Training for Effective Performance

Example from Ghana

Results of a Training Needs Assessment for the Maternal and Child Health/Family Planning Division of the Ministry of Health (1986-1990)

During the 1980s, the Ministry of Health of Ghana determined that one of its top priorities was to improve primary health care and its delivery to each community in the country. The government decided to integrate family planning services with maternal and child health services within the primary health care system, in order to make these services accessible to all women and children in Ghana. In an effort to ensure that they met this objective, the Maternal and Child Health/Family Planning Division of the Ministry of Health conducted a Training Needs Assessment. They looked at their policy statement and service delivery goals and calculated how many people in the various positions would be needed to staff this effort, what skills each job position would require, and how many people required training in these skills. The result of this analysis was a document that presented the planned training activities, problems and constraints, and recommendations. Training was conducted in such areas as information, education, and communication (IEC); contraceptive technology; service delivery; and evaluation and research. The overall goal of this training plan was to strengthen the capability of the MCH/FP Division to deliver family planning services. The training plan is a working document which continues to be updated.

Activity	Status	Problems/Constraints	Recommendations
Information, Education and Communication
Training of 8 health educators Focus group study technique (3 weeks)	Completed July/Aug. 1986	Nil.
Training of 3 national level medical staff Materials Development (2 weeks)	Completed June/July 1987	Inadequate staff at post.	Needs to be repeated as staff move on.
Training of 60 Service Providers (Core Group), one per District Health Management Team, in IEC program management	Completed May/June 1987	Nil.	Should be repeated twice yearly to allow for staff turnover.
Training of 1,950 service providers in: Motivation Promotion Interpersonal Communication	First workshop completed Jan. 1988; second scheduled for July 1988	Nil.	Should become an ongoing activity.
Contraceptive Technology
Training of 250 Nurse Midwives in clinic family planning methods	Ongoing, 80 Nurse-Midwives trained to date	Lack of accommodations for trainers. Delay in clearing training supplies through customs. General shortage of supplies for service delivery.	Needs to be conducted twice yearly to accommodate staff changes in method mix and to improve continuation rates.
Training of 10 gynecologists; 10 surgical nurses Laparoscopy	Completed	Several Laparoscopes need renovating before they can be put to effective use.	Needs to be conducted twice yearly to accommodate staff turnover.
Service Delivery
Training of 1,950 health center/health post personnel: Motivation/Counseling Record Keeping Supplies Management Financial Management Supervision	Scheduled for March-Dec. 1988	Production of training manual delayed by: Procuring stationery; Producing stencils; Duplication process. Training schedule delayed by slow procurement of funds.	Needs to be conducted twice yearly to accommodate staff turnover. Manuals should be made available to pre-service tutors.
Training of 340 district level personnel in: Supervision Data Collection/Analysis Supplies Management Financial Management Program Planning Program Monitoring	Ongoing, 170 district level personnel trained to date. To be completed in 1989	Production of training delayed by: Procuring stationery; Producing stencils; Duplication process. Training schedule delayed by slow procurement of funds.	Needs to be conducted twice yearly to accommodate staff turnover. Manuals should be made available to pre-service tutors.
Training of 20 regional level personnel in: Supervision Data Collection/Analysis Supplies Management Financial Management Program Planning Monitoring & Evaluation	Ongoing, to be completed in 1988	Nil.	Workshops should be held quarterly to ensure the transfer of knowledge gained into action programs.
Training of 3 central level personnel in: Program Planning Monitoring Evaluation	Not yet initiated	No suitable training program has yet been identified.	Training should be repeated to accommodate staff turnover.
Training of 2 technicians in: Laparoscope Maintenance	Partially completed	Delivery of supplies for laparoscope repair delayed by: Loss of documents; Lack of transportation to deliver supplies.	Improved supplies management system needs to be instituted.
Evaluation/ Research
Regional-level personnel Research Methodology	Not yet initiated	No suitable training program identified to date.	Should be deferred until service delivery systems have been improved.
Training of 30 regional level personnel in: Training Needs Assessment	Not yet initiated	In-service training not yet established at district and clinic levels. Performance evaluation criteria not yet established.	Performance evaluation criteria need to be established.