Leadership Development Program Yields Results in Côte d’Ivoire
- 1. Collaboration works: Leadership Development Collaboration is a key element in the successful Program Yields Results collection, dissemination and use of national HIV/AIDS data. In Cote d’Ivoire, multiple ministries are responsible for Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) tasks related to the country’s HIV/AIDS response. in Côte d’Ivoire Before participating in a Leadership Development Program, Results from the Leadership Development Program these ministries worked without established, harmonized and Four ministries worked together to develop and publish a compendium of harmonized and validated HIV/AIDS indicators for validated national indicators because of a lack of coordination monitoring and evaluation of Cote d’Ivoire’s national HIV/AIDS response. and collaboration. As a result of the Leadership Development Program, the four ministries worked together to develop and publish a compendium of harmonized and validated HIV/AIDS indicators, marking the accomplishment of the first of several previously elusive goals. This step definitively moved the country toward having high quality, timely and accessible national HIV/AIDS data for informing the national HIV/AIDS response. Cote d’Ivoire LDP participants LDP Team discusses M&E indicators Quality data collected on meaningful indicators inform quality HIV/AIDS services PROCESS RESULTS The MEASURE Evaluation project, which began in The results presentation was held on October 6th and 1998, is USAID’s flagship Monitoring and Evaluation In February 2010, the LDP was launched with a Senior Alignment Meeting attended by members of the four included among the attendees PEPFAR Coordinator project and was established based on the premise Jennifer Walsh, USAID Technical Advisor Bijou Muhu- that generating demand for and improving the use ministry cabinets and Directors of the M&E units within the ministries. At this meeting, the senior group developed ra, and CDC Director Anna Likos, as well as cabinet of data in policy formulation, program planning, members, technical advisors, directors and other repre- monitoring and evaluation improves health systems a shared vision for the future: “The fight against HIV/AIDS in Cote d’Ivoire is sentatives from the four ministries. which in turn affects health outcomes. coordinated by a Strategic Information Group that meets regularly and produces quality data for better monitoring The results highlighted in the meeting included the The project is now in Phase III and is led by the published compendium of the harmonized and validat- University of North Carolina – Carolina Population and evaluation.” ed indicators representing the fulfillment of the desired Center. The partners include Futures Group, ICF The first workshop of the LDP was held with teams of measurable result, as well as a testimonial by one of the Macro, John Snow, Inc., Management Sciences for M&E specialists from the four ministries. The shared participants who related the impact of the LDP pro- Health, and Tulane University. This activity in Cote vision the participants developed was one in which gram on his particular team at the Ministry of Health. d’Ivoire and the results achieved were made possible collaboration was also the central element: through collaboration and synergies within the “A collaborative group representing an inter-ministerial partner group. partnership for the regular administration of strategic HIV/ The compendium of indicators was developed AIDS information is functional and produces high quality with input and collaboration from all of the major information that is accessible and used by all of the actors stakeholders engaged in collecting HIV/AIDS in the fight against AIDS to diminish the transmission of information. These organizations included: BACKGROUND HIV/AIDS in Cote d’Ivoire.” Given the strong emphasis on collaboration, it was decided ƒƒ Donors, including PEPFAR, CDC, USAID When the MEASURE Evaluation Chief of Party and her team identified leadership as the key challenge impeding to have the participants from all four ministries continue ƒƒ Non-governmental organizations, such as EGPAF and the ministries’ success, MEASURE Evaluation offered a working together as a single team to achieve their desired Alliance CI Leadership Development Program (LDP) that brought result which they stated as: together the M&E teams from all four ministries. The need “A compendium of all the national HIV/AIDS ƒƒ Ministries and other government agencies, including for leadership development was evidenced by difficulties indicators fully harmonized and validated by all of the the Ministry of Defense, the pharmaceutical agency, bringing the teams together and by a lack of coordination actors in the fight against AIDS within 6 months.” the national program for persons living with HIV/ among the ministries to produce national data. There was AIDS, and the regional hospital authority a lack of trust and commitment, and a desire on the part of different teams to “protect” their data and perceived For more information contact: national M&E positions and roles. The team-focused LDP At the end of the first workshop, Dr. Edwige Bosso, MEASURE Evaluation M&E Advisor, exclaimed, Xavier Alterescu was an ideal way to address these issues. “We have already achieved one important result. Before this program, we couldn’t even get the participants into the xalterescu@msh.org Scott McKeown same room, much less seeking to collaborate with each other!” smckeown@email.unc.edu Susan Post spost@msh.org