By Natalya Nepomnyashcha
eHealth Africa (eHA) held its first ever Global Programs Conference in our Kano office. 50 participants from 6 offices and three continents represented 5 programmatic pillars as well as over 30 different projects in 10 countries.
The main conference goals were:
To promote knowledge sharing among various program teams and offices
To provide in-person training on people and process management
To promote a common understanding of eHA's mission, values, and resources
To spend time together growing, and collaborating better as a team
Together as a team, we looked back at our first project in Nigeria, a Maternal Health project in Kaduna, to our first entry into combating Polio, to our regional impact during the Ebola outbreak. We went further to discuss our current endeavors such as expanding the team in the Lake Chad region and the GIS GRID project that will map all states in Nigeria.
This conference was a great opportunity to highlight our integrated approach of connecting data, insight, and execution. As a team, we discussed the previously identified guiding principles in determining the eHA best project fit, which are:
Can we do it better than anyone else in the space?
Is it driven primarily by our beneficiaries?
Is it transformational?
The conference was held from May 17-21, 2017. Day one of the conference was focused on knowledge sharing. The teams had the opportunity to share and present various projects, results, and impact to one another, be it Health Camp, electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance, and Response (eIDSR), or Vaccine Direct Delivery.
“My personal highlight was seeing the Health Camps boxes, a project in Nigeria. I didn’t know that eHA was testing the items. We also collected data to determine what needs to be in the boxes. It’s such an integrated model” - Dayo Spencer-Walters, Deputy Country Director, Sierra Leone
Day two was focused on people development. We showcased our interest and love for investing in and developing our greatest asset, our people. The conference participants attended a professional management training, where they learned about the importance of delegation and effective communication amongst other topics discussed.
No eHA conference would be complete without learning about the proper use of data and maps. On the final day, participants received very insightful in-house session on how data and maps can be used practically to allow for an evidence-based and timely decision-making.
At eHA, we understand and emphasize the importance of balancing work and life, hence we allocated some of the conference time to attending fun dinners with the team and participating in a slew of games such as trivia night.
The evaluation showed that the conference helped eHA staff to grow professionally, personally, and as a team:
Almost 90% said the conference made them more excited to work for eHA
94% thought the conference provided content for personal and professional growth
As a result, participants not only received input on how to grow as managers, and gained insight into various projects - the group grew much closer as a team and will be able to represent our core values at a new level.
Impact & Quality // Innovative Problem-Solving // Passion // Honesty // Growth & Learning // Ownership
Are you interested in joining eHA? Have a look at our current job openings. We look forward to your applications!
