Leadership, Management and Governance/Afghanistan Trip Report: Dr. Mahesh Shukla, Jessica Golden

The project will also continue to support capacity building of the Ministry of Education (MoE). The LMG Afghanistan program is an 18-month intervention starting in September 1, 2012 and extending to January 31, 2014, with a total budget of $25,400,800. The project has received an 8-month extension, with associated additional funding of approximately $4 million. The Provincial Public Health Coordination Committee (PPHCC) and the District Health Coordination Committee (DHCC) governance guides were drafted through a consultative process in December 2012. Pilot-testing of these guides began in three provinces and 11 districts on April 21, 2013, and ended on October 20, 2013. The guides were reviewed by a panel of Afghan and international reviewers, and their recommendations were incorporated into the guidelines. The guidelines will be translated into Dari and Pashto and will be field-tested in 20-25 health post and health facility shuras. The MOPH General Director for Human Resources, Dr. Ihsanullah Shahir, MD, requested assistance from the LMG Afghanistan Project in developing and delivering an orientation package for new MOPH staff, as well as conducting an L+M+G assessment of current MOPH staff. The LMG Afghanistan Project responded positively to the request and integrated the materials for effective delivery of the orientation package. The Survey of L+M+G competencies among existing MOPH staff is now complete, and planning is underway for the full administration of the survey. During the trip, the LMG technical team worked with the MOPH and its three provincial directorates and 11 districts to take stock of the accomplishments in the field testing period, facilitate results measurement workshops, and adjust the governance guides based on the consultations with PPHCCs and DHCCs. The PPHCC and DHCC re-assessed their governance performance as a committee and as individual members using the same instruments they had used at baseline. Eleven focus group discussions were held with the three provincial and 11 district health coordination committee members to explore their successes and challenges during the pilot testing period. The results of the pilot were presented to the PLD Director, Dr. Hakim Aziz, and his team, and he expressed support for national adoption of the PPHCC and DHCC governance guides. The LMG Afghanistan Project also began field-testing of health shura guidelines for community health shuras and facility health shuras in 20 health shuras. A workshop was organized to discuss the report of L+M+G skills and competencies assessment survey and make recommendations on the next steps in respect of in-service training strategy on L+M+G skills and competencies. The integration of governance content in the new employee orientation package was also completed, and it is now ready for delivery to new staff who join the ministry every month.