Capacity Project End-of-Project Event
On September 23, the Capacity Project held its end-of-project event, “It Takes a Workforce: Improving Global Health Services,” at the World Bank in Washington, DC. Project leadership and staff joined Pape Gaye, president and CEO of IntraHealth International, and key representatives from USAID, global partner organizations, ministries of health and other organizations. The event included plenary presentations, break-out sessions for discussion, and a multimedia expo and photo exhibit. HRIS strengthening was an area of focus throughout the day, and in the expo.
The morning plenary highlighted technical aspects of the Project’s work in planning, developing and supporting the health workforce, and included a presentation by Dykki Settle, Capacity Project’s informatics director and HRIS team lead. Settle explored key Project accomplishments in HRIS strengthening, and incorporated voices (via short video clips) of our country and regional partners. He covered the five step HRIS strengthening process developed by the Project, focusing on successes in building stakeholder leadership and developing the iHRIS software; regional and global partnerships; and results from the Project's work to to strengthen HRIS in nine countries.
HRIS was also the topic of one of the four break-out sessions, “Smarter HRH Planning: HRIS and KM for data-driven decision-making in Uganda.” This session began with an introduction by Dr. Vincent Oketcho, chief of party for Capacity Project Uganda, and a short video on HRIS strengthening in Uganda. Then, a panel consisting of Dr. Oketcho, Dykki Settle, Pam McQuide (former Capacity Project point person for Uganda) and Dr. Eddie Mukooyo (assistant commissioner of the Uganda Ministry of Health’s Resource Center)shared their experiences and answered moderator and audience questions.
In the afternoon, Dr. Susan Brems, deputy assistant administrator of USAID’s Bureau for Global Health, presented the keynote address. “The Capacity Project has made significant contributions that have laid the groundwork for future work in health systems strengthening,” she affirmed, and cited seven major examples, naming HRIS strengthening as one of them. The afternoon plenary focused on the unfinished agenda in human resources for health. Several key areas that need to be continued were mentioned, and again, HRIS was among those mentioned.
The event highlighted the successful work of the Capacity Project over the last five years. The expo and photo exhibit will be on display through October.