Workforce and Systems Strengthening

Toward Development of a Rural Retention Strategy in Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Understanding Health Worker Preferences. Jaskiewicz W, IntraHealth International; Phathammavong O, World Health Organization; Vangkonevilay P, Lao PDR Ministry of Health; Paphassarang C, Lao PDR Ministry of Health; Phachanh IT, Lao PDR Ministry of Health; Wurts L, IntraHealth International. CapacityPlus 2012.

This report presents the results of a discrete choice experiment (DCE), using CapacityPlus’s rural retention survey toolkit, in May 2011, which constitute an important input to the policy-making process toward development of a national strategy to increase health worker attraction and retention in rural and remote areas of Lao PDR. [1046 kb pdf]

Population Growth and the Global Health Workforce Crisis. Pacqué-Margolis S, Muntifering C, Ng C, and Noronha S, IntraHealth International. CapacityPlus 2011.

This technical brief discusses the potential impact of population growth on countries’ efforts to improve
their populations’ access to skilled health workers. [767 kb pdf]

English | French | on the CapacityPlus website

Human Resources for Health (HRH) Indicator Compendium. Pacqué-Margolis S, Ng C, and Kauffman S. CapacityPlus 2011. [website]

Guidelines for Forming and Sustaining Human Resources for Health Stakeholder Leadership Groups, Gormley W and McCaffery J, CapacityPlus, 2011 .[1.15mb pdf]

District Incentive Fund (DIF) Grant Initiative Final Assessment. This report assesses the effect of the Twubakane Program's District Incentive Fund Grant Initiative on Rwandan health care development. Twubakane Decentralization and Health Program. 2010.
 [574kb pdf]

Promising Practices to Build Human Resources Capacity in HIV Strategic Information, Capacity Project, 2010.

The promising practices in this resource cover the core components of strategic information and span the six action fields of the HRH Action Framework (HAF)—which when applied to the SI/M&E arena provide a comprehensive lens through which to strategically plan for and implement M&E workforce strengthening initiatives. [2MB pdf]

Taking Forward Action on Human Resources for Health in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia: Synthesis and Measures of Success, Campbell J, Integrare, and Settle D, IntraHealth International, 2010.

This paper discusses the background of HRH shortages in the listed countries, as well as plans for steps to resolve the issue. [160kb pdf]

Twubakane Final Report, Twubakane Decentralization and Health Project, 2010. Reviews the work of the Twubakane Decentralization and Health Project in Rwanda. Topics covered include:

  • Family Planning and Reproductive Health Access, Quality and Use
  • Child Survival, Malaria and Nutrition Access and Quality 
  • District-Level Capacity Building
  • Health Facilities Management and Mutuelles
  • Community Engagement and Oversight

[3MB pdf]

Addressing Gender Inequality in Human Resources for Health, Newman C, IntraHealth International, Capacity Project, 2009.

Legacy Series No. 4. Reviews how the Project addressed gender discrimination and inequality in HRH through its institutional mechanisms, approaches and tools as well as in country-level implementation. [396kb pdf] 

From Kampala to the Districts: Linking Data, Saving Lives, Dwyer S. and Bales C. Examines how the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Council and the Ministry of Health are using data to support the country's health workers and improve health care in the districts. September 2009. [3mb pdf] A related video can be seen here.

Good Governance and Health—Assessing Progress in Rwanda, Brinkerhoff DW, Fort C,  Stratton S. Tihs study investigates how Twubakane’s efforts to support the decentralization of Rwanda’s health system and to build the capacity of local governments to plan, budget for and deliver health services have enhanced health governance and contributed to improved health outcomes. April 2009. [409kb pdf]

The Impact of Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) Strengthening, de Vries DH, Settle D and McQuidePA , IntraHealth International, Capacity Project, 2009.

Legacy Series No. 6. Provides an overview of results from a qualitative evaluation study of the Project’s HRIS strengthening in Swaziland, Uganda and Rwanda, and draws on results from a regional workshop on data-driven decision-making in Tanzania.  [157kb pdf] 

English | Spanish

Knowledge Management and Human Resources for Health: Using Quality Information to Make Better Decisions, Farrell CM and Rhodes R, IntraHealth International, Capacity Project, 2009.

Legacy Series No. 2. Illustrates the Project’s approach to integrating knowledge management into HRH strengthening activities and provides recommendations for future initiatives. [170kb pdf]

Planning, Developing and Supporting the Health Workforce: Results and Lessons Learned from the Capacity Project, 2004-2009, Capacity Project, 2009.

