Success Story: Rapidly Deploying a Step Solution in Swaziland

The Ministry of Health and Social Work (MOHSW) in Swaziland desperately needed better human resources for health data. No one in the country had a complete picture of where health workers were deployed or what jobs they were doing. The Ministry did not even know who was working for them. Some employees were not taken off the payroll after leaving the Ministry's employment and became "ghost workers" in the system, receiving a paycheck even though they no longer worked for the government. At the same time, current employees and retirees were suing the Ministry because they were not getting paid.

A thorough HRIS assessment revealed the sources of these problems. Human resource data were stored in separate systems, which were not linked, so there was no way to gain a complete understanding of the health workforce in Swaziland. Information flowed slowly between systems and didn't reach everyone who needed it, so that systems were not updated or errors were introduced.

A quick solution to these problems was required. The Capacity Project rapidly implemented an interim step solution consisting of a data collection form distributed to health facilities and a simple Microsoft Access database. We also instituted data quality procedures to immediately improve the accuracy and timeliness of the data put into the step solution, and we hired specialists to enter and clean up the data.

The Ministry used the new, accurate data to develop a Health Workforce Strategic Plan, as well as to analyze vacancies and manage the redeployment of health workers to fill gaps. We are now integrating the step solution with other HR data systems and developing additional reports to provide answers to other HR management and policy questions developed by the Stakeholder Leadership Group.

Learn More
Linking Up: Creating a Complete Picture of Swaziland's Health Workforce (Voices from the Capacity Project Series - PDF)