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This third training was held with the approval of MOHS and under its leadership in collaboration with UNOPS. The two-day training was held in six batches in two parallel sessions per batch (with close to 80 participants per session) for 12 days.
To decide the participants for the current training, we reviewed the list of health staff who had already participated and gave priority to those who had not already done it, such as the newly inducted staff and those involved with fund management, for example financial clerks. Participants included State/Region, district/township public health officers and AIDS, TB and malaria national programme officers. Government accountants and financial personnel are already familiar with the government rules and regulations, but they should also know the Managed Cash Flow SOPs developed in collaboration with UNOPS, and so we also included them.
Through this training, they will know more about SOPs for procurement and financial management and then the health system will be strengthened. All health staff from various States/Regions and districts/townships representing all 330 townships across Myanmar should know these SOPs. They are for strengthening the health system and protecting our health staff, benefiting all health stations/posts across the country with reduced risk and errors. This will in turn benefit both the donors and recipients through efficient and effective fund management.
The training sessions are logically presented and interconnected. There are two main parts. On the first day, Managed Cash Flow SOPs are presented and discussed. Disbursement, reimbursement and advance payment are explained, followed by group work in the afternoon. On the second day, procurement principles are explained, followed by a session on monitoring and evaluation. Government financial rules and regulations and systems are also explained by the responsible officers from MOHS.
Participating health staff from various townships across the country get the chance to share their views and the challenges they experience on the ground.
No SOPs can be 100% perfect, and so these are a living document that can be constantly amended, improved and adapted as needed in response to real-time experience and challenges.
Capacity building of health staff should be an ongoing exercise. In the future, this kind of large-scale national training will be organized based on the availability of funding and support.
There is constant mobility of health staff due to changes, transfer and promotion, and staff can use these skills wherever they are posted.
The success of this training is due to our teamwork and collaboration – MOHS, DOPH, Disease Control Unit, UNOPS and all its units: programme, finance, PSM and communications. We will include this kind of national-level training as much as possible in the future.
My thanks go to all participating health staff from the 330 townships across the country for their time and efforts with full commitment to deliver quality healthcare services for the people of Myanmar.