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ADAPTING TO CHANGE LEARNING PROGRAM NEWSLETTER -- AUGUST 2000

In This Issue:

  1. Letter from the Adapting to Change Team
  2. October 2000 Core Course on Population, Reproductive Health, and Health Sector Reform
  3. Population Resources Fair
  4. Distance Learning Events
    1. Overview Module of Adapting to Change Core Course on Population Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform:
    2. Post Core Course Professional Development
    3. New Agendas for Poverty Reduction Strategies: Integrating Gender and Health

  5. Training of Trainers Workshop for the Francophone Core Course on Population Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform

  6. Web Site and CD-ROM Feedback
  7. Document Mailback

    8. I.  Letter from the Adapting to Change Team

    Welcome to the Adapting to Change Learning Program on Population, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform second newsletter. The past four months have been very busy. We have a lot of information to share with you. We would like to use this edition of the newsletter to report back to you on recent learning activities in Egypt and Sénégal and to announce upcoming events.

    Our web site (www.worldbank.org/wbi/reprohealth), a key source of sharing Program information and resources, is undergoing a period of transition which reflects the changes and growth of our program. When the web site was developed, it was designed to represent the centerpiece of the Adapting to Change Learning Program. During the past year, as the Program has been adapted to reflect the work we are doing in the region, we have developed partnerships with institutions in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America to deliver our courses on a regional basis. In addition we have conducted training via distance learning technology. Now the web site needs to present our expanded program as a whole. We are working to update the site and provide you with information regarding the various training events while making the training materials that are developed in the regions available to you. We hope you will continue to visit our web site and will give us feedback and comments on how we can make the site more “user-friendly” and better suited to meet your needs.

    Best regards,

    The Adapting to Change Learning Program Team 

    II.  October 2000 Core Course on Population, Reproductive Health, and Health Sector Reform

    We are pleased to announce that the second global Adapting to Change Core Course will be held in Washington, DC from 2-20 October 2000.

    The objective of the Core Course is to improve population and reproductive health outcomes in developing countries by:

    • providing participants with an understanding of the changing national and international policy and program environment for their work in population and reproductive health;
    • sharing knowledge and tools that help participants effectively deliver reproductive health services in their countries;
    • and informing participants working in national health systems about how the delivery of reproductive health is influenced, and can be supported, by health sector reforms.

    This three-week course is aimed at public and private sector professionals involved in the financing, planning, implementation, and evaluation of reproductive health services in WB client countries; staff from the WB, donor agencies, international organizations, and NGOs who are working with countries to implement the reproductive health approach called for in the ICPD Programme of Action; trainers from regionally-based training and research institutions working in population and reproductive health who conduct training in this area, and wish to strengthen their capacity to do so; and academics and researchers working in the areas of reproductive health, public administration, or the social sector.

    The application deadline for the course has passed. If you would like more information you can download the course brochure. 

    III.  Population Resources Fair

    On 12 October 2000 we will hold the second annual Population and reproductive Health Resources Fair. This event will take place at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. from 12:00-3:00 during the second week of the Adapting to Change Core Course. The Population Resources Fair is an opportunity for colleagues working on a wide range of population and health issues to display work and share resources with others. Exhibitors can set up booths, hang posters, demonstrate software, distribute materials and meet others who share the same interests. Exhibitors: NGOs, both non-profit and for profit, from the Population and Reproductive Health sector, plus selected NGOs from Gender and Education are invited. Exhibitors will be chosen on a first come, first serve basis. An application is attached to this newsletter and will be available on our web site. All applications must be submitted by 30 August 2000. Participants: Adapting to Change Core Course participants, Bank staff and invited guests.

    For more information or if you have publications that you would like to be displayed or distributed but do not wish to set up a booth or attend please send the documents by September 10, 2000 to:

    Caroline Zwicker 
    WBIHD/ J2-008 
    1818 H Street, NW 
    Washington, DC 20433

    IV. Distance Learning Events
     

A.  Overview Module of Adapting to Change Core Course on Population Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform

    From 13 to 24 May 2000, 24 participants from six countries (Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Sudan and Yemen) took part in the Overview Module of the "Adapting to Change" Core Course on Population, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform. The module was delivered for the first time via distance learning (DL) in Cairo, Egypt. The activity was designed and organized in collaboration with the Social Research Center (SRC) of the American University in Cairo (AUC). WBI provided eight days of consecutive (five days plus three days) DL training as part of a three-month training on research methodology in Population and Reproductive Health topics, which SRC offered this year for the first time for a regional audience.

