Kikundi's Fourth Site Visit
Kikundi recently hosted its fourth peer-to-peer learning site visit in Maputo, Mozambique. These annual in-person visits aim to foster community exchange, promote peer-to-peer learning, and provide professional development support. The event successfully brought together twenty Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Program Managers from across sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, Liberia, Eswatini, Gambia, Uganda, Burundi, Senegal, Djibouti, Central African Republic, Chad, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Mozambique, and South Africa. This marked Kikundi's largest site visit to date.
Facilitation: The visit was expertly facilitated by Dr Henis Sitoe, Mozambique’s NTD Program Manager and a Kikundi member. Dr. Sitoe is a Public Health specialist and researcher at the Ministry of Health. He holds a degree in Public Health, a Master's in Tropical Medicine, and is completing a PhD in International Health, specializing in Tropical Public Health.
The site visit began on Sunday, 16 February 2025 . The first day featured a full-day workshop titled "Building Sustainable NTD Programs: Lessons in Advocacy and Resource Mobilization." developed in collaboration with Unlimit Health. Held at the Ministry of Health offices, the workshop aimed to address key issues related to advocacy and domestic resource mobilization (DRM) for NTDs. A key portion of the workshop involved a "Best Practices Sharing Circle," where participants presented successful DRM strategies and discussed the challenges they overcame to secure funding. In the afternoon, the workshop moved to more focused discussions, including mapping DRM spaces at the country level, stakeholder engagement strategies, and developing an initial DRM plan.
The second day began with a welcome speech from Mozambique's National Director of Public Health, outlining the meeting’s objectives as well as the importance of DRM in the fight against NTDs. The morning sessions focused on presentations about Mozambique's NTD program, including an overview of NTDs, program management, and actions taken towards their elimination. The afternoon session centered on the impact of the USAID funding freeze, with group discussions on the challenges it caused and potential solutions.
On the third day, Kikundi members participated in a visit to the Central Medical and Pharmaceutical Warehouse (CMAM). There was a guided tour of the warehouse where participants learned about the supply chain operations, including storage, distribution, and logistics processes for medicines. There was also an overview of the medicine distribution system for NTDs in Mozambique. The afternoon session focused on an Advocacy Messaging workshop. The workshop was developed and delivered by Task Force for Global Health. It included a case study on successful messaging in Malawi, an introduction to the Task Force’s advocacy tool for NTDs, and a group exercise to draft advocacy messages. Afterwards, there was a "Shark Tank Messaging Exercise," which allowed participants to practice their messages, followed by feedback from a panel of experts.
The last day of the site visit involved a closed room discussion amongst Kikundi members. Kikundi’s Leadership Council facilitated the session where members discussed different key community topics such as professional support, increased collaboration, and increasing the representation of Kikundi Members and other Program Managers at various international events.
Kikundi is deeply grateful for the support and leadership provided by Dr. Henis and the Mozambique Ministry of Health as well as the various partner institutions that supported us throughout this journey, including Unlimit Health and the Task Force for Global Health.
Please reach out to us if you would like to support this mission at kikundi@uw.edu.