Kano PHC Management Capacity Diagnostic, Phase I

Timeline: January 2021 – February 2021 | Status: Completed

January 2021 to February 2021

Project Overview

Strong primary health care systems depend not only on clinical services and infrastructure, but also on the management capacity required to plan, coordinate and support effective service delivery.

The Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (HSDF) contributed to the Kano Primary Health Care (PHC) Management Capacity Diagnostic, Phase I, a health systems strengthening engagement implemented in Kano State between January and February 2021.

Funded by Development Activities International Limited / Solina, the project focused on examining management capacity within Kano State's primary health care system.

As a diagnostic engagement, the project provided an opportunity to understand the management environment supporting PHC delivery and establish a stronger evidence base for identifying areas where management capacity could be strengthened.

Effective primary health care requires strong management structures behind frontline service delivery. Health systems must be able to coordinate people, resources, processes and institutional responsibilities effectively if services are to function consistently.

Understanding where management systems are performing well and where capacity gaps exist is therefore an important step in designing meaningful health system improvements.

A structured management capacity diagnostic provides a way to examine these issues before interventions are designed, helping ensure that subsequent strengthening efforts respond to the realities of the health system rather than assumptions about its needs.

The engagement centred on a diagnostic assessment of PHC management capacity in Kano State.

HSDF’s involvement supported efforts to:

Examine the management environment within the state’s primary health care system.
Develop an understanding of existing management capacity.
Identify areas requiring further attention or strengthening.
Generate evidence that could inform subsequent health systems strengthening efforts.
Support a more structured understanding of the management capabilities required for effective PHC delivery.

As Phase I, the assignment established a diagnostic foundation from which further management capacity strengthening efforts could be considered.

The project repository does not provide details on the specific diagnostic methodology, assessment tools, findings or quantitative results. These have therefore not been attributed to the project here.

Management capacity is an important part of a functioning primary health care system. Identifying capacity needs provides decision-makers and implementing partners with a clearer basis for determining where support can have the greatest value.

The Kano PHC Management Capacity Diagnostic contributed to this process by focusing attention on the management systems underpinning primary health care delivery in the state.

Rather than beginning with a predetermined intervention, the diagnostic approach created an opportunity to first understand existing capacity and establish a foundation for more targeted health systems strengthening.