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GHPC Blog

GHPC writers travel to Ghana, to Kyrgyz Republic and to Bolivia

by Anna von Roenne, 04 May 2012

The work on the next three GHPC publications has begun. Stuart Adams will be documenting the SAFO approach and is planning to travel to Bolivia, one of the SAFO partner countries, in July. Karen Birdsall together with Gesa Walcher has started documenting the German support to the successful Kyrgyz SWAP and a mission to Bishkek is planned at the end of May. Andrew Wilson has been contracted to write up the GIZ experience of supporting Employee Wellbeing Programmes in Ghana and his visit in Accra is scheduled for the second half of May, too. There is a possibility that the GHPC will produce a first short documentary about the Ghana project, thus piloting a new feature for the GHPC's mission to showcase health and social protection for development.

BMZ task force health selects SWAp Kyrgyztan, SAFO and EWP Ghana for documentation in GHPC

by Anna von Roenne, 23 March 2012

At its meeting on 22 March 2012, the BMZ task force health decided that the proposals about the SWAp in Kyrgyztan, about the Strategic Alliance for the Fortification of Oil and other staple foods and about Employee Wellbeing Programmes in Ghana should be documented as good practices in the German Health Practice Collection.

Team members also acknowledged the strengths of the other proposals, namely the one on triangular cooperation Brasil-Uruguay-Germany and on the country-wide establishment of adolescent-friendly services in Nepal. It was suggested that the Nepali proposal should be reconsidered following its midterm review in 2013.

SAFO voted favourite GHPC proposal by members of GIZ Sector Network Health & Social Protection

by Anna von Roenne, 9 March 2012

The first 'GHPC Live Peer Review' took place on the third day of the meeting of the GIZ sector network health & social protection on 7 March 2012 in Johannesburg. Over 140 participants followed an introductory presentation of the seven proposals, describing each of them with three short statements whilst showing pictures of the given programmes in action, accompanied by music from their respective countries. Next, each of the four peer reviewers, i.e. The GIZ experts Regine Meyer, Elisabeth Girrbach, Marc Ramaekers and Bernd Appelt presented a persuasive case for the one or two proposals that he or she favoured, followed by a short panel discussion amongst them on the arguments for and against their publication. After listening to all these arguments, the participants had the opportunity to discuss the proposals at their tables and everyone in the large conference took part in this lively exchange.

The anonymous ballot at the end of the session resulted in a first place for the proposal of the 'Strategic Alliance for the Fortification of Oil and other Staple Foods (SAFO)', a second for the proposal on the German contribution to the SWAp in the Kyrgysz republic and a shared third place (same number of votes) for the Triangular Cooperation between Brazil, Uruguay and Germany to strengthen Uruguay's health system and integrated HIV response and Ghana's Employees' Wellbeing Programmes. The proposals from Nepal, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan followed with only slightly less votes. Overall, each of the proposals had a double digit number of supporters, both on the ballot papers and amongst the peer reviewers and members of the audience.

Whilst the Live Peer Review drew an enthusiastic response by the large audience, ensuring a solid amount of positive interest and publicity for all seven proposals amongst GIZ peers, the final decision on the next three GHPC proposals will be taken by the BMZ task force health on 22 March 2012. Congratulations and thank you to the seven teams who submitted proposals for the 2012 round!

GHPC Live Peer Review in Johannesburg

by Anna von Roenne, 29 February 2012

On 7 March, at the GIZ sector network health and social protection, there will be a live peer review session at which four GIZ experts working in partner countries will debate which of the seven proposals they recommend for publication in the German Health Practice Collection.

After short statements on their preferred proposals, there will be a panel discussion, followed by buzz groups in the audience. The session will end with a poll in which all participants can recommend their three preferred proposals. The poll result will be presented to the BMZ task force health at their meeting on 22 March in Bonn. At this meeting, the final decision will be taken as to which three of the seven proposals should be documented. This blog will report on the live peer review session on 8 March, - don't miss it!

7 new proposals to the German Health Practice Collection

by Anna von Roenne, 11 January 2012

By last night, we received seven proposals describing successful GDC health and social protection programmes in action. They come from four different continents and cover a wide range of approaches implemented in cooperation with partner governments, the private sector and civil society. Read more...

Now all GDC experts working in health and social protection are invited to appreciate and comment on their colleagues' work at http://german-practice-collection.org/new-proposals/proposals-2012?lang=en (you need registration to access this side).

Also, we are looking for four GDC experts working in programmes in partner countries who want to take part in a 'live peer review' at the plenary of the GIZ sector network meeting in Johannesburg in early March, debating which proposals should be recommended for publication to the BMZ Thementeam Gesundheit. If you are interested: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! JavaScript muss aktiviert werden, damit sie angezeigt werden kann. .

