Finance and Governance Strengthening. No activities were implemented in Q1. Starting in Q2, HFA will start the implementation of cross-cutting activities at the local level to support specific interventions related to malaria, HIV, and family planning at provincial and municipal levels. • Capacity for annual operating plans (AOPs) improved at selected provinces and RMS (Municipal Directory of Health) HFA will provide training and technical assistance on the planning tools currently used by other partners, like the EU-PASS II project. The municipal AOPs will incorporate HFA’s focus areas in order to provide sustainability and continuous support to selected areas, including malaria, HIV, and family planning services. HFA will start to carry out the implementation of the 10 municipal annual plans and budgets and two provincial annual plans. • Strengthen budget management capacity at selected RMS HFA will provide technical assistance to strengthen budget management capacities at the municipal and provincial level. Since budget ceilings will likely not be increased and possibly reduced, HFA will focus on improving the management and use of resources allocated to each entity at municipal and provincial levels. HFA will conduct provincial workshops in Zaire and Lunda Sul provinces with the ten municipalities and two provinces to carry out budgets. In the process of development of municipal and provincial budgets, HFA will guarantee involvement of at least four municipal technical staff from each RMS, totaling 48 officials to be trained on budget formulation and implementation of financial best practices. This training process and technical assistance will help prepare the municipal teams for the development of the Public Budget for calendar year 2019. • Strengthen monitoring capacity at selected Provinces and RMS HFA will develop tools to oversee both municipal AOPs and budgets to implement a process of strengthening local capabilities at municipal level to ensure their AOP implementation. These monitoring tools will ensure that the activities programmed in each AOP are implemented. Through routine reviews, HFA will also verify whether specific results are achieved using indicators for the different objectives established in the AOP. This process will require training in the use of specific tools at the municipal level, as well as monthly technical support to guarantee appropriate measurement and interpretation of indicators, and then choosing the corrective intervention required. • Strengthen manage...
Finance and Governance Strengthening. The main achievement during Q1 was the approval by USAID to start HFA activities under IR5 related to governance and financing.
Finance and Governance Strengthening. The major constraints faced during Q1 were related to the political environment of the country and issues related to outbreaks of malaria and cholera in some provinces. • Changes in the national authorities of the Angolan Government on September 26, 2017 brought the need to re-start conversations and negotiations with new public servants, which resulted in delays for all health cooperation partners, including USAID. HFA received USAID approval to start the implementation of finance and governance activities in November 2017. • The Angolan Government, specifically the MOH, faced two critical outbreaks of malaria (November, December 2017) and cholera (December 2017). The authorities have been focusing on these critical issues, which has further delayed HFA’s ability to formalize relationships with new MOH authorities. • Negotiations between NMCP and USAID to start the implementation of capacity strengthening activities are still ongoing, mostly for the reasons explained above. • The budget allocated for governance activities (e.g. planning, budgeting) at local level is very limited to provide technical assistance to both Zaire and Lunda Sul provinces. HFA must find creative and innovative strategies to reach the expected results.
Finance and Governance Strengthening. All proposed targets for Finance and Governance were listed and detailed in item 5.2.1 above.
Finance and Governance Strengthening. Given that the MOH has not yet approved the two first key activities intended for FY18, HFA will focus its effort on implementing a cost analysis exercise on the iCCM intervention (malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia) for the provinces of Zaire and Lunda Sul.
Finance and Governance Strengthening. The main achievement of this component was securing collaboration with the new Director of the National Department of Public Health (DNSP), Xx Xxxxxx Xxxxx, by sharing HFA’s scope of work and results expected, and defining the timing of interventions. Xx. Xxxxxx Xxxx Xxxxx, Head of the Department of Health Promotion at DNSP, was assigned as the technical counterpart to fulfill two objectives: a) to represent the DNSP throughout HFA’s implementation, and b) to serve as a link with other MOH departments, the Ministry of Territorial Administration (MAT), and the Social Support Fund (FAS). Following this assignment, Xx Xxxxxx Xxxxx, National Coordinator of Local Development at FAS, was contacted and engaged in the activities.
Finance and Governance Strengthening. As with other components of the HFA project, the major constraint has been the delays in approvals by the MOH to proceed with priority activities of the workplan. As a result, the provincial and municipal interventions planned under the IR5 continue to be on stand-by.
Finance and Governance Strengthening. During the previous quarter, due to the lack of responses and approval from the MINSA authorities for the implementation of strategies at provincial and municipal levels, the alternative of implementing a contingency plan was discussed with USAID. Thus, under the Governance and Finance component, USAID defined the main topics/areas to be prioritized as follows: • Implementing an iCCM costing study in community health on interventions regarding malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia • Implementing a needs assessment in the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to carry out a capacity building plan in order to develop management capacities and performance improvement
Finance and Governance Strengthening. Under the Governance and Finance component, for FY18, HFA had defined the strengthening of provincial and municipal capacities in annual planning, budgeting, and monitoring interventions in Zaire and Lunda Sul Provinces. However, the MOH has not approved implementation of these strategies. As a consequence, USAID and PMI agreed that HFA should focus on the following priorities: 1) implementing the iCCM Costing Study intervention (malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia) on community health for the provinces of Zaire and Lunda Sul, and 2) carrying out the needs assessment of the National Malaria Control Program (NMCP) to begin a process of capacity building to improve their management capacities and performance.
Finance and Governance Strengthening. Like other components of the USAID - HFA Project, the major constraint has been the delays in approvals by the MOH to start the implementation of strategies and activities included in the HFA Project work plan. The strategy to overcome these constraints has been the implementation of the contingency plan, i.e., avoiding spend time and effort waiting for the MOH decision for provincial and municipal interventions (plans and budgets), and focus on the two strategies described above in 5.3.1.a and 5.3.1.b. Health Information System Strengthening Some challenges in Q3 were similar than those reported in Q2: not very strong coordination from the MOH on the efforts from different partners on DHIS2 implementation. This lack of coordination resulted in MOH health departments not always knowing about decisions taken by GTI/GEPE or other partners. Additionally, middle level authorities at MOH seemed to be afraid of taking clear and immediate decisions/actions towards DHIS2, due to fears from higher level authorities (e.g. fears of participating in internal meetings on DHIS2 on preparative work, hesitation to call for the Extended Technical Working Group meetings, delays in approving the kick off of DHIS2 training, etc.). Lack of equipment for DHIS2 roll out continues to be a problem: out of 43 computers promised by MoH to fully cover Uige, Malange and Kwanza Norte, only 20 computers were made available (donations from World Bank). Before this scenario, HFA purchased prior approval from PMI-USAID Angola the remaining 23 computers to cover Malange and Kwanza Norte. It is expected that MoH with Global Fund money would purchase computers for 161 municipalities and will cover the 3 remaining PMI provinces (Zaire, Lunda Sul and Lunda Norte). Nevertheless, the timing for procuring these computers is unclear, putting at risk the DHIS2 training chronogram. HFA might need to buy computers for these other 3 provinces, in order to accomplish DHIS2 training of all 6 PMI provinces by the end of September.
