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Immunisation is a highly successful public health intervention protecting individuals across the course of life and saving thousands of lives every year. To ensure ongoing public confidence in vaccines and high vaccine uptake, it is vital that all those who advise on and/or administer immunisations are confident, knowledgeable and up to date. Empower executed projects towards vaccine supply chain management including design, development and deployment of e-learning content; training and capacity building of healthcare professionals; digitization of content; impact measurement and assessment etc.

The key marquee projects include:

Training of healthcare workers in vaccines supply chain management in Senegal, funded by Logistimo (supported by GAVI)




    Project Background

    • In Senegal, Empower, in collaboration with GAVI, is supporting the immunization program of the Ministry of Health to train the healthcare staff in hospitals and clinics across the country to use new software that will help reduce wastage and improve efficiency across the supply chain. The key objectives are:
      • Implement a digital supply chain platform for vaccine management.
      • Gain adoption via attractive user experience and social engineering.
      • Establish data-driven management via analytics and decision support.
      • Achieve >95% vaccine availability via automation & optimization.
      • Remove supply-side logistics as an obstacle to immunization coverage.
      • Increase immunization coverage & decrease infant mortality.


    Our Approach

    • Deployment and Training
      • Trainers from central, regional and district level were trained on how to use a new software system for supply chain management and train end-users.
    • User support and monitoring
      • Once users are trained and entities are live, we started the monitoring and user support phase. The purpose of this activity is to make users adapt to the system:
        • Making sure that the system is being used.
        • Ensuring stocks at all levels are reliable.
        • Reviewing transactions and orders to make the user understand the process.
        • Support users through field visits.


    Impact

    • Phase 1 of the Vaccines Supply Chain Management Pilot in Senegal has been very successful.
      • Over 92% user activity has been achieved in a short span of 6 months in the pilot region, where there is real-time inventory visibility now, at all levels of the supply chain right up to the last-mile.
      • Logistimo applications are used to record data on consumption and wastage at each health facility, and a MIN/MAX driven requisition process rationally directs stock flows to the point of care.
      • Since the start of the pilot, stock-availability has continued to improve, reaching 98% in the month of July; only 1% of all inventory items are stocked out.
    • The success of Phase 1 has also led to Logistimo being chosen as one of the best digital solutions to respond to the Covid-19 crisis in Senegal, as part of the Daan Covid-19 Challenge.

Strategic Training Executive Programme (STEP), Anglophone Africa, supported by GAVI


  • Support the Country Programmes Team in Anglophone Africa in the management and implementation of STEP for a period of three years, renewable upon meeting predetermined performance metrics and availability of funds.
  • Empower performed the services by regional management of Gavi’s revised and updated Strategic Training Executive Programme (STEP). STEP is a comprehensive leadership training programme for staff in Ministries of Health in Gavi supported countries. This programme will target EPI team members with managerial responsibilities and will focus on developing their leadership and management capabilities.
    • Our Approach

    The following activities were conducted:

    1. Programme Management

  • Responsible for end-to-end coordination, management and implementation of STEP courses that are offered in the awarded region.


    • STEP Preparation Assignments (formerly called “E-learning modules”)

    The first set of STEP participant activities is to complete a series of 6 STEP Preparation Assignments. These assignments are distributed to each participant during the weeks leading up to the workshop.

    For this activity, the Empower will perform the following:

  • Distribution of each assignment as per a predetermined schedule.
  • Timely collection of assignments from each participant.
  • Personal follow-up with non-compliant participants.
  • Weekly reports of STEP Preparation Assignment progress to the Gavi designated coordinator.


    • STEP Workshop: For the workshop, Empower will perform the following:

    • Workshop logistics including (but not limited to) workshop location, lodging accommodations, transportation, meals, audio/visual and other equipment, meeting rooms.
    • Securing the daily attendance and timeliness of all participants (public, private and any other participants). 


    Maintaining the integrity of the STEP curriculum

    • Facilitation of daily sessions.
    • Facilitate daily feedback process.
    • Assignments of evening teamwork (homework) activities.
    • Daily reports of STEP Workshop progress to the Gavi designated coordinator.
    • Personal follow-up with non-compliant participants (and coaches).
    • Weekly reports of STEP Preparation Assignment progress to the Gavi designated coordinator.

    2. Periodic updates on a pre-determined reporting schedule

    Over the duration of the training programme, Empower will provide regular progress updates to Gavi to ensure the programme is progressing as planned and to ensure that resources are used efficiently and effectively.

    3. Select delegates, facilitators, coaches and other programme participants

    Working with Gavi, the ISC2 and the UNICEF Country Office, Empower will lead the selection process for each course‘s delegates, facilitators, private sector coaches and other participants. Delegates should first be recruited from EPI Programmes from ISC2 target countries of the Gavi portfolio.

    4. Provide access to private sector supply chain management subject matter experts

    Empower will be perform the following activities:

    • Recruiting, developing, and maintaining a cadre of private sector subject matter experts.
    • Ensuring that private sector coaches both participate in a course and provide coaching services to a group of participants during the Your Transformation Challenge.

    5. Deliver in-person training forums

    Empower will perform the following activities:

    • Delivering one five (5) day in-person training forum, for each course offering in strict adherence to the curriculum.
    • Leading a two (2) day Facilitator training course and a one (1) day Coaches training course.
    • Selecting facilitators and coaches and will consult Gavi in its selection.

    6. Provide coaching support management for breakthrough projects

    Empower will provide management of private sector coaching support for training programme delegates during the Your Transformation Challenge programme activity.

    7. Provide certification for successful participants

    Upon successful completion of the training programme, participants will receive an official certification. The UNICEF Country Office will provide the certificates (through Gavi).