A guide for fostering change to scale up effective health services
Implementing Best Practices (IBP)
Purpose of the guide
This guide is based on the recognition that change is inevitable for survival and that directed, planned change is essential for improvement. A systematic change process underlies all successes in development, including improved reproductive health. The guide links effective change practices with proven clinical and programmatic practices to achieve results by:
- increasing awareness of proven approaches to effective change;
- describing principles that are fundamental to effective change;
- providing “how-to” steps for successful change;
- describing key challenges related to the steps and recommending strategies, tools, or approaches for meeting those challenges;
- offering cases that show how the steps have been implemented in real situations.
Primary audience for the guide
There are several players in this change process:
- the change coordination team, which is in a position to foster change—to identify, encourage, and support the efforts of change agents;
- the change agent, who manages health services and leads change at a program level or service delivery site, or in his or her community or home;
- the change agent’s change team, comprised of co-workers who assist the agent in developing, applying, and advocating for new practices;
- the implementers of change, whose daily work is directly affected by the change.
If you fall into one of these or similar professional groups, this guide is likely to enhance what you are already doing. You will find that this change process is consistent and can be used with performance improvement, quality improvement, management by objectives, COPE, and other familiar models and processes for achieving results.
Contents of the guide
In the following sections of this guide you will find sections covering:
- principles for fostering and leading change
- a “how-to” process for fostering change
- illustrative examples of fostering change.
There is also a CD-ROM that accompanies this guide and which contains:
- an electronic version of the complete text of “Fostering Change to Strengthen Health Services”;
- an electronic version of the complete text of “Fostering Change to Strengthen Health Services”;
- a PowerPoint presentation that introduces the guide;
- selected tools referenced in the section on the “how-to” process for fostering change.
Related link
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IBP Initiative web site
The Implementing Best Practices (IBP) Initiative is a uniquely interactive partnership through which policy makers, programme managers, Heath care ,implementing organizations and providers are able to identify and apply evidence-based and proven effective practices to improve reproductive health outcomes worldwide.