25 years of HIV prevention

by Anna von Roenne, 20 November 2011

The GHPC marks 25 year of international commitment to HIV prevention and releases three updates of earlier and popular publications on German-supported approaches to HIV prevention. These are:

GHPC Posters

by Anna von Roenne, 15 November 2011

Two posters advertising the German Health Practice Collection are now available for downloading and printing. Help us promote German Development Cooperation in Health and Social Protection by showing these posters at conferences and meetings with partners.


To download poster as Adobe PDF file (1.9 MB) click here	To download poster as Adobe PDF file (2.1 MB) click here

At long last: The first publication in the German HEALTH Practice Collection

by Anna von Roenne, 12 October 2011

Finalizing the first two publications in the German Health Practice Collection took us quite a bit longer than expected.The texts were finalized and approved by peer reviewers in July and August respectively. However, at that point, it was clear that all our publications would soon need a new design, in line with BMZ design guidelines for sector projects.

Over the past weeks, we have been in constant communication with the responsible GIZ and BMZ departments, adapting the design for our short and long versions and the design of our website to these new requirements. At the end of last week,we finally got the go ahead for our first publication: 'Making childbirth a village affair'. We now have four more publications in the pipeline and hope to be able to release them in the very near future.

Update on documentation processes

by Anna von Roenne, 19 August 2011

The GHPC team is currently working on four new and on three updates of its early HIV-related publications. Our reports on 'School Health in the Philippines' and on 'Improving the Quality of Healthcare' should be complete and ready for publication in October 2011. In that same month, we are starting the documentation, jointly with the Global Fund, of the BACKUP Initiative's support to civil society's cooperation with the Global Fund; and another one on German contributions to Kenya's endeavour to reach the MDG 5 - maternal health.

We are currently updating HIV-related publications that continue to be of considerable interest to our international audience. The first is about German support to the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT); the second is about a popular approach to developing information material on growing up, sexuality and HIV together with young people; and the third is a joint publication of KfW and GIZ on Mainstreaming HIV in Subsahara Africa. We are expecting these updates to be complete and published by November 2011.

Awaiting the new BMZ design standards

by Anna von Roenne, 19 August 2011

Our latest publications: 'Desa Siaga - making childbirth a village affair' and 'Health insurance for India's poor: Meeting the challenge with information technology' are ready for typesetting and design. However, we have not yet published them since we are expecting the new BMZ design standards for all GIZ publications to be finalised and shared with us within the next few days. Given that the two reports cited above will be the first in the new, extended 'German Health Practice Collection', we want to make sure that we publish them in the format that will soon be standard for all publications by GIZ sector initiatives. Bear with us - we are doing all we can to speed up the process.

New proposals selected for documentation

by Anna von Roenne, 30 June 2011

The proposals from KfW/GIZ in Kenya, from GIZ on SQI in Yemen and Morocco and from BACKUP were selected for documentation by the BMZ thematic group health. Congratulations! The proposals from Ghana and Indonesia were seen as innovative and interesting for GDC's profile in health and social protection - however, it was recommended to await their first full evaluation before deciding on their suitability for the Collection. It was a very good debate - showing once again how the GHPC stimulates debate - and eventually consensus - about promising and good practice in German Development Cooperation.

Selection of next programmes to be documented in the GHPC

by Anna von Roenne, 27 June 2011

This Thursday, 30 June, the BMZ's theme group health will select the next three programmes to be documented in the GHPC. This blog shall announce them on the same day. The theme group will also decide whether, in addition to its series on successful programmes, it will start publishing so-called Research Briefs, summarizing up to date research on health- and social protection issues that are particularly relevant to German development cooperation in these sectors.

Five new proposals for GHPC publications

by Anna von Roenne, 03 April 2011

In response to our second call, five programmes sent us interesting proposals describing their innovative approaches to programming in health and social protection. Up to 26 April 2011, GIZ and KfW colleagues working in partner countries are invited to have their say in the assessment of these proposals at http://www.german-practice-collection.org/en/new-proposals/proposals-2011. Colleagues at the head offices should share their assessment with the persons representing them at the BMZ thematic team health.

The final selection of programmes to be published will be made by the BMZ thematic team health in May or June 2011.

Call for Proposals 2011

by Anna von Roenne, 24 January 2011

In 2011, the German Health Practice Collection will undertake three further documentation processes on successful and innovative examples of German Development Cooperation in health and social protection. As in 2010, GDC staff and their counterparts are invited to jointly propose highlights of their work for publication in this series of publications. If you are interested, please download the proposal form as MS WORD document and submit it - by 30 March 2011 - to Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! JavaScript muss aktiviert werden, damit sie angezeigt werden kann.

