Tanzania

CapacityPlus collaborated with the USAID Tanzania Human Resource Capacity Project led by IntraHealth to strengthen the use of the Tanzania Human Resources Information System (THRIS) through training of health facility leaders and other stakeholders. THRIS is a customized version of iHRIS Manage used by local governments, the Zanzibar Ministry of Health, and the Christian Social Services Commission, a faith-based organization that employs over 40% of the country’s health workers. Training focused on how data from THRIS can be used to strengthen personnel management, respond to budget allocation requests, and inform appropriate human resources decisions. The Zanzibar Ministry used THRIS data in conjunction with the World Health Organization’s Workload Indicators of Staffing Need tool to successfully advocate for increasing its health workforce by 897 over three years—a nearly 3000% increase over the 30 new health workers originally budgeted.

In the final year of CapacityPlus, the project also provided specific technical assistance related to USAID/Tanzania health systems strengthening priorities. This included conducting an assessment of the feasibility of linking the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW)’s Human Resource for Health Information System to other public, faith-based, and private sector HRIS; mapping the processes through which health students attending public- and private-sector training programs access funding for education and developing a roadmap to aid in increasing the availability of student loan programs (especially through public-private partnerships) for mid-level health workers; and conducting an analysis of PEPFAR-supported health workers to support planning for transition to government and local entities.

Photo by Doris Mwarey