    The material for this WBI training module was largely based on Module 1, with some additions from Modules 2 and 3, of the “Adapting to Change” Core Course. This was a pilot in terms of: (i) adapting the content to a regional audience; (ii) integrating it into an existing training program; and (iii) the use of DL to deliver the content. After this successful pilot, it is intended that we refine and revise the content to incorporate more of Modules 2 and 3, and then this training will be offered as a Core Course Overview Module on a wider scale with multiple sites per training. The training methodology consisted of several distance learning techniques; video conferencing between Washington and Cairo, video taped lectures with local facilitation, and local face-to-face sessions to complement the video conferences. The distance learning format proved to be a valid learning tool, and in general the participants liked being able to interact with experts at a distance. The interaction was led by two facilitators, one in Cairo, who coordinated the responses from the participants, and one in Washington D.C., who managed the lecturers. For additional information please contact Jo Hindriks.

    B. Post Core Course Professional Development-June Video/Audioconference Follow-up on the 1999 Core Course

In June, the Adapting to Change Program held the first two of a series of video/audioconference sessions designed to obtain feedback from Core Course graduates on their use of the knowledge, tools, and materials attained from the course in their current work as planners, managers, decision makers, implementers and trainers. The third and final session will be held 20 September 2000, from 09:00 to 11:00 Washington time.

**We cordially invite course alumni who could not participate in the first sessions to join us and their fellow course mates in the session on 20 September. ** See below for how to apply.

Sixteen graduates from nine countries participated in the sessions. Fifteen graduates from ten countries responded to a brief survey regarding the relevance, usefulness and uses of what they learned in the course. Overall, the follow-up has gathered the views of 24 graduates thus far from 15 countries: Burundi, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Rwanda, Sénégal, Tanzania, Uganda, USA, and Yemen.

The objectives of the sessions were to review and discuss responses to the survey; obtain further feedback and share applications of Core Course work; and explore general and content-specific interest in future distance learning. The survey responses and the lively discussions in the videoconference sessions indicated that, in addition to being generally enthusiastic about the course and its benefits for their work, each of the participants could point to multiple, very specific uses of course materials, information, and case examples in well-defined aspects of their work. Participants shared the information in meetings with colleagues and donors, incorporated them into plans and documents, used them to prepare guidelines, develop case studies, design and implement programs, and influence decisions, policy formulation and planning for reproductive health in various contexts.

Some examples:

In Romania, one graduate is designing and implementing a Campaign for Women’s Health as well as a program for promoting reproductive health for Roma (gypsy) women. 

A recent restructuring between the Health and Population Ministries in Pakistan has allowed the two participants, both from the Ministry of Population, to come up with new structures and organizations based on the reproductive health concepts learned during the course. 

Graduates from Nepal have used the materials to develop the Year 2000 Work Program and Budget of the Family Planning Association of Nepal. Prior to the course, they concentrated on family planning, but now they have added other aspects of reproductive health such as safe motherhood, HIV/AIDs, and other support programs such as women’s empowerment and an adolescent and youth program.

Of the various tools offered during the Core Course 1999, graduates most often mentioned the costing tools, the reproductive health services matrix that was developed during the course, and the links between the reproductive health agenda and health sector reform, as being particularly useful in their day-to-day work:

  • A Yemeni participant reports that the tools of health communication he acquired have helped him in the development of a new method for communication in family planning and STD prevention services.
  • In Tanzania, a graduate has applied the reproductive health services matrix with other collaborators to determine stakeholders for implementing a national RCH/IEC strategy. 
  • In Rwanda, the materials and tools on reproductive health issues in the context of health sector reform are being used in designing a reproductive health plan of action.

The following quotes from some of the alumni show that the Core Course has had a significant impact:

Nepal: "The Core Course has provided the tools and ability for me to take part in the policy dialogue with groups and the government." …After the Core Course, the Nepalese participants attended a joint donor-government health sector meeting where sector management, service delivery, public/private mix, decentralization and making services more community oriented were discussed.

