EFFECTIVELY MANAGING HEALTH PROJECTS: A BASIS OF INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT

It is difficult to address needs without the management tool. Actually it comes to nothing. There must be people who plan, make parameters for complete needs satisfaction and ensure sustainability and certainty or security of the future.

Security does not mean curfews, but presence of tangible solutions for major human problems or needs. It calls for greatest amount of time meditating about current needs or problems, visualizing about their toll on the community or personal life, gaining to the greatest motivation to change the situation for the better and critically looking into various ways and steps to address them.

In pursued of all that, it is vital that information regarding the above is clearly recorded and made safe for future references. In fact, successful management will always derive new branches to foster cost efficient in the production of goods and services,

Firstly, it is important to put into consideration availability of resources required to solve the current community health problems. The community health problems are often numerous, so it is important that of the listed volume of health problems, the management team undertakes consultations and determines the hierarchy of needs to address -starting from the most pressing to the least -in line with available resources.

That is; the technical team or personnel, work support tools, financial resources, records and information systems, accountability systems, strict monitoring and evaluations system and above all the necessary competencies to perform effectively and efficiently at all levels of work chain in pursuit of the project's goal.

While designing health programs, prioritized needs turn out to be a basis of business that would soon run. They provide the purpose form the project existence, which has to be communicated time and again to project team members for effective strategies formulation, to stake-holders for support and to beneficiaries -to reduce change-resistance tendencies.

With knowledge of projected outcomes, different line managers can then receive time-lines set to begin the project implementation exercise. Whilst at that stage, executives ensures high motivation of every staff to begin the exercise -with everyone's hopes and vigor high. Regular meetings play a wonderful role in finding solutions to the ever emerging day's field challenges.

As the feeling could be; the project team could go with a lot of question marks especially if such members are running the project for the first time in their career. Indeed, it could affect negatively a little bit of one's confidence in the face those he or she serving. No wonder, most organizations either look out for experience -as what should constitute a project management team or do intensive training to capture theory and practice of working around a specific subject area in line with targets.

However, experience still remained supreme for one to be comfortable on the program task, than take longest time before setting himself or herself ablaze for the desired results within the allotted time. Time could even run out before registering an inch of achievements. It is at this time that project effort verses out-put reviews. The outcome of the reviews will then tell us whether to continue pursuing the same project idea, modify it or restructure everything -depending saturation levels -when situation analyses indicate total exhaustion of the resources and, thus, leading to no or least output.

As such, there would be no reason why one would stay in production. Instead, there will be a call for new inventions or innovations -carrying potent ideas for project justification to be true to founders and supporters of the project.

As a direct remedy to this some organizations prefer deploying individuals, who have for a considerable period of time, done an understudy and actual work under senior project managers -to sail through project development storms.

However, job training is not always something health organizations could appeal somebody to do. It is usually an initiative of a person -who knows what he or she want ahead. Unfortunately or fortunately, most young people are so ambitious that they would find volunteering or job training a waste of time.

Actually having realized the high stakes it carries, organizations are making it a privilege to volunteer with them such that not anyone can find that opportunity. If it did exist, it should either have a few competitive places, individually funded program by the volunteer himself or herself or demand a different volunteering experience that would add value to the new one.

They are now aware of the popular struggle by career developers and their clients to find skills in respect to jobs aspired for. Indeed, very many people flock into different regions across international boundaries and the oceans -with lots of resources -mainly monetary -merely to fund volunteering and achieve considerate amount of field-work experience.

Otherwise, our friends around the globe would not be wasting time and money to come here (in Africa) every summer. Of course, there are those lucky ones, who might have used several underground schemes to ride straight to their dream jobs. These too are privileged members of our society, but how many are they?

As indicated earlier objectives tailored to social or community needs would help guide health planners about what specific interventions and strategies to employ. For example, some of the objectives are might be: to create awareness, prevent transmission or arrest the problem.