The Capacity Project’s final report summarizes results and lessons learned from this five-year global project on human resources for health. [1.8mb pdf]

The Role of Health Systems Strengthening in Effectively Updating and Disseminating Family Planning/Reproductive Health Guidelines

This document describes several systems strengthening innovations that have been successful in achieving needed changes in service delivery practice, and argues that written updates of family planning/reproductive health norms and standards must be complemented with innovative systems strengthening to ensure their use in low-resource settings. 2009. [359kb pdf]

Strengthening Professional Associations for Health Workers, Yinger N and McQuide PA, IntraHealth International, Capacity Project, 2009

Legacy Series No. 7. Describes the Project's models for strengthening professional associations. [119kb pdf]

Assessment of the Additional Duties Hours Allowance (ADHA) Scheme: Final Report, Ruwoldt P (Training Resources Group, Inc.), Perry S (Liverpool Associates in Tropical Health), Yumkella F (IntraHealth International, Inc.), Sagoe K (Ghana Health Service), Capacity Project and Ghana Ministry of Health, 2008. [414kb pdf] 

Building the Bridge from Human Resources Data to Effective Decisions: Ten Pillars of Successful Data-Driven Decision-Making, Adano U, Management Sciences for Health, Capacity Project, 2008

This Technical Brief presents ten fundamental and practical pillars to aid HR managers, practitioners and policy analysts in building a bridge from HR data and reports to effective HR policy and management decisions. [14kb pdf]

Data Quality Considerations in Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) Strengthening, Wakibi S., Capacity Project, 2008. [167kb pdf]

HRH Action Framework, USAID and WHO (administered by the Capacity Project), 2008.

The HRH Action Framework is designed to assist governments and health managers to develop and implement strategies to achieve an effective and sustainable health workforce. By using a comprehensive approach, the Framework will help you address staff shortages, uneven distribution of staff, gaps in skills and competencies, low retention and poor motivation, among other challenges. [website]

Human Resources for Health (HRH) Action Workshop Assessment, Capacity Project, 2008.

This report assesses the influence of the Capacity Project’s HRH Action Workshops on subsequent country-level HRH activities. [210kb pdf]

Human Resources for Health Global Resource Center, Capacity Project, 2008.

The HRH Global Resource Center provides support to human resources for health (HRH) stakeholders and decision makers by helping them find the resources they need via a web-based, searchable knowledge base and offering them personalized support from an experienced knowledge management team. [website]

Human Resources for Health Strategic Planning, Martineau T (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine) and Caffrey M (Liverpool Associates in Tropical Health) Capacity Project, 2008.

This technical brief discusses how to approach current human resources (HR) challenges in the health sector with a national strategic HR plan. [261kb pdf]

French | Spanish

Human Resources for Health: Tackling the Human Resource Management Piece of the Puzzle, Adano U, Management Sciences for Health (MSH); McCaffery J, Training
Resources Group, Inc. (TRG); Ruwoldt P, Training Resources Group, Inc. (TRG); Stilwell B, IntraHealth International, Capacity Project, 2008.

This technical brief describes the human resource management (HRM) problems that contribute to the health worker crisis, identifies specific strategic actions to address these HRM challenges and concludes with examples of innovations to stimulate programmatic funding opportunities for strengthening human resources for health. [158 kb pdf]

English | French | Spanish

iHRIS—Global HRIS Strengthening, Capacity Project, 2008.

Free, Open Source HRIS solutions, distributed under the General Public License (GPL), to supply health sector leaders and managers with the information they need to assess HR problems, plan effective interventions and evaluate those interventions. [website]

Informatics, 2008.

Help develop software solutions, contribute to documentation or translation, or join the discussion of the technical aspects of human resources for health. [website]

Mothers' Support Groups in Ethiopia: A Peer Support Model to Address the Needs of Women Living with HIV, Viadro C., Stratton S. Asfaw YD, Shibru A, Capacity Project and Hareg Project, 2008.

A model developed by IntraHealth in Ethiopia to support HIV-positive mothers and help them avoid transmitting the virus to their infants. [224kb pdf]

An Overview of Human Resources for Health (HRH) Projection Models,  McQuide P, Stevens J and Settle D, Capacity Project, 2008.

This Technical Brief provides a rapid review of different health workforce projection approaches with a list of references for more information. [55kb pdf]

Worker Retention in Human Resources for Health: Catalyzing and Tracking Change, Yumkella F, 2008.

