In July this year, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) in collaboration with the World Health Organization commenced a countrywide strategic leadership and management training for health authorities in all the districts in Sierra Leone. Trained in cohorts, 97 MoHS officials with governance, leadership and managerial responsibilities at the district hospitals and District Health Management Teams (DHMT) have been trained so far.
Guided and facilitated by WHO with funding from the British Government through DFID, and technical support from EU-Luxemburg - WHO Universal Health Coverage Partnership, the training content was tailored and adapted to the needs of these officials to make it ‘fit for purpose’. The training aimed, among other things, to strengthen performance of the district level officials in management and administrative skills (strategic planning & development), DHMT coordination, human resources management, supervisory skills, basic financial & accounting and budgeting skills, procurement, resource management and asset allocation and distribution).

The district level leadership and management training was in line with the MoHS District Health Management Strengthening Strategy (DHMSS) which was developed in 2016. The package  includes:  leadership and management; mentoring and coaching by the District Health Advisors; Integrated supportive supervision from national to district level as well as district to sub-district level; Integrated and functional health management systems; technical and management and on the job support by partners.

A group comprising local staff from the health sector of Sierra Leone and technical assistance from Ghana Health Service under South-South Cooperation developed the training modules and facilitated the training

The governance, leadership and management training is expected to be extended to the remaining DHMT and district hospital staff who were not covered as well as staff at the central MoHS level.