FIGO Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health Projects: Enhancing collaboration'

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FIGO Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health
ProjectsEnhancing collaboration.

• Margaret Walsh
• Midwife
• Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health Manager
• FIGO

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Goal of FIGO Safe Motherhood and Newborn health
projects

• To contribute to a reduction of maternal and
  newborn mortality and morbidity within selected
  low resource countries.

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Objectives

• Include a range of interventions to
• improve access to care,
• enhance the quality of health services,
• to introduce effective interventions,
• establish systems of clinical auditing
• to increase access to skilled attendants in low
  resource settings.

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Shared Objectives

• To strengthen the capacity of national
  professional societies committed to maternal and
  newborn health.
• To work in collaboration with local stakeholders
  and ensuring long term sustainability of
  interventions to improve the health of women and
  newborn.

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Projects in the following countries

• Haiti,
• Kenya,
• Kosovo,
• Moldova,
• Nigeria,
• Pakistan,
• Peru,
• Ukraine,
• Uruguay,
• Uganda,

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Funding

• Funding for the majority of the projects is
  provided by Swedish International Development
  Cooperation Agency (Sida) and FIGO.
• Funding for FIGO SMNH Ukraine Project had been
  provided by Capacity project, IntraHealth
  International.

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FIGOSMNH Initiatives

• Save the Mothers Initiative (1999-2004)
• 5 country projects.
• Introduced Peer to Peer Partnering of high Low
  resources societies.
• Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health (SMNH)
  Initiative
• launched in 2006.
• 12 country projects.
• Aims to facilitate a reduction of maternal and
  newborn mortality and morbidity, contributing to
  MDG 5, through strengthening the capacity of
  national organizations of obstetrics and
  gynaecology Midwifery Associations.

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Health Professional organisations

• Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child
  Health (PMNCH) has identified that health
  professional associations and societies have
  vital roles to play ensuring that health
  professionals are well-prepared for their
  important roles in achieving MDGs 4 5.
• However, it is also recognised that the ability
  of professional organisations to make such
  contributions depends on individual
  organizational and institutional capacities at
  country level.

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Enhancing Organisation Capacity

• Developing leadership role, advocacy and direct
  improvement in health care by the association and
  its members.
• Organization capacity enables the organisation to
  operate with a focused, collective and
  sustainable approach.
• Enabling organisations to directly improve the
  services their members provide to women and
  families, successfully advocate for change, and
  successfully undertake safe maternal and newborn
  health initiatives.

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Health Professional Organisations working
together.

• Enhance quality clinical work, through the
  establishment and implementation of national
  guidelines evidence-based, contextually relevant
  and realistic.
• Collaboration between Midwifery Associations and
  Obstetric Gynaecology Societies on shared
  goals.
• Develop capacity in advocacy and promotion of
  maternal and newborn health in society.
• To promote dialogue with partners for maternal
  and newborn health such as civil society
  organizations, consumer groups, international
  agencies and government ministries.

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Role/Responsibilities

• National society of obstetrics and gynaecology
• National Midwifery Associations
• Twinning Society Association
• FIGO has developed a set of roles and
  responsibilities as a framework for working
  together within each of the Safe Motherhood
  Newborn Health projects.
• Key aspects encompass
• Planning, leadership, management
• Role in Project activities
• Communication
• Dissemination

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Enhancing collaboration

• An example of how collaboration capacity
  building of professional organisations is
  integrated into the objectives of one of the Safe
  Motherhood Newborn Health Projects, using the
  SMNH Project in Kenya as an example.

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Improving Quality of Antenatal, Delivery and
Postnatal Care in Kenya through clinical audit .

• Goal
• To contribute to reducing maternal and neonatal
  mortality and morbidity in Kenya
• Objective
• To improve the quality of maternal neonatal
  health care services in Kenyan Project facilities.

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Logical Framework Analysis

• Output 1.
• 1.0 To improve the quality of antenatal care,
  delivery, and post natal care at project
  facilities offering basic and comprehensive
  EmOC.
• Output 2
• 2.0 To improve the accessibility and
  acceptability of EmOC to women through enhanced
  community awareness and involvement.

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• Output 3.
• To strengthen the capacity of professional
  societies associations in Kenya to support
  national efforts at improving maternal and
  neonatal health care.

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Measurable Indicators

• Number of members of health professional
  associations/societies trained to provide MCH
  technical assistance.
• Standards of care for ANC, delivery, and PNC
  developed by collaborating professional
  societies/associations, MOH and civil society
  groups
• Number of technical assistance projects of MOH
  where professional associations are involved.
• Strong representation of Kenyan professional
  associations on RH Interagency Coordinating
  Committee (RH IACC) led by Division of
  Reproductive Health, MOH Kenya
• Increased technical assistance provided to other
  MOH activities in the area of maternal and
  neonatal care.

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Means of verification

• Training report Technical assistance reports.
• National Standards of care for antenatal,
  delivery and postnatal care published and
  disseminated.
• Minutes of meetings.
• Technical assistance reports.

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Professional societies/associations are faced
with a number of challenges in developing
capacity including

• establishing a stable member-based association
  within a context of varying institutional
  infrastructures,
• securing the necessary resources (including
  technical and financial) to support the
  developing of new capacities within the culture
  and operations of the organisation,
• establishing meaningful measurement (indicators)
  and monitoring processes, appropriate to the
  organisation, which support the development of
  capacity.

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The Journey to a shared goal.
Photos by R.Menendez. 2007