REPORT ON COMPASS PROJECT

COMPASS is a five-year (May 2004 - May 2009) USAID project that provides support for health and education activities in Nigeria. The project covers a range of services including reproductive health and family planning, child spacing, child health interventions and basic education. COMPASS is being implemented in five states -- Bauchi, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Kano, Lagos, and Nasarawa – and a total of 50 Local Government Areas or LGAs (14 in Lagos, 16 in Kano, 6 in Nasarawa, 8 in Bauchi, and 6 in FCT). Pathfinder International is the lead agency for a large and dynamic team.

COMPASS is a project that involves nine partners (five International partners and four Nigerian partners) as follows: 1) the Adolescent Health Information Project (AHIP) to provide guidance on implementation of adolescent sexuality and reproductive health (ASRH) education policies;
2) the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education For All (CSACEFA) to coordinate with its civil society organizations to implement education activities and build the capacity of local organizations and Community Coalitions to advocate for and implement integrated health education programs;
3) Creative Associates International Inc. (CAII) for technical assistance in basic education, school health, mobilization of PTAs and national union of teachers;
4) the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN) to lead and promote initiatives for social sector services, especially women and girls’ education, safe motherhood, child survival, strengthened education and health programs in select schools;
5) Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) for community mobilization, partnership-defined quality, and communications for community support and demand creation activities;
6) Management Sciences for Health (MSH) for assistance in child health, immunization, malaria, institutional capacity building, especially strengthening community-based organizations;
7) The Nigerian Medical Association to spearhead capacity-building initiatives for health workers, review, update, institutionalize and monitor standard of practices and curricula for pre- and in-service training, and strengthen public-private partnerships and performance improvement interventions;
8) Pathfinder International for overall financial, logistical and technical management and coordination of project activities, project grants management, promoting public-private partnerships, reproductive health interventions, and workplace-based health programs; and,
9) The Futures Group International (TFGI) for project monitoring and evaluation, generation of reliable data, policy and advocacy work at the state and LGA levels, as well as link with policy work at the national level.

COMPASS has a special identity as USAID’s largest integrated health/education project in Africa. USAID Social sector program has developed from LEAP, VISION, BASICS and POLICY to COMPASS and has migrated from “vertical” to “integrated” management.

COMPASS Nigeria Partners
• Nigerian medical Association (NMA)
• Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN)
• Civil Society Action Coalition on Education For All (CSACEFA)
• Adolescent Health Information Project (AHIP)


Partners…
? Bring skills and competencies.
? Collaborate and work together to achieve common goals.
? Need and share full information.
? Clear the ground for COMPASS to achieve common goals;
? Have facilitative roles. They share success stories of COMPASS within and outside the project (marketing)


Role of Nigerian Partners
• Beneficiary

• Collaborator

• Advisor

Beneficiary
• Presence of partner catalyst in COMPASS
• Core group of people to participate in COMPASS skills development processes
• ICB support

Collaborator
• Participation in planned activities at state and central office level based on area of expertise

Advisor
• Participation in quarterly meetings
• Participation in extra-ordinary meetings


Partner Representation in COMPASS Central Coordinating Office
• Two models
• the catalyst: who is not an employee of the organization, has capacity to stimulate process, devotes some time giving to mother organization (40% in his/her organizational HQ), whose reporting lines must be clearly defined in his SOW
• the staff: who is employee of the organization, has capacity to stimulate process, devotes some time giving to mother organization (40% in his/her organizational HQ)



Institutional Capacity Building (ICB) Support to Nigerian Partners Goal

• To strengthen Nigerian partner management and organizational practices to qualify for direct funding from USAID by 2009.
Process:
• Self-Assessment (Management and Organizational Sustainability Tool)
• ICB support based on self-assessment and COMPASS knowledge of partner strengths and weaknesses
• Yearly self-assessment to measure progress and develop further plans

THE MOST EXERCISE
In March 2005, the Nigerian partners including NMA underwent the “MOST assessment”. MOST is the acronym for Management Organizational Sustainability Tool. The COMPASS project’s vision is to create an environment in which every Nigerian—parent, patent medicine vendors (PMVs), market women, factory owners, religious leaders—can be involved in learning, planning, and action to improve health and education in their community. This activity contributes to that vision by preparing Nigerian partner organizations to act as operational intermediary and implementation organization between the project and the community coalitions at the LGA level. The MOST process affords that opportunity to start the Nigerian partners on a path of development to make them stronger, more capable organizations to meet the challenges ahead of managing the implementation activities of the COMPASS program. The MOST tool is a first activity of self-assessment through which the organizations identify their strengths and areas for improvement against a standardized listing of 18 general management components. Through the the NMA developed priorities and an action plan. This action was assessed by the ICB Component of the COMPASS project for areas where it can assist NMA in accomplishing its objective through the use of tools and methodologies from the project partners. The immediate objective of the MOST exercise was to build consensus around the management aspects the organization would like to change, and to prepare them for the change process.

