CORE Group Spring Meeting 2013 Highlights

• Keynote speaker, Leonardo Cubillos Turriago, Senior Health Specialist, World Bank Institute, set the stage for advanced thinking on capacity strengthening. He highlighted three institutional capacity development indicators: collaborative governance, open knowledge, and innovative solutions. He also discussed three institutional capacity areas where change needs to happen for capacity development to occur and that are particularly relevant to CORE Group's work. Click here to view his presentation.

• John Borrazo, Maternal and Child Health Division Chief, USAID, discussed the Call to Action to End Preventable Child Deaths in 24 high child mortality countries with an emphasis on multi-stakeholder efforts and partnerships, accountability, and integration. He also urged all to "sharpen plans" by understanding the epidemiology, mortality data, equity issues, and more. Click here to view the presentation.

• MaryEllen Stanton, Team Lead, Maternal Child Health, USAID, discussed the importance of focusing on geography, high-burden populations, measurement, high-impact interventions, and accountability to end preventable maternal and newborn death. She also emphasized the need for integrated care and response to contextual challenges. Click here to view the presentation.

• Lily Kak, Senior Advisor, Global Partnerships and Newborn Health, USAID, presented the draft Global Newborn Action Plan, a global plan for country action linked to Every Woman, Every Child and A Promised Renewed that will be launched in late 2013. Participants discussed the important ways NGOs can accelerate the decline in newborn mortality :  increasing birth notification, increasing home-based postnatal care coverage, and changing social norms about newborn death. Click here to view the presentation.

• Neil Boothby, U.S. Government Special Advisor and Senior Coordinator to the USAID Administrator on Children in Adversity, USAID, presented the United States Government Action Plan on Children in Adversity. He discussed the three priorities for critical pathways and investments: build strong beginnings, put family care first, and protect children. Click here to view the presentation.     

• Judy Lewis, CORE Group Board Chair, summarized at the end of the meeting, six learning outcomes essential to capacity development that were discussed throughout the meeting: Raised Awareness and Enhanced Skills were linked to the "Altered Status" of mental health, child development, workplace health, and respectful maternal care. Improved Teamwork and Fostered Networks resulted in "Altered Processes" in improved iCCM collaboration and polio coordination among others; and Formulated Policy and Implemented Strategies resulted in new "innovations" such as decreased stunting through WASH interventions  and measurement of community capacity and sustainability. Click here to view the presentation. 

2013 Dory Storms Child Survival Recognition Award Winner

Congratulations to 
 Sarah Shannon, Executive Director of Hesperian Health Guides

Webinars

Mary Erskine, Senior Health for Malaria at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies 

Presenters provided an overview and discussed the AMP Toolkit version 2.0 - This toolkit provides a step-by-step guideline for the planning and implementation of mass LLIN distributions, whether targeted to specific population groups or for universal coverage. It includes information on coordination, planning and budgeting, procurement, logistics, communication, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, reporting results and sustaining gains.The AMP LLIN scale-up toolkit is designed for use by National Malaria Control Programmes (NMCP) and partner organizations involved in planning and implementing mass distribution campaigns for universal coverage. The toolkit is primarily focused on central level planning, but also contains information on regional or district planning, as the same lessons apply on a smaller scale. As countries begin or continue the scale-up process, the toolkit should provide guidance and should encourage planning based on experiences and lessons learned from other countries.

Jane Bridggs, Principle Technical Advisor, Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services/MSH

Unless health products reach CHWs, CCM can never be successful in reducing childhood mortality. This webinar, organized by the Supply Chain Management Subgroup of the CCM Task Force, was the first in a series of webinars designed to help CCM program managers find ways to overcome the supply chain challenges unique to CHWs. This introductory webinar provided an overview of the common pitfalls and bottlenecks of the CCM supply chain and potential solutions to these challenges.

Community-based programs are all the rage, from family planning to child survival to care and support for people living with or affected by HIV. More money means more reporting, often using models developed for facility services. What is often overlooked is that the information that community workers need to do their jobs is not the same as what implementers need to report to donors and governments. Does it make sense for low-literacy, unpaid community workers to provide everything that implementers, ministries and donors need? This webinar, presented by Karen Foreit of Futures Group, explored ways to ensure that front-line workers collect only what they need and use what they collect, and that implementers get what they need for program management and reporting.

What's New in Early Childhood Development?

Make the Most of Your Membership

As a CORE Group Member or Associate, you and your colleagues have a variety of benefits at your fingertips. Please help us spread the power of learning and sharing with your organization by getting your colleagues involved and completing the following checklist for 2013:

DONATE now to contribute to CORE Group's mission of advancing community health worldwide.

CORE Group is a proud member of the Combined Federal Campaign. CFC # 81108

Join CORE Group on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, & YouTube for news, updates, and helpful links to many tools and resources.