The programme “Towards Enhanced Systemic Impact for Family Planning/Reproductive Health: Strengthening community Leadership and Organizational Capacities in Selected District in Bihar and Jharkhand, India” focuses on Leadership Development and Organizational Effectiveness (LDOE). It is a collaborative effort between International Council on Management of Population Programmes (ICOMP), Malaysia and Xavier Institute of Social Service (XISS) supported by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

The programme was started in 2007 with an aim to contribute towards the goals of the Government of India’s NRHM, in particular, the reduction in infant mortality rate and maternal mortality ratio; universal access to public health services such as women health, child health, population stabilization, gender and demographic balance

This Programme intends to create longer-term impact on the family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) sector (for outreach and service delivery) in the eastern states of Bihar and Jharkhand, India through developing Leadership Development and Organizational Effectiveness (LDOE) capacity of four main groups:

The programme intends to improve the FP/RH status through enhanced systemic impact in Bihar and Jharkhand by an LDOE process in targeted locations by leadership development and strengthening organizational effectiveness process leading to increased coverage and improved quality of FP/RH services. The programme also focuses on building the capacities of critical institutions for systemic change – regional resource centers and state health societies. Building sustainable in-country capacity for LDOE is an important feature of the programme with an objective to build leadership capacities, competencies, and managerial skills of key health personnel and critical institutions at the state, district, block and community level.

Key Achievements:

  • Series of training programmes were organized for Government health functionaries, NGOs, CBOs, and community leaders. Four sets of module were developed in collaboration with ICOMP and partner organization for training.
  • In country resource was mobilized by the support from Jamsetjee Tata Trust for Community leadership programme. The programme is creating a cadre of eight hundred community leader in six districts of Bihar and Jharkhand. These community leaders will work for rights and demand generation which will further improve the NRHM programme performance.
  • Institutionalization of LDOE Process is in progress and we are happy to inform that State Institute of health and Family Welfare, Bihar and Government of Jharkhand has agreed to take this programme forward in future.
  • The final evaluation of the programme was conducted in month of January-February 2011 and preliminary findings were shared in dissemination-cum-experience sharing workshop on 5th March at BNR Chanakya, Ranchi. Ms Aradhana Patnaik IAS, Mission director, NRHM, GOI was invited as chief guest for the workshop.

Challenges and lessons learnt:
Every programme has implementation challenges which force us to think, innovate and address those challenges. Some of the key challenges under this programme were lack of human resources, infrastructure, political will, frequent transfer and posting, and low social development indicator.

The lessons from this programme were that such an initiative requires sustained effort to build and maintain linkages. It is difficult to change the mindset of the people only through training but it also requires continuous mentoring and handholding support.