Organisations need to forge strong strategic partnerships to remain relevant.

BOBO-DIOULASSO, BUURKINA FASO, December 2, 2015 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Bobo-Dioulasso, February 12, 2015. A new project to strengthen the capacity of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) has just been launched in Bobo-Dioulasso today.

It is designed to position the organisation as a lead health institution in the region for policy harmonization and advocacy, promoting public-private partnerships for health including the identification, sharing and supporting the scale up of best practices in health.
The four-year Leadership Capacity Strengthening Project (CAPS) estimated at a total cost of nearly $4.5 million is being funded by USAID –West Africa.

The launching ceremony took place in the Directors’ Conference room of the organization and was attended by the Regional-Director of USAID-West Africa, Mr. Alexandra Deprez, USAID Country Representative for Burkina-Faso, Mr. Jim Parys, WAHO Directors of Departments and Programme Officers.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Deprez congratulated WAHO for its remarkable achievements noting that collaboration between USAID and WAHO dates back to more than a decade in addressing key health challenges facing the West African region. He noted with satisfaction that even when the Ebola epidemic has tested the resilience of national systems; WAHO stepped in to bring order and solidarity for the benefit of affected countries. “With this new award of 4.4 million, USAID reaffirms its commitment to assist WAHO and broaden its capacity to scale up evidence based interventions which will adapt to emerging disease threats in the region” Mr. Deprez submitted.

Responding, WAHO Director General, Dr. Xavier Crespin, thanked USAID-West Africa for its unflinching multi-sectoral support given to WAHO over the years in tackling regional health priorities at critical moments. “The lessons learnt during these years of collaboration between us has informed the design of this important project which tallies with our priorities especially the ECOWAS 2016-2020 Regional strategic plan “he concluded.

The Project Coordinator, Mr. Jude Aidam, made a brief presentation of the CAPS project followed by the signature and exchange of the cooperative agreement documents.

The results framework of the CAPS project, awarded on February 3, 2015 are aligned to USAID five-year strategic plan which targets optimal utilization of health services in West Africa as well as creating an enabling environment that brings together different countries within the region in the implementation of their national plans .

As a prelude to the launching of the ceremony, a four-man team from USAID –West Africa led by the Director of Regional Health Office, Ms. Rachel Cintron earlier arrived in Bobo-Dioulasso on 10 February on a two-day official visit to the West African Health Organisation (WAHO). Other members of the delegation include Sheila Mensah, Communication, Monitoring and valuation Advisor, Rachel Idowu, a Medical Epidemiologist from the CDC and Josephine Kitongo, Senior, Acquisition and Assistance Specialist.

During the visit, delegation members had met with key project staff, Director-General of WAHO, Dr. Xavier Crespin, and other Directors of Department to hold consultations and conduct a post-award briefing on roles and responsibilities, program objectives and results including newly introduced changes in standard provision and information related to running of the signed agreement.

Kayode Egbeleye
West African Health Organisation
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