IFGH 2012: Support, Train and Empower Managers (STEM)

Authors: Melo S.¹ , McAuliffe E.¹ , Bradley S.¹, Honorati M.² , Mollel H.², Lwilla F.², Moshin S.³, Madede T.³, CambeI.⁴, Mbofana F.⁴

Author Affiliations: 1Centre for Global Health, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, 2IIfakara Health Institute – Tanzania, 3Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique, 4National Health Institute – Mozambique

Option 1– Scientific / Empirical Research Findings Presented as – Poster

STEM will take place in selected districts in Tanzania and Mozambique and has a total duration of 36 months (April 2011 – March 2014). The overall objective of STEM is to strengthen the Human Resource Management (HRM) function at district and health facility level, by increasing the capacity of managers to support and supervise their staff. The specific objectives of the project are a) to improve the working environment by targeting managers and their approach to HRM and b) to provide a structure and skill set to put HRM policies into practice. The target groups of STEM are the District Health Management Teams (DHMT) and facility managers in selected districts in each country. The final beneficiaries will be the DHMT and facility managers; health care workers in facilities within target districts; rural populations within target districts; policy makers at national level; and researchers at country and regional level. It is estimated that STEM will allow the development of a model of effective district health management by putting in place an evaluated HRM education programme and evidence of good practice that can be scaled up and inform policy and strengthening HRH. Finally, it is expected that STEM will facilitate a coalition between civil society organizations (CSO) and research institutions to improve knowledge of HRH issues and provide an evidence-based platform to influence policy. The main activities of STEM will include: the development of action learning HRM programme for DHMT; pilot work with a small sample of managers; baseline data collection of primary and secondary outcome measures; implementation of a finalised programme; and an evaluation including analysis of post intervention data collection, an ongoing process evaluation and an economic cost-benefit analysis.