Human resource capacity remains the single largest obstacle to establishing a stable and quality HIV/AIDS

program in Guyana. Appropriate and coordinated training is essential to reduce the shortage of skilled

workers in the health sector. To improve upon the quality of pre-service and in-service training of health

care providers, I-TECH will work with PAHO to support the MOH in the development of standardized

curricula. Additionally, I-TECH will provide training for trainers to include tutors and health care

professionals who will become part of the network of local trainers.

Since July of 2007, the Guyana National Training Coordination Centre (GYNTCC) is located within the

Ministry of Health Annex, Liliendaal. This co-location facilitates a strong relationship between the GYNTCC

and the Health Sciences Education Unit (HSEU). Through this collaboration I-TECH will build HSEU

capacity to maintain a database of health care providers and their relevant training received to date. The

GYNTCC will also maintain a national training calendar so events are timely, not redundant, and do not

overlap. In addition, HIV/AIDS materials will be continually provided to the HSEU Resource Centre to

improve upon the resources available to those working in the health sector.

I-TECH will continue to support the national HIV/AIDS website. The website, operational since fall 2005,

serves as a primary communication tool and resource for health professionals, donors, implementing

partners and the general public. Funding supports the webmaster who provides continual improvement to

and maintenance of the site. Funding is through HHS/HRSA and in-country oversight resides with the CDC

Guyana Office which provides technical and administrative support.

Continuing at the current level of effort, I-TECH's curriculum development work will be conducted by experts

in curriculum design and training at I-TECH's headquarters at the University of Washington.

I-TECH proposes an expanded effort in 2008 by hiring counterpart staff in Guyana to learn and apply

curriculum development skills and serve as master trainers. Three part-time health professionals will be

employed within the GYNTCC office to work in partnership with the University of Washington-based

curriculum team to write the curriculum projects in the I-TECH Guyana work plan and to enhance training

capacity in Guyana. The three professionals would be identified by the Ministry of Health and would ideally

be a doctor, a medex, and a nurse. They will be trained in conducting curriculum needs assessments,

developing learning objectives, researching clinical guidelines, applying the principles of adult learning

theory, drafting well-formatted training materials, executing effective courses, training faculty to be expert

trainers, and evaluating trainings. The three staff will participate in implementing a second training-of-

trainers workshop in 2008 (one is already proposed in I-TECH's baseline 2008 budget request). I-TECH's

Guyana staff and headquarters health communication staff will serve as ongoing mentors to the local staff.

The increased expenditure would be a frontloaded investment for one or two years while capacity is

transferred from the U.S. to Guyana. The objective of this investment is that future curriculum development

work will be done in-house within the Ministry of Health, at which point the curriculum development work

done at I-TECH's headquarters could be significantly scaled back.

Deliverables/Additional Targets:

•Training calendar updated on a quarterly basis

•Database updated to track human resources and training

•HIV/AIDS website

•Training resource database updated

•Training of Trainers for tutors and health care professionals

•Standardized in-service curricula for the following: physicians, nursing assistants and community health

workers

•HIV/AIDS content provided for integration into pre-service curricula

•Local staff hired as curriculum developers

•Training plan for curriculum developers implemented