The Stakeholder Leadership Group in Namibia
discusses solutions for strengthening their
human resource information system.
In February 2007, the Capacity Project team met with more than 40 stakeholders in Namibia to assess HRIS needs for the country. The HRIS assessment team found that Namibia already had strong data use practices and some good systems. The Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS) had a comprehensive paper-based information system that was, however, extremely labor- and time-intensive to maintain. Despite these limitations, the Ministry had developed powerful reporting and planning tools, but these were only updated annually at a significant cost. For example, in order to report on retirees, staff had to pull the relevant records from 10,000 cards and manually calculate the figures, which could take over a month to compile.
Before the assessment team traveled to Namibia, they sent a new HRIS assessment questionnaire to all stakeholders. Using this tool had an unexpected side benefit. By considering the questions carefully, not only had the stakeholders already identified the strengths and weaknesses of their existing system, but they had also come to the initial Stakeholder Leadership Group meetings with a strong idea of what they wanted and needed from an HRIS in Namibia.
Together the assessment team and the Namibia HRIS Stakeholder Leadership Group determined that a stepped approach to a comprehensive HRIS, including infrastructure strengthening, was required to quickly improve existing systems and accelerate data reporting and usage. With computers, training and data entry support, the MOHSS could begin computerizing data within weeks.
This computerized data, combined with HR information from other ministries, will be entered into iHRIS Plan, the workforce projection and modeling component of the iHRIS software suite. Using iHRIS Plan, MOHSS officials can assess whether the current health workforce in Namibia will meet the projected needs and plan interventions to close the gap.