Institutional analysis
Many countries now recognise that health service provision is not only delivered by governments. Significant roles may also be played by:
- the non-governmental sector, including faith-based organisations
- the formal private, for-profit providers of hospitals, general practitioners and pharmacies
- the largely unregulated informal sector of traditional healers, traditional birth attendants and informal medicine sellers.
We, at Health Partners International are skilled in undertaking careful institutional analyses as a precursor to organisational changes. We carry out such analyses with all stakeholders to ensure that they, rather than us, 'own' any findings. This is essential as a first step to what can be a difficult and complex process.
We have worked in countries including Nigeria, South Africa and St Lucia.
Some of our projects
- Institutional analysis of the public health sector - Nigeria
- Capacity building, Department of Health - South Africa
- Institutional analysis, Ministry of Health - St Lucia
Background information
The need to involve the different health providers in a structured way requires ministries of health to be more inclusive when they are planning their own services and co-opting these other providers.
The recognition that a ministry of health is just one of many different providers in a country, albeit often the major one, has been accompanied by a widespread move to decentralise the responsibility for health facility management. This enables the ministries to focus on policy development, resource mobilisation and setting and monitoring standards.
Such changes in the roles of ministries require careful planning and the development of new skills, such as contracting and contract management. Monitoring and evaluation now has a higher prominence in the role of reformed ministries.