competency Framework

CommunicationCommunication

Team BuildingTeam BuildingPriority SettingPriority Setting

Planning &Planning &Performance Performance AssessmentAssessmentProblem Problem SolvingSolving

LeadershipLeadership

IndividualIndividual InterpersonalInterpersonal ManagerialManagerial OrganizationalOrganizational ContextualContextual

Increasingly complex Increasingly complex

performance performance

behaviorsbehaviors

Focus of 6-

week MIPH

course

SMDP Strategy

MIPH

graduates

In-country

trainers

Public health managers

trained in-country

Many more participate in training

and applied management projects

Translating training to practice - Vietnam

• Improving processing time of laboratory specimens

• Increasing effectiveness of outreach to high- risk populations

• Increasing number of HIV/AIDS patients accessing outpatient

services for treatment

• Increasing ARV adherence

• Improving quality of HIV/AIDS counseling services

• Increasing % of clients returning for confirmatory test results

Observations & future directions

• Good training needs assessment, design and targeted content

• Linked to broader capacity building objectives and strategies

• Supportive organizational context

• Evidence-based practice for competency development