Dear IHD:
As you may know, the technical subdivision in International Health was reorganized in FY14 to offer a closer synergy with the Abt-wide market segments and to leverage economies of scale under a leaner budgetary environment. There have been further additions and refinements this year based on previous learnings and feedback from colleagues. For FY16, IHD is moving forward with 10 technical segments (TSs) that are aligned with the division’s priority technical areas (some of these were called cross-cutting technical working groups last year). Each of these groups is tasked with supporting new business development, organizing technical support to projects, and generating and disseminating reputational capital. Each TS has a Community of Excellence (CoE), which provides a platform for these groups to engage members in the activities listed above, via a listserv.
The technical segments and their respective CoEs, along with their technical co-leads, are listed below.
- Behavior Change Communication (BCC) TS and CoE led by Gael O’Sullivan and Emily Sanders
- Family Planning/Reproductive Health (FP/RH) TS and CoE led by Caroline Quijada, Robin Keeley, and Saiqa Panjsheri
- Gender TS and CoE led by Abby Donner
- Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) TS and CoE led by Catherine Connor and Julie Doherty
Subsets of the HSS CoE:
- eHealth CoE
- Governance CoE
- Health Finance and Economics (HFE) CoE
- Human Resources for Health (HRH) CoE
- Infectious Diseases (ID) TS and CoE led by Cathy Thompson and Katherine Brouhard
Subsets of the Infectious Diseases CoE:
- HIV CoE
- TB CoE
- Malaria CoE
- Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) TS and CoE led by Judith Moore and Lara Hensley
- Non-communicable Diseases (NCD) TS and CoE led by Elizabeth MacGregor-Skinner and Dasha Migunov
- Private Sector (PS) TS and CoE led by Jeff Barnes, Ayten El-Naggar, and Mike Dalious
- Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation (RME) TS and CoE led by Jennifer Burnett
- Service Delivery and Quality Assurance (SD/QA) TS and CoE led by Kuhu Maitra and Ekpenyong Ekanem
Want to get involved? The CoEs are open to all Abt staff and there is no limit on the number of CoEs one can join! CoEs encourage participation from the CoE members and aim to create a space for the exchange of ideas, questions, and information on best practices. CoE members can expect to receive articles, summaries, conference announcements, and other technical resources on a regular basis.
If you work in any of the areas listed above, or if you simply want to learn more about those subjects, please consider joining their respective CoE(s). To do so, email Elizabeth Magnusson indicating which CoE(s) you would like to join.
Please see below for select accomplishments from the technical groups in FY15, and please contact me or Elizabeth with any questions.
Best wishes for a successful FY16.
Thierry
This email was sent Bcc to all IHD staff
Thierry van Bastelaer, PhD | Principal Associate and Technical Deputy to the Vice-President | International Health
Abt Associates | 4550 Montgomery Ave. | Suite 800 North | Bethesda, MD 20814
+1 301.347.5827 (office) | thierryvanbast (Skype)
The technical segments and their respective CoEs are a valuable resource for IHD staff and contribute to Abt’s success as a company. Some of their accomplishments in FY15 included:
Contribute to New Business Efforts:
- Provided support to 21 capture/proposal efforts.
- Led two winning proposal efforts where Abt will serve as the prime and supported four successful bids resulting in Abt working as a sub.
- Updated capabilities statements a total of 10 times and skills matrices seven times.
- Developed five capture plans for strategic business development thinking.
- Developed an additional four technical area strategies, for considerations such as gender and youth, articulating linkages between service delivery and HSS, and publication/presentation dissemination.
Increase Technical Knowledge Sharing within the Division:
- Conducted 27 brown bag presentations and technical sessions on state of the art approaches and best practices for both home office and field colleagues.
- Provided technical assistance and quality assurance review for eight projects.
- Shared resources, conference announcements, recent research and other items of interest through over 150 emails to CoE members throughout the fiscal year.
- Developed 37 newsletters with both internal and external information and announcements.
Build and Disseminate Reputational Capital:
- Supported and coordinated Abt’s participation and presentations in 12 conferences and four meetings/workshops.
- Group members attended 30 meetings of strategic importance to Abt with clients, donors, multi-lateral organizations, and other implementing partners.
- Hosted four meetings and coordinated one panel allowing Abt’s work and staff to be highlighted and visibility to be increased.
- Published four articles in peer-reviewed journals, developed one Thought Leadership paper, and supported the posting of nine external facing stories on Abt, SHOPS, HFG, and USAID’s websites.
- Contributed to three USAID policies, strategies, frameworks and visions documents such as USAID’s HSS Vision.