The following members were chosen to manage the project till its end:
Central Coordinator/ Project Director: - Prof. ‘ Wole ATOYEBI
Focal Persons for States: BAUCHI - Dr. Christian Yusuf TENEBE
FCT, ABUJA - Dr. Joseph AMEDU
KANO - Dr. Patrick IKHENNA
LAGOS - Dr. Bayo ADERIYE
NASARAWA - Dr. Cletus ABU.

This was approved by the National Executive Council at the meeting held in Maiduguri in August 2005 and the appointees were approved to represent the Association till the end of the project in 2009 just like NMA Board appointments.

NMA ICB Yr 2 Work Plan
During the MOST Workshop held in March 2005, NMA identified several areas where management and organizational effectiveness could be strengthened. This plan clarified areas where COMPASS will provide direct technical and financial support and areas where NMA is expected to leverage its own resources to accomplish activities.


5 YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN DEVELOPMENT FOR THE NIGERIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (NMA)
Activity Type
WORKSHOP APRIL 8 - 12, 2006

Activity Context and Objectives

Introduction
Following the action plan developed for the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) COMPASS Nigeria Partner during the MOST assessment carried out in March 2005, a 5-year Strategic Plan development exercise was scheduled for the association.
Strategic planning is one of the most challenging and exciting exercises that an organization can undertake. Strategic planning allows an organization to make fundamental decisions or choices by taking a long-range view of what it hopes to accomplish and how it will do so.
A well-developed strategic plan serves as a blueprint for making these changes because it describes the following: A vision for the future; Strengths and weaknesses of the organization; the nature of the changes contemplated for future sustainable growth and development; the sequence of these changes; those who are responsible for guiding change the resources required; whether within the organization or from external sources.

Goal of Workshop:
To develop a five year Strategic Plan for the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Objectives

During the workshop, the representatives of the NMA had the :
? Develop or review the organization’s values, mission, and vision of success
? Analyze the environmental scan carried out, and determine the strengths/weaknesses of the organization and the opportunities/threats in its external environment
? Identify strategic issues and fundamental choices facing the organization.
? Develop goals, tactics, strategic objectives, and major activities to carry the organization forward in the direction desired.
? Determine what financial, human, technical, community, and other resources are needed to achieve the strategic plan, and outline the means for resource mobilization
? Establish procedures for using, reviewing, revising, and evaluating the strategic plan.
? Develop and organizational Structure that will facilitate the strategic plan
? Develop an action plan to actualize move to permanent secretariat in Abuja

KEY OUTPUT
A five (5) year Strategic Plan for the NMA

E. Scope/Venue of Activity

SCOPE
There are several steps in the strategic planning process. Many experts or facilitators vary the sequence of these steps, but there is general consensus about the most important ones to include. (An agenda will be developed together with the facilitator to incorporate the outlined process)

Process
Preliminary steps
1. Environmental Scan for NMA (Focus group discussions and interviews, Desk Reviews and Mini survey of members)
At strategic planning Retreat
2. Analysis of the shared values and experiences of staff and board.
3. Review and update or prepare a Mission Statement for the organization.
4. Analysis of the organization’s external environment (“PEST” – political, economic, social, and technological factors) and internal environment (resources or inputs, processes, and performance or outputs) and a SWOT analysis (assessing the organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses, and its external opportunities and threats).
5. In-depth planning of activities in key areas.
6. Review of the organization’s existing plan (if there is one) to identify aspects of the plan that are still strategic, or new issues that should be addressed in a revised plan e.g. proposed national secretariat in Abuja.
7. Outlining of a vision of where the organization should be three to five years from today (the “vision of success”).
8. Identify the strategic issues facing the organization.
9. Formulate goals and strategic objectives to address major issues facing the organization and ensure its longer term growth and sustainability.
10. Develop work plans showing specific activities, persons responsible, resources
11. Identify next steps for resource mobilization and create a sustainability and financial plan that costs activities and outlines approaches for generating sufficient revenue or funding.
12. Prepare the written detailed five-year strategic plan (mission statement, environmental or situational analyses, strategic issues, goals and strategic objectives, activities plans, sustainability and financial plans, monitoring and evaluation procedures or cycles)
13. Develop a functional organizational structure or staffing that will facilitate plan
14. Plan for presentation at April AGM to seek ratification and ways to disseminate the plan to staff, stakeholders, and potential donors, using this as an opportunity to market the organization or to build useful working relationships and coalitions.

