Leadership, Management, and Governance Course

The Kikundi Community of Practice, in partnership with Strathmore University and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, offered a comprehensive leadership and management course designed for NTD (Neglected Tropical Disease) Program Managers. Delivered in French, this course aimed to enhance the competencies of participants in areas such as leadership, teamwork, service management, and strategic direction-setting, with a focus on both general health programming and disease-specific content.

The course adopted a hybrid format, combining two in-person sessions (each lasting four days) with 8-10 asynchronous online modules. The first in-person session took place in Cote d'Ivoire August 2024, followed by self-paced learning through an eLearning platform in September and October. A final in-person session was held in Cote d'Ivoire in November 2024, where participants presented their institutional improvement projects and graduated with a certificate from Strathmore University Business School.

The program covered a mix of general topics like "Applying Systems Thinking to Health Programming" and disease-specific content such as the "Malaria Strategy in Cote d'Ivoire" and "The Global Strategy on NTDs." Special NTD content was developed by Kikundi to meet the needs of Francophone program managers, exploring the integration of NTD and malaria programs.

Graduates were required to attend at least 90% of the in-person sessions, complete 100% of the asynchronous modules, and deliver an institutional improvement project. The course emphasized practical application of skills, with participants reporting significant improvements in leadership, team management, and communication. Indeed, 8 of the 9 NTD Program Managers who attended the course successfully graduated.

Monitoring and evaluation of the course were conducted through surveys, assessing self-reported improvements in leadership and management competencies, as well as the application of skills in the workplace. Graduates provided positive feedback, with a satisfaction rate of 4.8/5, and all participants felt the training addressed their needs as NTD program managers. 

I now delegate tasks more easily to my colleagues. This training helped me understand that group management is an art with specific criteria. The module on conflict management was particularly useful in establishing a strong team dynamic.

The overall goal of the course was to strengthen the leadership and management capabilities of Francophone NTD and malaria program managers, helping them drive effective health interventions and contribute to the global fight against neglected tropical diseases.