Lessons Learned and Recommendations
- To generate new knowledge from project interventions, robust impact evaluation designs are needed. Interventions should set up systems to gather baseline information, link activities to health outputs and outcomes, include comparison or control groups where feasible, and measure effects after sufficient time has elapsed to observe demonstrable results. A sufficient M&E budget should accompany these efforts.
- To be effective, building M&E capacity requires that more emphasis be placed on following up with users of tools and workshop participants to support them and ensure that new knowledge and skills are applied in real-life scenarios or translated into sound M&E plans.
- The HRH Effort Index is an important tool to generate additional information about HRH efforts across many domains at the country level to inform policy and advocacy. Despite some limitations of scoring based on informants’ perceptions, indices have been widely used and proven useful to provide additional information in areas of difficult measurement. The Index’s wider use over time should provide more data to assess whether it can effectively measure progress and results in the HRH area. If proven successful, WHO might consider its wider use for general assessments of the “state of HRH” in relation to health systems strengthening across countries and regions.
- The HRH Effort Index is particularly well suited as a rapid assessment exercise to encourage diverse country stakeholders to identify collectively the strengths and weaknesses in efforts to improve HRH and come together to propose recommendations. Further applications of the workshop process should be encouraged to learn more about their long-term effects.