We look forward to reading you!

Update on ongoing documentation processes

by Anna von Roenne, 16 January 2011

At present, the documentations on 'Empowering communities to address maternal mortality' (Indonesia) and on 'Fit for School' (Philippines) are well under way: In December 2010, the two writers have both conducted visits to the implementation sites, conducted a series of interviews with stakeholders, service providers and beneficiaries and assembled photo material. At present, they are working on the draft versions of the documentations, which shall be submitted to international peer reviewers in March 2011.

In January, we also started the documentation of the RSBY - Innovative Approach towards Universal Coverage (India). The professional writer Martina Merten has travelled to Delhi to meet with partners, stakeholders and beneficiaries to collect the information required for writing the first draft. Here, too, we expect to be able to submit a draft version to peer reviewers by the end of March 2011.

Decision on updates of existing GHPC publications

by Anna von Roenne, 16 January 2011

At its last meeting, on 16 November 2010, the BMZ Theme Group Health decided that the following GHPC publications should be updated in the course of the next 18 month:

The German Approach to Mainstreaming HIV: one strategy for achieving effective and sustainable responses to HIV
Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
Responding to what young people really want to know: Developing Question-Answer Booklets on Sexuality, HIV and AIDS with Young People

Which older GHPC publications should be updated?

by Anna von Roenne, 28.October 2010

Over the next two years, the GHPC has funds to update three of its older publications. It now needs to be decided which of its older reports merits updating. Important criteria are that it should be about an approach that is still being used and that has continued to develop and produce results over recent years; it should also be an approach that is characteristic for the German contribution to the global response to HIV - and, last not least, recent statistics should show that it is still of interest to our readers internationally.

The following older reports meet these criteria:

1. The German Approach to Mainstreaming HIV
2. HIV prevention in basic education
3. Boosting prevention: The Join In-Circuit on AIDS, Love and Sexuality
4. Responding to what young people really want to know
5. Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission

At its next meeting, the BMZ working group HIV will discuss and decide this question. If you would like to express your view, please comment below.

Work on the two new reports has begun

by Anna von Roenne, 28.October 2010

In consultation with the two programmes, the GHPC identified and contracted two expert writers: For 'Fit for School' this is Habib Benzian, who is currently senior advisor to the Programme in the Philippines and has been involved with the initiative since its early beginnings. He was co-author and project leader of "The Oral Health Atlas - mapping a neglected international health issue" published last year by the FDI World Dental Federation and Myriad Editions. Habib Benzian is also Honorary Lecturer at the Department of Public Health and Epidemiology at the University College London, UK, and director of The Health Bureau, a consulting firm in international health. Having lived and worked in developing countries as well as in Geneva for many years he combines a deep understanding of the realities in international development on the ground with an extensive network in international health which enables him to bridge the gap between policy, academia and implementation.

For 'Empowering communities to address maternal mortality' this is Peter Hill, Associate Professor, School of Population Health, Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Queensland. Peter Hill has extensive research experience in Global Health policy and governance, Health Sector Reform, Sector-Wide Approaches (SWAps) to health development and Indigenous health. He took part in analyzing the first four rounds of GAVI Health Systems Strengthening applications, with AusAID, GTZ and WHO in Asia and Pacific, with particular emphasis on Sexual and Reproductive Health policy.

Habib and Peter will both travel to Indonesia and the Philippines respectively at the beginning of December. They will take a close look at the two programmes at work and interview stakeholders, programme staff as well as programme beneficiaries. We hope to have the drafts ready for international peer review early in February 2010.

Selected for publication: Fit for School - Philippines and Community Empowerment for maternal and child health - Indonesia

by Anna von Roenne, 10 September 2010

On 9 September 2010, the BMZ thematic team health, including representatives of all German implementing organisations, met to discuss and appraise the proposals that GDC programmes and their partners submitted in response to the GHPC call for proposals.

The unanimous view of all those present was that the breadth and quality of the submitted proposals was impressive - and that many of them are strong candidates for future publications in the Collection.

But a decision had to be made regarding the two that should be documented first - and so the BMZ thematic team health selected the following proposals to be the first two publications in the German Health Practice Collection:

Fit for School - Revitalising school health for effective improvements in child health and education - Philippines
The impact of Community Empowerment to prevent maternal and neonatal death - Indonesia

The proposal RSBY - Innovative Approach towards Universal Coverage in India was also selected to be amongst the next two publications in 2011.

Congratulations to the teams from the Philippines, from Indonesia and India!