China: "We are happy to report that both the Ministry of Health and the Family Planning Commission welcomed the 'fresh air' from the World Bank. We were invited to give training at the national level for their core staff." The Chinese participants subsequently gave this training, using the course materials which they had translated into Mandarin.

Pakistan: "Utilizing the information and tools gained from the Core Course, we have organized a national workshop on Reproductive Health Concepts aimed at clarity, priority-setting and developing strategic interventions which was attended by over 60 high level health and population officials from across Pakistan. Reproductive Health Strategy Papers were developed for all provinces, and we intend to take the training to the district level."

**We would love to hear from you.**

If you did not fill out the survey or participate in the sessions, and you would like to share your experiences, please send an e-mail to Eboostrom@worldbank.org and lraney@worldbank.org or a fax to Laura Raney, WBIHD, at 202-522-0638. The questionnaire and the responses will be posted on our website soon. 

    Post-CC Professional Development Survey Items
    Administered to the CC99 Participants May 11 & June 5, 2000 (by fax & e-mail)

    **We were not successful in reaching all of our alumni. Please send us an email with your current contact information. Thank you!**

    1. What, in retrospect, do you find most interesting about the course?

    2. Of what you learned in the course, what has been most relevant and useful to your work?

    3. How have you used course materials, information, tools and approaches in your work, and with what results? Examples (brief descriptions of uses, experiences and results, indicating what specific course materials, information, tools and approaches you made use of in any of the following ways):

    a. referenced it/referred to it
    b. shared/brought it up, or presented it in a meeting
    c. incorporated it in plans or documents
    d. made or influenced decisions
    e. other ways
    f. What would have made the course better? (more useful, relevant,     interesting)

    To respond, please send your completed survey to Eboostrom@worldbank.org and lraney@worldbank.org or a fax to Laura Raney, WBIHD, at 202-522-0638.

    C.  New Agendas for Poverty Reduction Strategies: Integrating Gender and Health Distance Learning Course 

    As countries in Africa define and implement national poverty reduction strategies and their associated Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), one of their key challenges is to identify the critical actions that have the greatest impact on poverty, and to set clear priorities. The challenge is compounded by the fact that poverty has many dimensions, cuts across many sectors, and is experienced differently by men and by women. Better health is invariably among the highest priorities for the poor, and interventions in many sectors contribute to improved health outcomes. The links between poverty, gender inequality, and health are frequently not well understood nor applied. Poverty reduction strategies that build on an understanding of cross-sectoral linkages and synergies will make a much more effective contribution to poverty reduction at both household and national levels.

    As part of the Bank’s efforts to support client countries in developing effective poverty reduction strategies, the World Bank Institute (WBI) and its partner institutions are conducting an intensive, innovative Population/Reproductive Health (P/RH) learning program as a service to client countries, which specifically focuses on placing efforts to improve health outcomes in a broader framework of cross-sectoral linkages and synergies. The program aims to inform the poverty agenda and the choice of priority interventions by facilitating the task of Government and donor agency staff working on poverty strategies in addressing cross-cutting issues, such as gender, in prioritizing interventions aimed at better health.

    Using distance learning (DL) techniques and methodologies through the Global Distance Learning Network (GDLN) , the WBI is offering the Distance Learning Course on ‘New Agendas for Poverty Reduction Strategies: Integrating Gender and Health’, as one of the activities within the Adapting to Change Program to assist countries in analyzing, designing, and developing better health policies and programs which reduce gender - based inequality.

    The course is aimed at high level policy makers, especially those in ministries of health, finance, education and planning; as well as to Bank Staff, local and international NGOs, international agencies, academics and parliamentarians. The course will be held over eight weeks from January 30 to March 20, 2001 and will consist of eight, 3 - hour, interactive distance learning sessions. It will be offered to participants in Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania.

    For more information please contact Marguerite Monnet or Marilyn Lauglo.