Technical Brief No. 15 updates and documents some contributions made from 2005 to 2008 in the area of worker retention, including the causes of turnover, actions to address turnover and emerging evidence on retention approaches. [146kb pdf] 

English | French

Guideline for Incorporating New Cadres of Health Workers to Increase Accessibility and Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy Resource paper related to the study in Uganda, Stilwell B (LATH), Capacity Project (part of the Health Workforce "Innovative Approaches and Promising Practices" Study series), 2007. [1180kb pdf] 

Guideline for Outsourcing Human Resources Services to Make Antiretroviral Therapy Rapidly Available in Underserved Areas Resource paper related to the study in Namibia, Benavides B. (JHPIEGO), Capacity Project (part of the Health Workforce "Innovative Approaches and Promising Practices" Study series), 2007. [266kb pdf]

Partnership Building: Practical Tools to Help You Create, Strengthen, Assess and Manage Your Partner, Gormley W. (TRG) and Guyer-Miller L. (TRG), Capacity Project, 2007.

This toolkit offers guidance on identifying potential alliance partners, facilitating a dynamic and helpful kick-off meeting and creating an appropriate memorandum of understanding, along with more tools to help create or develop partnerships. [247kb pdf]

Strengthening Health Professional Associations, McQuide P., Millonzi K. and Farrell C., Capacity Project, 2007.

Technical Brief No. 8,  explores various approaches for strengthening professional associations and outlines the benefits and challenges of such efforts. [186kb pdf]

French | Spanish

Uganda Health Workforce Study: Satisfaction and Intent to Stay Among Current Health Workers, Hagopian A. (HRSA), Capacity Project (part of the Capacity Project Tools and Resources for HRH Practitioners), 2007. [221kb pdf]

Zanzibar Health Care Worker Productivity Study: Preliminary Study Findings, Ruwoldt P. (TRG) and Hasett P. Capacity Project (part of the Capacity Project Tools and Resources for HRH Practitioners), 2007. [639kb pdf]

Attracting and Retaining Nurse Tutors in Malawi, Caffrey M. and Frelick G. (consultants), Capacity Project (part of the Health Workforce "Innovative Approaches and Promising Practices" Study series), 2006. [259kb pdf] 

Incorporating Lay Human Resources to Increase Accessibility to Antiretroviral Therapy: A Home-Based Approach in Uganda, Benavides B. and Caffrey M. (consultants), Capacity Project (part of the Health Workforce "Innovative Approaches and Promising Practices" Study series), 2006. [351kb pdf]

Increasing the Motivation of Health Care Workers, Luoma M. Capacity Project, 2006.

This technical brief discusses possible ways to increase motivation among health care workers. [179kb pdf]

French | Spanish

Integrating Gender in Human Resources for Health (HRH) Projects, Newman C., Houck F. (Futures Group), Kincaid M. (Futures Group), Neason E. (Futures Group), Avni M. (USAID), Capacity Project and POLICY Project, 2006.

Two training modules (Gender Analysis and Integration in Capacity Country Projects; Building Support for Gender Integration through Advocacy) for supporting gender equality in human resources for health, with handouts. [web page with pdfs]

Providing Doorstep Services to Underserved Rural Populations: Community Health Workers in Ghana, Acqua S., Frelick G., and Matikanya R. (consultants), Capacity Project (part of the Health Workforce "Innovative Approaches and Promising Practices" Study series), 2006. [236kb pdf]

Retention of Health Care Workers in Low-Resource Settings, Yumkella F., Capacity Project, 2006.

In Technical Brief No. 1, Fatu Yumkella discusses retaining health care workers in resource-constrained countries. [208kb pdf]

French | Spanish

Strategy for the Rapid Start-up of the HIV/AIDS Program in Namibia: Outsourcing the Recruitment and Management of Human Resources for Health, Frelick G. and Mameja J. (consultants), Capacity Project (part of the Health Workforce "Innovative Approaches and Promising Practices" Study series), 2006. [240kb pdf]

Supporting Existing Health Cadres in Learning New Skills, Murphy C. and Millonzi K., Capacity Project, 2006

This resource paper discusses the challenge of developing human capacity for health care occuring in the context of severe staff shortages. [280kb pdf] 

Using Collaborative Approaches to Reach Human Resources for Health (HRH) Goals, Gormley W. (TRG) and Guyer-Miller L. (TRG), 2006.

Technical Brief No. 4 discusses best practices and lessons learned from a combination of key themes in current literature and practice regarding the benefits of collaborative ventures. [184kb pdf] 

French | Spanish