LMG/NMCP Liberia Trip Report: Kwabena Larbi

The project is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented by Management Sciences for Health (MSH). The project's overall goal is to build the capacity of NMCPs to effectively manage human, financial, and material resources; develop and direct policy and norms for the implementation and surveillance of national malaria control strategies; and mobilize stakeholders to participate in national malaria control coordination and implementation efforts. To achieve this goal, LMG/NMCP has seconded Senior Technical Advisors to the NMCP of each target country to provide regular technical support and coaching. The project's workplans and activities for the six target countries align with the three overall project objectives, and each country has identified specific outcomes and outputs under these objectives. LMG/NMCP staff have developed country-specific workplans based on the results of an initial rapid organizational capacity assessment conducted with NMCP and stakeholder participation. The LMG/NMCP project is also promoting regional harmonization through cross-regional activities included in each workplan and the project's Program Description. To achieve this, LMG/NMCP Advisors attended an annual coordination and training meeting in Cotonou, Benin, where they received training on the facilitation, rollout, and support of country-specific Leadership Development Programs Plus (LDP+), as well as on the use of the LeaderNet platform. The LDP+ is a performance improvement process that empowers teams to use a leading and managing for results model to create an inspiring shared vision, apply leading and managing practices to improve teamwork and effectiveness, use a Challenge Model process for identifying and achieving measurable results, and align stakeholders around a common challenge. The implementation of the LDP+ with each NMCP will be part of the long-term capacity building and sustainability process to promote the implementation of strong leadership and management practices. During the annual coordination and training meeting, each Senior Technical Advisor gave a presentation on challenges in the fight against malaria, project successes to date, current activities, challenges facing the project, and assistance provided to the NMCP for the management of Global Fund grant funds in their respective countries. The presentations showed that many of the activities completed by NMCPs in each country were made possible by LMG/NMCP support and the work of the Senior Technical Advisors. The Senior Technical Advisors in Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, and Cameroon shared their experiences utilizing the OCAT (Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool) to assess the organizational capacities of NMCPs. According to these Senior Technical Advisors, the OCAT provides a good snapshot of the initial organizational capacity situation and allows the project to measure progress achieved through the implementation of priority actions. The main lessons taken from this discussion were that the tools needed to be adapted to suit the context and that the timing of the process was also important. To ensure regular monitoring of project performance, the group recommended adapting the OCAT to the project to take into account all the important aspects of the management at the central coordination unit. A version of the OCAT, revised based on experiences in Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon, will be available for use in Burundi. The Program for Organizational Growth, Resilience and Sustainability, PROGRES tool, which is an improved version of the OCAT evaluation tool, was introduced and shared with the meeting participants. A working session focused on using different Google functions and applications in order to improve project coordination and planning. The meeting participants also received training on the use of the LeaderNet platform, which is a virtual tool used for project coordination and communication.