To help with the smooth project implementation, sometimes it could be difficult to go it alone. So intelligent managers identify big name partners, who could come on board. Memorandums of understanding does give the descriptions of each party's responsibilities and of how each would benefit from specific roles they would play.

It is possible that field workers can at times go over board or stray from what has been targeted as action areas and geographical areas to cover. Therefore, is important if program manager and this or her team of assistants organize workshops just to study each field-worker's intervention design -while ensuring that they role-play and visualize life under the intervention program.

And true that for some reasons, the community could have sections resisting the intervention and lazy to participate in emerging programs. Actually, it would be good luck for a project to register just a handful ready to support and participate to benefit from the project. It can be annoying to discover a section of community members fighting the same project set out to fully empower them.

However, the task of the team remains; to bring all community members on board -through strategies they (both field workers and community) would formulate time and again. In fact, primary stages would require not just regular meetings (weekly or monthly), but ongoing crisis meetings (called for anytime of the day along side the vigorous intervention work.

The strategies could range from what are persuasive (tokens of food, games and other recreations -to active pressure -involving legislation and enforcement agents. Yes, some community members can oppose services that give the same lifeline they greatly need. And yes, sometimes you have to “shake branches hardest to have the edible and very sweet fruits fall off.”

As more and more people come on board, they would want to take the center stage of action for change or be at the front-line. Most of them could be very intelligent at best practices formulation. Such people could be a resource throughout the program and become contact persons at the end. Through such contacts career development opportunities could be identified in various geographical locations and shared.

Like in a malaria intervention carried out by the Uganda Village Village in June 2009 gathered evidence of some community members, who viewed treated mosquito-nets inadequate enough to arrest the spread of malaria. Somebody would for example ask, “will a treated net protect me from mosquitoes outside the house whilst in my shamba or can really flowing clothes and long sleeves help in the face of such hungry mosquitoes that penetrate any cloth?” Such questions ought to be answered in order to build confidence and continued participation in the program.

Within two to three months, the projects could be set in fast motion with increased participation and demand for health products. It would be at this moment the management will be tasked to either increase the number of partners or fundraise more for the project to meet the growing demand for its services and/or increased project participation.

Towards the program end there could be tears about departure from the bond already created between field-workers and the then transformed community. But in the overall program design, it might have been stipulated that areas worst in health-care should have focussed attention over a considerable period of years -like three to six years.

Therefore, having helped raise the current community to a stage they can live dignifying and healthy lives, it becomes necessary for the organization shift its platoon to other areas in most need.

Part of what could be evaluated at the end of the program are availability of support organizations that could be linked to the current area needs -for sustainability of the benefits from the out-going project, review acceptance of the health products availed to them, their (health products) availability at any time of need, the ease of access and affordability by the majority of the community members -considering that saving are determined by farming seasons -when crop yields are high. All these could be reached with help of end-line meetings and productive discussions with community members.

Comprehensive community responses must be taken seriously as part of future improved project designs if such plans are to succeed, while legislation that support health interventions and of every stage should be advocated for and enacted -to ease, make swift and smoothen their running to success.

Doing so would also help safeguard against anti-development sentiments and groups -with substantial reasons for their motive. The same legislation would ensure the right ethics in place to guide in the relationship between the community and service organizations. In such a relationship, mutual responsibilities would be agreed and signed to -to ensure clear community benefits at the end of the day. Cultural and other forms of resistance have to be negotiated for with patience -though.

In the true spirit of sustainability, community peer leaders could be armed with basic management, business communication and other development skills designed to make achievements long-lasting or even improved, the more.

In meetings the linguistic challenges of working in rural areas like some scientific words -as not existing in the local languages, should be solved by sending out a separate team of health or medical linguists persons to derive appropriate local reference for some medical or health terms.

Jacob Waiswa
Situation Health Analyst
www.situationhealthanalysis.blogspot.com