Participants and coaches at the first workshop. Credit: USI.
Following the planning workshop in May 2023, which launched the skills-building plan entitled “Parcours certifiant pour l'opérationnalisation de la politique nationale de santé en Tunisie”; (PCO-PNS), several managers and executives from the Tunisian healthcare system have been selected to support the reforms and implement operational projects in line with the strategic orientations of the new National Health Policy (PNS). They will be accompanied along the way by Tunisian coaches, who will support the teams in implementing operational projects and integrating new learning elements on an ongoing basis.
The first workshop, led by Roxanne Borgès Da Silva, Full Professor and Director of the Department of Management, Evaluation and Health Policy (DGEPS) at the Université de Montréal's School of Public Health (ESPUM), brought together the 97 participants and the 9 pre-selected coaches. At the end of the workshop, participants learned about the pedagogical methods used, the skills to be reinforced and the organization of academic support and coaching for each of the workshops planned throughout the course.
Following on from this, Workshop 1 “System and Projects”, delivered face-to-face by Marie-Douce Primeau, Senior Coordinator at International Health Unit and Lecturer at École de santé publique of Université de Montréal (ESPUM), enabled teams (organized according to the 7 pillars of the PNS) to define a common project and implement a project management practice aligned with the PNS. Efforts are continuing, and Workshop 2 of the PCO-PNS “Strategy and Change” course has started online. It will result in a strategic implementation plan for the projects previously defined in the first workshop.
About the PCO-PNS project:
The PCO-PNS project is implemented by the Ministry of Public Health in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Tunisia, the USI and the DGEPS of the ESPUM. The project aims to strengthen capacity in health management and support the operationalization of the PNS with a view to achieving the government's 2030 vision for Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The hybrid training program takes an interactive, co-constructed approach to knowledge.
It aims to provide a high-impact andragogical approach to the operationalization of the SNP, based on its 7 pillars and strategies. Around a hundred executives and managers from different levels of the healthcare system will benefit from training and coaching by Canadian and Tunisian coaches to implement projects that respond to real-life professional situations within their organizations.