9 proposals for the new German Health Practice Collection

by Anna von Roenne, 21 August 2010

By 20 August 2010, the official deadline for submitting GHPC proposals, 9 GDC programmes from Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe sent us their proposals. All of them describe interesting approaches to improving public health and social protection in challenging circumstances - and all of them are very much worth reading.
Now it is up to you, GDC health and social protection experts, to give us your views on these proposals. Go to http://german-practice-collection.org/en/new-proposals/proposals-2010 and share your assessment of the different approaches online.
I look forward to reading you!

Deadline for new proposals postponed

by Anna von Roenne, 15 July 2010

On request by several colleagues and in consultation with the responsible colleagues at BMZ, the deadline for submission of proposals for the German Health Practice Collection has been postponed to 20 August 2010.

This decision was taken after several colleagues who are currently preparing proposals with their partner organisations let us know that they cannot complete the form and obtain the required signatures by end of July due to the vacation period.

GHPC Kick off meeting on 28 May in Eschborn

by Anna von Roenne, 28 May 2010

On 28 May, representatives of the four German implementing organisations and the BMZ meet at GTZ head office to get an introduction to the proposal and selection procedure as well as about the timeline and steps involved in producing a complete GHPC publication.

This meeting opens the call for proposals for the next GHPC publications: By the end of July, the assessment of submitted proposals will begin.

The call for proposals will also be channelled through the sector networks health & social protection, as well as through any other networks of GDC staff working in health and social protection worldwide.

We look forward to reading your proposals!

First conjoint WHO GHPC publication

by Anna von Roenne, 22 May 2010

We received great news from the WHO Regional Office for Europe two days ago: The final draft of 'Regions of Expertise: How Knowledge Hubs are boosting HIV prevention, treatment and care across whole regions' was approved as joint GHPC-WHO publication by the responsible WHO department.

And why does this matter? Because, from the start, the strengthening of knowledge hubs has been a joint undertaking by WHO and the German BACKUP Initiative. The upcoming publication describes the crucial role three such hubs have been playing in developing capacities in Eastern Europe over recent years; and why this model deserves continued funding. The report was written in close consultation with the knowledge hub coordinators and colleagues from WHO Euro.

If you have always wondered what the talk about knowledge hub was all about: Make sure to read this gripping story once it is published (less than a month to go).

Which GDC-supported health programmes should we document and publish first?

by Anna von Roenne, 13 April 2010

The recently established BMZ Thematic Team Health decided that, in 2010, the German HIV Practice Collection should be extended and become a German Health Practice Collection. This raises the question: Which of the many GDC-supported approaches in the broad field of health should we document and publish first?

So far, two approaches have been suggested:

1. Systemic Quality Improvement (SQI): there are various voices that suggest that GDC's approaches to improving the quality of health service delivery should be documented and published this year.

2. Centre of Health Insurance Competence (CHIC): CHIC is an enterprising approach to the promotion of health insurance schemes in developing countries. The aim of setting up the competence centres is to strengthen health insurance schemes economically, as a means of ensuring their sustainability. There are various country examples of successfully implementing the CHIC approach. It is a comparative advantage of GDC in health.

Joachim Schmitt of BMZ just suggested a third topic for a GHPC publication: How GDC contributes to partner countries' attaining MDG 4 and 5.

What is your view? Do you support any of these suggestions or would you suggest yet another topic? Share your view in this blog.

German HIV Practice Collection turned into German Health Practice Collection

by Anna von Roenne, 8 March 2010

On 17 February 2010, the German HIV Practice Collection turned into a German Health Practice Collection. The new BMZ Steering Group Health, with representatives of all German Development Organisations, the BMZ Head of the Health Department as well as his colleagues responsible for HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights all voted for this broadening of the thematic focus of the Collection.

At the assembly of the GTZ Sector Network Meeting Health and Social Protection Africa/MENA/LAC in Mombasa on 21 - 16 February, the network also welcomed this move. Members commented that this broadening of the Collection's focus was long overdue. The stronger involvement of partner institutions in the documentation process as seen as positive development.

The colleagues working in the field of social protection declared their interest in broadening the thematic focus of the Collection even further so that it would also include successful methods from their field. The GHPC is open for this inclusion of social protection. As a next step, the head of section social protection will discuss this possibility with the responsible BMZ department.

The Editor of the GHPC emphasized the importance of the sector network members' involvement in the decision as to which methods and approaches should be published as part of the Collection. It was agreed that the sectoral networks would take part, through their speakers, in the selection process.

The broadening of the GHPC concept from HIV to health in general will also be presented at the assembly of the GTZ sector network meeting Asia in Kathmandu on 12 - 16 April.

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