Strategic management of family planning programs

Program management has received insufficient attention among family planning leaders, possibly because of medical or demographic background of many leaders, a focus on other program priorities (such as sheer survival), the pressure to expand programs rapidly, and limited donor interest in the subject. As programs grow in complexity, the problems resulting from weak management systems become more obvious, and organizations are compelled to introduce rational systems. The more successful family planning programs have paid close attention to key aspects of management and have striven to continually improve their systems. According to the principles of strategic management, there is no single"best"solution to the various problems organizations face. Each organization must work out a response appropriate to a given situation. But managers should know more about possible options and their effectiveness in other settings. In family planning, a dearth of research on options - compounded by the fact that many programs do not collect basic information about program inputs and outputs - makes it difficult to analyze which programs work and why. Logistics management is the Achilles heel of family planning programs. Many programs experience depleted supplies of contraceptives in demand and oversupplies of others. Lack of contraceptives not only leads to pregnancies but erodes client trust in the service provider and undermines staff morale. Measures to improve logistics management are readily accessible. What is lacking is a commitment from high-level managers to introduce the needed changes. Staff development also merits more attention from managers, as high-caliber staff can make a big difference in program performance. Managers do not always have flexibility about staff recruitment, promotion, and retention, but they should strive for as much leverage as possible. Little research has been done on the impact of training, so managers should assess the relative effectiveness and costs of different approaches. The key factor seems to the relevance to the training content to the individual's job responsibilities.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,ICT Policyand Strategies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Enterprise Development&Reform,Community Development and Empowerment

Maternal Health Situation in India: A Case Study

Maternal Health Services are one of the basic health services to be provided by nay government health system as pregnant women are one of the most vulnerable victims of dysfunctional health system, India, in spite of rapid economic progress is still farm away from the goal of lowering maternal mortality to less than 100 per 100,000 live births. It still accounts for 25.7% maternal deaths. The maternal mortality in India varies across the states. Geographical vastness and socio-cultural diversity make implementation of health sector reforms a difficult task. The chapter analyses the trends in maternal mortality and various maternal health programs implemented over the years including the maternal health care delivery system at various levels including the recent innovative strategies. It also identifies the reasons for limited success in maternal health and suggests measures to improve the current maternal health situation. It recommends improvement in maternal death reporting, evidence based, focused, long term strategy along with effective monitoring of implementation for improving Maternal Health situation. It also stress the need for regulation of private sector and proper Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy together with a strong political will for improving Maternal Health.

A parallel approach to analysis of costs/benefits and efficiency changes resulting from privatisation of health services

The marketisation of public health care systems is part of a long process, which is not necessarily clearly set out or understood at the beginning. Public policy plays an important role in creating internal markets and changing public health care systems. The findings of this review show that there are now recognisable steps in the process of moving from a state/ government run health care system to a marketised and privatised system but this can take place over many years

Citizen Charter in Nepali Public Sector Organizations: Does it Really Work?

Citizen Charter is an instrument of citizen-centric governance that confirms quality in public service delivery by holding public sector organizations directly accountable, responsive, and transparent. In this regard, this study aimed to disclose the current picture of Citizen Charter in Nepali public sector organizations from service users’ perspectives. For this, the survey was conducted in key six public sector organizations of Lalitpur Metropolitan City by using the client exit interview method, with the help of a semi-structured interview schedule. The study result indicates that the use of the Citizen Charter is extensively low. Service users are not fully aware and well informed about it, and its values. Service users prefer to receive services by asking from duty holders, intermediates (agents), and previous service users than the Citizen Charter. Service users believe that the promises of the Citizen Charter and the behavior of duty holders are inconsistent. However, some service users are demanding services as per the Citizen Charter

Water in the Green Economy: Capacity Development Aspects

This book discusses needs related to capacity development for water resources management, including water supply and sanitation, in the context of the green economy. It showcases theoretical and practical approaches with proven success. Most contributions come from members and partners within the interagency mechanism, UN-Water. The 11 case studies in this book range from innovative design and delivery of capacity development programs related to water in the green economy, market mechanisms, and quality control procedures supporting capacity development success towards the practical implementation of programs to enhance individual and institutional capacity

Globalization, Health Sector Reform, Gender and Reproductive Health

Explores the interrelationships between globalization and health sector reforms, and how changes in macro-economic and social policies affect women's reproductive health and rights

Vocational education and training : a review of World Bank investment

In the past ten years the most striking achievement of vocational education and training (VET) has been the development of national training systems from nonformal training centres and post secondary technical education institutions. This has happened largely in middle income countries. Investments in low income countries, especially those in Sub Saharan Africa, have been less successful. In addition implementation weakness and stagnating economies have made it difficult to set up any type of training. Investment in national training programs has just begun in these poorer countries, and success is uncertain because of continuing economic constraints. These patterns suggest that the level of economic development and the consequent size and dynamism of industrial employment have a powerful influence on the outcome of investments in vocational education and training. In small low income countries, recent Bank experience suggests that resources be concentrated in nonformal training centres, training quality, development of management capacity in training institutions, and aggressive marketing of training opportunities and services.Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Gender and Education,Curriculum&Instruction,ICT Policy and Strategies