Assigning technical officers to ministries of health : a management study

This case study explored the project"s primary strategy for in-country management: the assignment of long-term Technical Officers to Ministries of Health (MOHs). Interviews and surveys of U.S. and MOH personnel affiliated with the project found that respondents predominantly supported the strategy. However, U.S. and MOH respondents differed in their perception of whether the Technical Officers succeeded in transferring knowledge and skills to national counterparts, with U.S. respondents being more likely to say this had indeed occurred; in any case, it was not apparent that the counterparts had sufficient occasion to use what they had learned. The effectiveness of the Technical Officers was compromised by their spending more than 50% of their time on project administration. Respondents stressed that more attention should have been given to identifying mid-level and senior MOH managers and that more training should have been provided at all levels, especially management training for senior managers. Planning was considered the most important management skill for the Technical Officers to have; information management, communication, and evaluation were also mentioned often by respondents as key skills, as were knowledge of host government and A.I.D. regulations and procedures, knowledge of training and interpersonal and French language skills. It was recommended that future projects be multi-sectoral, include nationals in project design and management, and be more flexible in implementation.