Southern Sudan is taking important first steps toward the national implementation of iHRIS Manage, the Capacity Project’s human resources (HR) management software. The software will be installed in HR offices in Central Equatoria, Western Bahr al Ghazal and Upper Nile in the upcoming weeks. In preparation, HR officers and HR information systems point persons from each of the three states attended a three-day training session on the system and learned how to enter data and produce reports.
To ensure full participation in country-wide implementation, the Project also held a workshop for 21 directors and director generals from all ten states and the central government, along with representatives from WHO and the International Organization for Migration. Participants reviewed data flow, and used their own health workforce data (collected with support from the Project earlier this year) to practice using data for decision making. An important outcome of this workshop was the decision to create a data collection tool and training materials to assist county health officers in supervising data collection at the health facilities. These tools will help to improve data quality and also build local capacity for sustaining the software.
Much was accomplished in December at the PEPFAR-funded HRIS Inventory Project workshop. Leaders from several partner and donor organizations gathered to review the project scope, suggest improvements to the proposed data framework, and define the data elements necessary to capture an informative systems inventory in their areas of expertise. Participants grouped themselves into areas of focus and expressed interest in continuing to support the inventory project. We will continue to work with these focus groups to develop communities of practice and help each define best practices in their fields.
The project team is currently compiling and digesting information from the workshop and will share with all participants via email and the Capacity website. In addition, as use cases are re-written based on feedback obtained in the workshop we will share with the focus groups for suggested improvements.
On December 11-12, the Capacity Project’s human resources information systems (HRIS) strengthening team conducted the PEPFAR HRIS Inventory Workshop. Funded by PEPFAR, with support from WHO and World Bank, the workshop launched a comprehensive HRIS inventory and began building a community of practice. The 50 participants–including representatives from USAID, WHO, World Bank and a wide variety of NGOs and universities–developed a matrix of HRIS strengthening activities that are complete, under way and planned in PEPFAR focus countries, provided feedback on a draft inventory framework and gained insight into critical data elements. The Capacity Project will use this information to develop a web-based HRIS inventory database, which will begin with PEPFAR focus countries and expand to include others. Many participants expressed their desire to continue collaboration as the database is developed and to assist with data collection. Data specifications are currently being written, and the first iteration of the inventory database will be introduced to workshop participants for review this spring.
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