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Best Practices |
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About Best Practices | DISH
Best Practices | DISH
Success Stories
Between 1994 and 2001, we saw unparalleled action
aimed at promoting improved quality, availability
and utilization of reproductive, maternal and child
health services in 12 districts in Uganda. The DISH
Project believed it was important to share the successful
interventions we call Best Practices. We hoped to
facilitate the wider adoption of these Best Practices
by other districts in Uganda, the Ministry of Health
(MOH), NGOs and other donors/projects through dissemination
of best practice information at observational study
workshops, conferences, mailings, websites and with
the provision of technical expertise as requested.
The best practice packages included not only the research and background
for that project, but also all the implementation
tools including communication materials, training
curricula and evaluation mechanisms required for an
organization to begin a similar practice in their
area.
Guiding Principles
A Best Practice is a model project, activity or policy
aimed at improving the quality of life of individuals
or groups. To qualify as a Best Practice, the activity
or policy must:
- Be innovative and/or an improvement and/or set
a precedent.
- Make a difference and there must be evidence of
positive impact.
- Have a sustainable effect on the intended audience.
- Have potential for replication.
Using these criteria, representatives of the
Ministry of Health, DISH, and USAID identified the
following as DISH Best Practices for documentation:
- The Long Term & Permanent Family Planning
Marketing Strategy: The DISH project embarked
on a strategy to increase utilization and awareness
of Long term and permanent family planning methods
such as Tubal Ligation, Norplant and Vasectomy
through outreaches, mass media communication are
community involvement. The program was so successful
it exceeded its projected goals in three months.
- Adolescent Friendly Reproductive Health
Services: In conjunction with the Ministry
of Health (MOH), the DISH Project implemented
a strategy to increase utilisation of reproductive
health services; improve attitudes of health providers
towards adolescent needs; and increase community
knowledge about ARH. The successful strategy revolved
around the training of service providers and peer
educators, communication and promotional materials;
community involvement and a launch of available
teen services via a "Teen Bash".
- HMIS: Analysing & Using Data for Planning
Purposes: The DISH Project promoted a
culture among district and facility level personnel
of making informed decisions based on information
they collected at their level. This sense of "ownership"
promoted by project staff significantly improved
not only decision-making, but also the quality
of information. The project worked to promote
this data/information culture through a variety
of tools: "data utilisation" workshops, use of
sentinel site system and quarterly indicator performance
reports.
- Yellow Star Program: In collaboration
with the Ministry of Health, district health officials
and other development partners, the DISH Project
helped to develop a program to improve and maintain
the quality of public health care services through
a system of supervision, certification and recognition.
The strategy encouraged health facilities to maintain
basic standards and involves the community as
an active participant in the process. The Ministry
of Health is implementing plans to take the program
nation-wide.
- Nze Nowange Community Radio Game Show:
This innovative "Know Your Mate" game show attracted
large crowds in the local communities and even
larger audiences through radio broadcasts. A week
before the show, DISH staff identify couples in
the community who were happy to answer questions
on stage about a variety of personal topics, including
family planning. The subsequent radio broadcast
was also successful in attracting a large audience
to important health topics.
- Norplant Training: The Ministry
of Health requested DISH staff to train midwives,
nurses and clinical officers in rural areas in
Norplant insertion and removal; this had previously
only been done by doctors. The training was so
successful that the evaluation clearly showed
not only that midwives, nurses and clinical officers
could provide these services as well as doctors,
but also that clients were more comfortable with
them. MOH now routinely allow trained midwives
to provide these services, thus increasing access
to them.
- Pre-Testing Methodology: DISH project
staff developed a systematic way of involving
their carefully selected target audiences in the
development of materials designed for them. Strict
adherence to a scientific approach and the high
value placed on audience feedback insured an unusually
high quality of communication products.
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