"The whole healthcare structure is built with the township health unit as its foundation, and planning follows a bottom-up approach. Capacity building of staff for strengthening the health system will take us further on our path towards UHC, and so this training is very important."

"I have been involved since the training began in 2011 and I have worked extensively in the TB programme. I have attended the training twice and also been involved as a facilitator in Tanintharyi Region. More people can participate in these state/regional trainings – there are 160 participants for two days in Yangon. I am very pleased that all are highly motivated. Managed Cash Flow is very useful for managing funding from different sources. We will follow the SOPs and also monitor and support our staff so that they too can follow them."

"I have been involved since the beginning in 2011, and from then the MCF-SOPs have been gradually modified and updated so that it seems these 2018 SOPs are so near to perfection and so comprehensive that further modifications may not be needed. Moreover, they are bilingual, clear and concise so that even those who do not attend training can understand them. To be implementable, ensuring equity towards UHC, microplanning must be costed using current rates and not outdated rates. With Global Fund support and by implementing according to the MCF-SOPs, there is no extra, loss, wastage or miscalculation. The Yangon Auditor General (AG) Office Deputy Director also discussed the challenges based on the practice of government financial rules and regulations, and we would like the government to adopt the same travel rates which are real and actual, so that implementing health staff can have more confidence, with accurate costs, for more programme success. The knowledge will be disseminated through Continuing Medical Education (CME) sessions, M&E, on-the-job training, cascade and multiplier trainings to make the best use of financial resources."

"We previously held central-level trainings with focal persons and more people. Now at state/regional level, participants can get more attention. They attend with their state/regional colleagues whom they are already familiar with and participants therefore do not hesitate to ask if they need clarification, and it encourages more interaction and discussions. They can practise more in practical group-work exercises."

"I had never attended this kind of financial training before. The training is very useful for all basic health staff. Now I am more confident in workplanning, which I can do more systematically, for different disease programmes. I find the SOPs easy to understand as they are bilingual and clear."

"I have been in the service for 13 years and I am used to microplanning, but all microplans should be costed workplans linked with our on-the-ground day-to-day implementation, to deliver quality healthcare. So budgeting is essential to make planning possible."

"The Managed Cash Flow mechanism allows the efficient flow of funding from the central level, to state/regional level, down to the township level. This in turn ensures that our strategies, interventions and activities reach the intended target beneficiaries, ensuring shared accountability at all levels of the resource chain. The training aims to facilitate smooth grant implementation, and the management support that we are providing will ensure that resources are available to those in need. Good health decision and health equity are goals of health system strengthening, and so we want to make sure that the flow of finance is effective, efficient and actually reaching our partners in the field."

"This year’s training module is more participatory. It will improve accountability and increase the number of staff who can successfully fill in the amount of money they spend on the MOHS activities, and also reduce the time they spend making claims, helping them to reach more patients, and with more timely delivery in making volunteer payments. Training contents are agreed upon and approved in advance by the national programmes/Disease Control, MOHS and UNOPS-PR, targeting both higher level officers and the support staff they work with in the field. We appreciate their collaboration, partnership and support. The ownership of MCF is with the national programmes, while our role is just a supporting one. We are grateful for their continued collaboration and partnership, for making the whole Global Fund programme in Myanmar a success."

"Yangon Region is the final batch of this year’s state/regional trainings. Overall, there have been more than 1,200 participants with 97 per cent attendance rate. We have facilitators from MOHS and state/regional Auditor General offices. We have found that participants are very active and motivated. It has been such a great success and we are thankful to the central and state/regional MOHS officers and the UNOPS-PR Managed Cash Flow Unit."

"The trainings have been successful and we are thankful to the Union Minister for Health and Sports for allowing us to hold the training, the national programmes/Disease Control for their guidance, state/regional directors/deputy directors and all other responsible officials for their collaboration, and all participants for their motivation, interest and involvement. Each individual participant gets the chance to practise developing a workplan on their own and prizes are awarded for group-work exercises. Irrespective of the programmes or projects, the basic financial principles in making an eligible claim are the same—it should be real, with no conflict of interest, reasonable and accurate."

“I will definitely collaborate more with our health financial clerks to get better results.” – Daw Moe Thidar, Lady Health Visitor (LHV), South Okkalapa Township, MOHS.

“We will work as a team together with health staff to make our healthcare programmes more successful.” – Daw Nilar Nyunt, Lower Division Clerk (LD), Latha Township, MOHS.

“We learned many important things, and are eager to attend any future financial training.” – Daw Khin Mar Htwe, Midwife (MW), Dagon Township, MOHS.

“We will share knowledge with those who did not yet have the chance to attend.” – U Aung Sein Phyo, Lower Division Clerk (LD), South Okkalapa Township, MOHS.

“I now know what I had not learned before. It is very useful.”– Daw Swe Swe Nwe, Midwife (MW), Ahlone Township, MOHS.

“I got the chance to explain how workplanning is done in accordance with programme implementation, and I am grateful for this.” – Dr May Thinzar Kyi, Public Health Programme Officer, UNOPS.

“We get the chance to practise workplanning. It is very useful.” – U Soe Win, Lower Division Clerk (LD), Lanmadaw Township, MOHS.

“I am involved as a facilitator in the TOT as well. I find that all participants are very motivated and eager to learn. We noted some training areas that they may find difficult, to improve in future trainings.” – Dr Khin Sandar Aung, Deputy Director, North District Health Department, Yangon Region, MOHS.

“MCF-SOPs have been regularly updated well over the years and they seem so perfect now that they may not need any further update. They are bilingual, clear and concise, making it easy for anyone to understand. I would like to thank UNOPS for the support to organize the training successfully.” – Dr Khin Nan Lon, Deputy Director (Disease Control), Yangon Region Health Department, MOHS.

“Although I am working for UNOPS, I already feel like I am part of MOHS. The MCF-SOPs have been updated based on the experiences and challenges of on-the-ground implementation over these years. Thanks to all for their motivation and participation.” – Daw Khin Khin Htwe, Finance Officer, UNOPS.