Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Years of mechanism: 2012 2013 2014 2015

Details for Mechanism ID: 14487
Country/Region: Botswana
Year: 2013
Main Partner: Association of Schools of Public Health
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: NGO
Funding Agency: HHS/CDC
Total Funding: $100,000

The Association of Schools for Public Health is a cooperative agreement that supports U.S. universities to advance public health research and programs domestically and overseas. The scope of work includes health workforce development and specifically the African Health Profession Regulatory Collaborative for Nurses and Midwives (ARC). ARC is a four year regional initiative with the following objectives: 1) Ensure that global quality standards of practice are harmonized in the East Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA) region; 2) Ensure that national regulatory frameworks are updated to reflect nationally approved reforms to practice and education; 3) Strengthen the capacity of regulatory councils to conduct key regulatory functions; and 4) Establish sustainable African health leadership in nursing and midwifery practice and regulation.

The geographic coverage for ARC includes the 14 countries of ECSA. The target population is the nursing and midwifery leadership of these countries, drawn from the nursing council, ministry of health (MOH), nursing association, and educational institutions. The strategy for cost efficiency and transition to partner government is to build the capacity within ECSA to incrementally assume full management of the initiative over the four year period. ECSA is a regional African inter-governmental health organization that promotes regional cooperation in health among member states. Monitoring and evaluation plans include development of a scientific framework that documents the progress of participating countries and regulatory changes relative to baseline indicators. It also includes monitoring of country planning processes and the degree to which program plans are implemented.

Funding for Health Systems Strengthening (OHSS): $100,000

PEPFAR has encouraged key reforms in the pre-service education, tasks, and training of nurses and midwives in Botswana, which are not reflected and institutionalized in the legislative and regulatory framework governed by the Council. This is due in part to weakness in the institutional capacity of the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Botswana (NMCB). NMCB, along with a team from MOH participated in the first ARC workshop in Nairobi in 2011, but were unsuccessful in their bid for the first round of support. In FY 2012, ARC will invite a national leadership team from Botswana to participate in a south-to-south collaborative, whereby the Registrar, Chief Nursing Officer, representatives of the nursing and midwifery council and the professional association, and member of the academic sector will work together to achieve measurable improvement in an area of regulation that they prioritize and define. ARC will support the teams achievement through a direct grant, ongoing technical assistance, and by supporting the participation of the team in quarterly ARC learning sessions, where the Botswana team will learn and share with four other country teams in the region working on similar activities, as well as contribute to key tools and resources made available for the region, through collaborating partner ECSA. Example activities include: creating a continuing professional development program, revising scopes of practice, and creating advanced cadres. ARC will further conduct institutional strengthening of the council, through training and mentorship in planning, grants and project management, monitoring and evaluation, and quality improvement. Linkages across functional areas include tackling this key systems issue in workforce development while also enhancing leadership and governance of the health system by national and regional African institutions.

Subpartners Total: $0
Emory University: NA
Cross Cutting Budget Categories and Known Amounts Total: $100,000
Human Resources for Health $100,000