VENUE
The venue of the workshop was the Temperance Hotel, Ota, Ogun State

Methodology
The retreat was schemed to involve review of the findings of the environmental scan, presentations, practical sessions on developing shared vision and mission statement, brainstorming on issues and consensus building on the way forward for the organization.

TIMELINE
? Jan 23 – 27 -Planning meetings, document review and development of tool for members
? March 28 - Final date for receiving completed questionnaires from members of NMA across the country, sample size 600
? 20th – 25th –Analysis of questionnaires
? March 30 – April 5 – Engagement of consultant, analysis of scan, preparation for retreat proper
? 7th April – NMA Members arrive at workshop venue
? 8th - 12th March – 5 year Strategic Plan Development Workshop
? 13th -Departure/Report Writing

Participants
10 members of the NMA National Executive Council from across the NMA geopolitical zones of the country and 1 staff of the secretariat were invited. They were joined by the leaders of the affiliate groups (MDCAN, NARD, NDA and AGPMPN) and also a representative of Guild of Medical Directors. The NMA Catalyst in COMPASS, Dr. Abdullahi Randawa was also invited to participate.

Facilitators: The Director of Technical Resources, ICBS and a very seasoned organization development consultant in the country, Yemi Osanyin, was chosento facilitate this epoch-making workshop that may well turn around the trend of the health sector reforms in the country.



TRAINING ASPECTS OF THE ICB COMPONENT
In line with the Nigerian partner's first quarter deliverables, to develop and establish core group of staff/members to provide technical support services to member organizations for each COMPASS state, the following workshops were scheduled for the first quarter of year two:

1. TOT on Financial Management.
At the end of the workshop it is expected that participants would:
- Understand the financial and programmatic reporting formats for COMPASS.
- Recognize the importance of implementing sound financial controls in their respective organizations. v- Understand budget preparation and monitoring
- Replicate these trainings to other state based member organizations

2. TOT on MIS/M&E training
In view of the MIS/M&E gaps identified in the partner organizations, a three-day workshop was conducted aimed at addressing these gaps. These trainings were state-based. At the end of the workshop it is expected that participants would:

- Understand MIS and M&E tools.
- Recognize the importance of implementing sound MIS and M&E tools in their organizations
- Replicate these trainings to other state based member organizations

For each COMPASS state, each partner contributed one person for the training. In addition to this, each Nigerian partner HQ office also nominated their HQ MIS/M&E officer to attend the training in the state where the HQ is based.

3. TOT on Proposal Development
COMPASS will also be building the capacity of the Nigerian partners in proposal writing and development. This held between January - March 2006. By the end of the training, it is expected that partner organizations should be able to:

- Prepare timely, high quality and relatively error free proposals that could be submitted to USAID in particular and other international organizations in general.
- Replicate these trainings to other state-based member organizations

For each COMPASS state, each partner contributed one person for the training. In addition to this, each Nigerian partner HQ office also nominated the officer responsible for proposal development in their HQ to attend the training in the state where the HQ is based.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS TILL DATE
The following ICB components of the project have been carried out with participation of NMA at the national secretariat and the implementing states:
TRAINING IN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, MIS/M&E, AND PROPOSAL WRITING
EQUIPMENT SUPPORT TO THE NATIONAL SECRETARIAT AND PROJECT COORDINATOR THROUGH SUPPLY OF PERSONAL COMPUTERS AND PRINTERS.
APPROVAL OF BUDGET FOR THE ICB ACTIVITIES
APPROVAL OF FUNDS TO SUPPORT ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES AT NATIONAL SECRETARIAT AND COMPASS STATES
SUCCESSFUL ORGANISATION OF 5-YEAR STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP
IN VIEW

Further equipment support that has been approved and would materialize in a couple of weeks include:
Supply of computers and printers to NMA branches in COMPASS states
Networking of the national secretariat with all branches through the internet by provision of VSAT.
PROF. 'WOLE ATOYEBI
NATIONAL PROJECT COORDINATOR