Tips for Design and Facilitation of Learning Sessions in the Context of Collaborative Improvement of Zika-related Services

The project focuses on facility-based services improvement in low- and middle-income countries. Shared learning is a key component of quality improvement collaboratives, allowing multiple teams to communicate their results, challenges, and insights with other teams. This shared learning enables teams to benefit from successful and unsuccessful change ideas tested by other teams, avoiding the need to "re-invent the wheel" in discovering successful change ideas. Shared learning mechanisms used in a collaborative include coaching calls and visits, exchange visits, virtual communication, data sharing and feedback, and learning sessions. Learning sessions are an essential knowledge management strategy for gathering and integrating learning from the work of improvement teams. These sessions provide a platform for teams to share their experiences, challenges, and insights, and to learn from each other's successes and failures. The goal of learning sessions is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge and best practices among teams, ultimately leading to improved Zika-related health services. When designing learning sessions, several considerations must be taken into account. These include the participants, facilitators and speakers, defining specific learning session objectives and expected results, agenda and participant dynamics, duration, location, and QI team preparations. Additionally, materials such as registration, venue set-up, key roles during the learning session, integrating key learning from small groups, action planning, learning session products, evaluation, and post-learning session follow-up by coaches are crucial. The ASSIST Project has developed a guide to support country teams in designing and conducting effective learning sessions as part of quality improvement collaboratives for Zika-related health services. The guide provides tips and recommendations for conducting successful learning sessions, including registration, venue set-up, key roles during the learning session, integrating key learning from small groups, action planning, learning session products, evaluation, and post-learning session follow-up by coaches. The guide also includes annexes with sample agendas for Zika learning sessions, storytelling, speed consulting, knowledge café, talk show, gallery walk, field trip around the room, 1-2-4-all, and after action review. These annexes provide additional resources and tools for country teams to use when designing and conducting learning sessions. The ASSIST Project's focus on shared learning and knowledge management is critical to improving Zika-related health services. By facilitating the sharing of knowledge and best practices among teams, the project aims to strengthen and sustain improvements in Zika-related health services.