Private Health Sector Project Organizational Capacity Assessment of Private Health Facility Associations

The project's initial focus was on providing essential services to newly established associations, and notable progress has been achieved in a short period of time. Key concerns of the private health sector have been brought to the attention of health policymakers, demonstrating the effectiveness of the project's support. The organizational capacity self-assessment was conducted by the secretariat and board members of the PHFAs, facilitated by the Private Health Sector Project (PHSP), between March and May 2018. A self-assessment tool was used to evaluate the organizational, operational, and technical capacities of the PHFAs. The assessment tool comprised ten domain areas: governance, administrative operations, human resource management, financial management, program operations management, communication and partnership building and networking, project performance management, membership mobilization, and clinical training management and mentoring. The assessment revealed an average overall improvement of 45 percentage points from the first self-assessment in terms of the PHFAs' compliance with the standards determined by the assessment tool under the nine domains. The level of attainment of PHFAs ranged from 6% in governance to 81% in administrative operations, highlighting the development of growing organizations. In terms of membership mobilization, the PHFAs have shown an average of 57% (6,486) membership of the total 11,479 private health facilities in the six regions. Addis Ababa recorded the lowest (9%) membership, while SNNPR reported the highest (80%). The assessment also identified key areas for improvement, such as the need to develop a management information system and internal control mechanism in SNNPR and Amhara. Additionally, PHFAs need to revisit their internal quality assurance practices to adopt workable project monitoring and evaluation tools, ensuring the synchronization of implementation of yearly program activities towards attaining key objectives of their respective strategic plans. Furthermore, PHFAs need to enhance ongoing partnership building and networking efforts to initiate joint programs with the Federal Ministry of Health, the Food, Medicine and Health Care Administration and Control Authority, Regional Health Bureaus, potential funding partners, and stakeholders. The assessment emphasized the crucial need for expanding the PHFAs' membership base to mobilize internal resources and attract external funds, especially given the cessation of PHSP financial support to PHFAs in September 2018. The self-assessment prioritized key activities to increase the management capacity of PHFAs and their respective secretariats, including improvements in management information systems, standard membership management systems, and project monitoring and evaluation tools and practices. This will help embed quality assurance into the organizational and institutional standing of the PHFAs, enabling them to leverage technical and financial resources from potential partners and elevate the impact of their interventions in supporting health programs of the country.