As it’s been some time since my last entry on this here blog, a summary update feels justified. In the nearly two years that have passed, I’ve pulled off a few stunts, with all the most significant having emerged in response to the visit to Haiti described in my last post. In the course of completing my Master of International Affairs and Master of Public Health degrees, I produced my Thesis to develop a new partnership between Columbia University Medical Center and NGOs working in healthcare in Haiti to enable community based participatory research, community-based learning opportunities for future CUMC students, and to support capacity building of civil society in Haiti following the January 2010 earthquake. Beyond the academic blood and sweat devoted to Haiti, it’s worth mentioning (for the sake of digital self-documentation) that I also spent 2010 spearheading a project to get essential medical supplies to the largest private hospital in northern Haiti through the 100 Beds for Haiti campaign. These projects, coupled with new friends and loves, new neighborhoods, and new habits all factored heavily into my life since my last update, and it is the culmination of all of these happenings that has led to my current update. And so, random reader that still has this blog on his or her radar, here I am, reporting back, though this time from Freetown, Sierra Leone.
I’ve taken a consulting contract with the UK-office of an international management consultancy services company that has been sub-contracted to manage a program of technical support for the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) of the Government of Sierra Leone. With funding from the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID), the overarching aim of the program is to “improve the financing, management, and delivery of sustainable and replicable pro-poor health services, to ensure the achievement of the [government’s] national Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) Strategic Plan,” for the purposes of reducing the maternal and child mortality rates in this country, which have been cited amongst the worst in the world. Of course creating these changes requires comprehensive and quality health services, beginning with a strengthened health system, and as such, we are here providing technical assistance within the central level of Ministry, in the areas of Human Resources and Finance.
As the first year of this work, which began in February 2010, involved a massive cleaning of the Ministry’s entire Payroll (of approximately 8500 salaried employees) and the development of an Attendance Monitoring Program (in order to improve and systematize HR functionality), I am primarily here to wear an M&E (monitoring and evaluation) hat and to provide assistance to the Human Resources for Health (HRH) Support Unit which manages the pay and attendance program of the MoHS. While my work with HRH will involve processing monthly data submissions from government health facilities across the country, the bigger objective is training and building the capacity of Ministry staff in the utilization of the varied new processes and tools that have been developed thus far. With an initial contract of four months, I’m really quite excited by this opportunity and optimistic that the end of the current funding cycle in July (hence the four month contract) will be met with an extension or a renewal.
some of the ladies of the office
The program is certainly a departure from my past work, and some moments feel like bureaucracy building, but it’s fascinating to see it unfolding and I’m excited for all the newness: the questions, the sights, the smells, and the incessant heat that’s mitigated by discovery (AC unit tucked in the corner! College friends spied across the bar! Matzoh for sale at the Lebanese grocery! Shandies (a refreshing mix of beer + sprite) on the beach! Visits to ‘Country Lodge’ for open-air patio brunches that overlook the city and the sea!)… and for the many firsts that this project presents: my first time in West Africa, first time working for a company, first go directly with a Government, first time in a post-conflict country ten years after war has ended highlighting the massive needs of development that remain after the relief has ended, as well as my first time leaving the US without certain confidence of a necessary return for more school.
lunchtime balcony vistas
And on that note, it’s back to work, dear readers. I can’t promise the most regular updates here, as there is ton of work to be done and the worst internet connectivity imaginable, but please do drop me notes/comments/questions and know that I’m aiming to keep y’all abreast as the newness continues to unfold.
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