    V.  Training of Trainers Workshop for the Francophone Core Course on Population Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform
     

    The Training of Trainers (ToT) Workshop for the Francophone Core Course on Population, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform was held 26-30 June in Mbour and Dakar, Senegal. This five day workshop, conducted in French, brought together 35 participants from 10 countries. Participants and resource persons spent the week discussing the latest findings in population, reproductive health and health sector reform issues while simultaneously exploring the best possible training methodologies to be used for sharing this knowledge during the Francophone Core Course. One of the highlights of the ToT was a special presentation by Dr. Souleyman Mboup, one of the co-discoverers of HIV-2, on the spread of the HIV/AIDS globally, and specifically in Africa and Senegal.

    The Francophone Core Course will be held from 22 January – 2 February in Dakar, Sénégal. This course will be conducted in French. It is being organized in collaboration with the Francophone Network of African Partners in Population and Reproductive Health, led by the Center for African Family Studies (CAFS). If you would like information on this course or to be considered as an applicant please contact Mamadou Dicko, CAFS, Togo, or Caroline Zwicker, World Bank Institute. 

    VI.  Web Site and CD-ROM Feedback
     

We would like your feedback on our web site and CD-ROM. Please answer the following questions and send your replies to lraney@worldbank.org.

1. How often do you visit our web site?
2. What is the most useful information found on the site?
3. What kind of information would you like to see added to the site?


If you have received a copy of the CD-ROM,

4. Do you use the CD-ROM? How often?
5. Is the CD-ROM easy to use? If not, why not?
6. Have you encountered any difficulty using it? (Please note that we are aware that there was a defect in the second batch of CD-ROMS that were released. We apologize for any inconveniences it may have caused.)

    VII.  Document Mailback
     

As a continuing service to our subscribers, we are offering document mailback whereby you can have a copy of any of the documents on our website sent to you by email. Simply send an email to: reprodocs@forumone.com with only the URL of the document in the body of the email, for example, http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/reprohealth/core2000/application.pdf, which is the URL for the application form for the Core Course 2000 from our website.

In this issue, we highlight publications and materials on Costing of Reproductive Health available on our website from both the Core Course 1999 and the January 1999 Pilot Course on Costing of Essential Primary Care Packages, including Reproductive Health (see under Regional Training Programs, Pilot Events, Costing Conference):

1. Annotated Bibliography of Essential Reading on Costing of Reproductive Health Services: http://www.reprohealth.org/costing/docs/anotbib.pdf

2. Annoted Bibilography of Selected Costing Manuals: http://orion.forumone.com/reprohealth/files.fcgi/434_20604.pdf

3. Case Study on Financing and Costing of Reproductive Health: The Vice Minister’s Dilemma: http://www.reprohealth.org/costing/docs/case.pdf

4. Case Study: Bolivia: Reproductive Health Costs and Financing: http://www.reprohealth.org/costing/docs/bolivia.pdf

5. Why Analyze the Costs of Essential Package Components?: http://www.reprohealth.org/costing/docs/costcrse.pdf

6. Value for Money in Reproductive Health: http://www.reprohealth.org/costing/docs/value.pdf

7. Using Cost and Revenue Analysis Tools: http://www.reprohealth.org/costing/docs/fpstudy.pdf

8. Training on Costing of Essential Primary Care Packages: http://www.reprohealth.org/costing/docs/overhd.pdf

9. Costs, Financing and Setting Priorities: http://orion.forumone.com/reprohealth/files.fcgi/439_20704.pdf

10. How to Buy a $12 package at $3.50: A Bangladesh Case Study:
http://orion.forumone.com/reprohealth/files.fcgi/381_m2s7bangl.pdf

11. Making Costing Fun: http://orion.forumone.com/reprohealth/files.fcgi/372_m2s6yazbeck.PDF

12. Reproductive Health Costs – Literature Review: http://orion.forumone.com/reprohealth/files.fcgi/377_m2s6mumford.pdf

    THANK YOU!

    Thank you for your interest in the Adapting to Change program. We welcome your comments and suggestions to czwicker@worldbank.org. Please circulate this message to other interested people and encourage them to register for their own copy on the Web at www.worldbank.org/wbi/reprohealth/ or by sending email to join-reprohealth@lists.worldbank.org.
    If you would like to be removed from this mailing list, please send a message to repro@forumone.com.

 
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