2017 ICT4D Conference

In late 2015, World Vision initiated dialogue with the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) and other potential partners on the viability of co-designing a Multi-Stakeholder Collaborative (MSC) that would allow key national and international actors in Health Systems and Digital Health strengthening to work together in a much more consistent, collaborative and de-duplicative manner. The overall objectives of the MSC approach were set forth, as follows: 1) Establishment of a collaborative programmatic approach to support the GoSL to achieve its priorities related to community and digital health consistent with Government efforts currently underway; 2) Setting the stage for the Government to finalize and execute on a detailed, 3-5 year national level Community Health Worker (CHW), a Digital Health Implementation Plan and a sustainability model; 3) Positioning the collaborative programmatic approach as a model for other GoSL partnerships in health and other sectors.

A kick-off workshop in October 2016 was lead by the Ministry of Health & Sanitation, with contribution from the Ministry of Information & Communications (MoIC) and the Office of the President, as well as over 100 attendees from CHW, iNGO, local NGO, UN, donor, and private sector entities. In late 2016 and early 2017, the finalization, validation and field testing of Sierra Leone’s CHW strategy and curriculum as well as progress in digital health architecture and interoperability in line with the MOIC eGovernance & ICT Strategies for Health Care Delivery were accomplished. A National MSC Coordinator had been appointed in August 2016 and continues to guide the effort, and an MSC leadership team has been formulated to enhance collaboration between GoSL Ministries and Departments, as well as the broader international collaborative. Both the challenges and successes of this process so far will be summarized and related dialogue fostered with participants.