Thanks to:

Clarisse Loe Loumou

Kaushik Bose

Maya Vandenent

Patricia Wamala Mucheri

Vineet Goyal

Competencies Project

What are competencies?

Knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable

organizational performance Organization Objectives

Competencies

Why define competencies?

People competencies can drive multiple initiatives within an organization and provide coherence Organization Objectives

Competencies

Organization measuremen

ts

Recruiting & hiring

practices

Job descriptions

Performance expectations

Salary structures

Career paths

Succession planning

**Training Programs**

Competencies

Deliverables/WORK

Formal Instruction1. Classtime /distance based2. Exercises/Case studies3. Assignments4. Exams

Performance Support5. Checklists6. Handbooks7. Mentoring8. Learners’ network9. Performance reviews

Training Program

Organization Objective

1. Graduates

2. Deliverables

WHAT IS COMPETENCY-BASED TRAINING?

CDC Competencies project

1. Define sets of knowledge, skills & attitudes (or attributes) for key (people) functions in a successful EPI program

2. To develop these competencies, recognize the attributes of successful EPI. We expect that these attributes have already been sufficiently defined and that we can collect this information largely through literature review.

Project TeamCDC Global Immunization DivisionGates FoundationUNICEF

Key Questions

1. Is this useful? Yes, and daunting

2. How will organizations use? Customize for their environment, design or improve training, recruiting, training needs assessments

3. What should it look like? Consider 5 levels of the health system

4. Priority gap in current trainings/conversations: management skills at (almost) all levels

5. Want to join the party? Yes….

Competencies BreakoutSituation Overview:People need different competencies based on their level and role, e.g. people at an organizational level need different skills than frontline staff. People working in EPI need skills beyond technical competency, such as project management and vision. Guidelines based on level as well as EPI focus/role/context are warranted. It is important to keep the different contexts of job roles in EPI in mind – for example, someone working in data needs different skills.

Challenges:SKILLS

• “There are gaps in skills for people working in EPI.”• “We struggle with motivation and soft skills.”• “Lots of people have technical knowledge, but a lack of leadership and soft skills is apparent.”• “It often comes down to leadership skills at different levels. “• “Accountability is an issue. Assessment isn’t applied to competency in the right way.”• “We are realizing the competency issue is much bigger than formally acknowledged.”

ORGANIZATION/CULTURE• It can be a struggle to map training needs when resources are housed in different departments or areas of the Ministry, for example cold chain was once handled under EPI and it moved. • In some countries State Immunization Officers have strong competency in programme management are staying ahead. In others EPI managers have to clear 100 hurdles to act and are not empowered at

all. Funds can be misused. In areas were EPI management is empowered, results are better. In some areas vertical integration of EPI training is not a possibility; it must be integrated with public health first.

• At the top levels, will training work in the traditional way we expect?• How can we know that training will be used and new competency will be applied?

Consideration of Approaches:Early thought: “We need to invest time in frontline workers and leadership.”Next thought: Approach this by identifying the DELIVERABLES/WORK then the COMPETENCIES needed to deliver that work, e.g., you are responsible for project management and reporting.Focus scope: Agreement that we are addressing these levels: national, supervisory province/state level, organizational district level, health facility level, communityDo clear job descriptions exist at every level? Would this be valuable to recruitment?Another thought: Perhaps we should view need at three levels: Advance, Intermediate, BasicIf management skills at different levels are defined then we can train individuals in advance of added/changed responsibility.If we know and map competencies needed we can train ahead of time.

Competencies BreakoutConcerns About Daunting Task/Possible Approach:Are we really prepared now to map all the competencies for EPI areas? (Probably not.) Maybe we review existing training that is available and identify the big gaps. Focusing on what training can complement existing resources may be the best use of time.

Example Sharing:

In India, we operate at a state level and it takes a long time for them to take a position or move forward a recommendation or new vaccine and everyone is working based on their budget. Does this then mean that a competency here is “advocacy” at the national and state level. Answer: yes.

One group tried to support its EPI leadership team (who said they needed EPI training for staff) by having them participate in an engagement to identify competency needs and gaps so they could determine training need. Participation hasn’t worked well. This is one reason why, if we want to develop a learning culture, that mapping competencies is important so we have a basis for comparison and so we can demonstrate that to staff and make them more aware. We also need to understand the competencies required so that we can understand how to organize and prioritize training, especially when staff is overburdened with responsibility. We need to know where we are focusing.