Transitioning to sustainability: peer-to-peer learning with Liberia, Malawi, and Mozambique’s NCD teams
AMP Health has partnered with three non-communicable diseases (NCD) teams since late 2021 with the support of the Helmsley Charitable Trust.
In addition to the AMP Management Partner’s (MP) embedded support, this partnership has brought the national NCD teams from Liberia, Malawi, and Mozambique together several times over the last three years to strengthen their leadership and management capabilities in a peer-to-peer learning environment.
While the teams have kept in touch, unprompted, since the first Leadership Lab, the final Lab displayed a marked commitment to ongoing learning beyond the MP’s full-time, embedded support. Held in Nairobi in February 2024, its collaborative, multi-lingual environment highlighted the power of cross-country, African-led learning.
The teams charted their way forward by setting sustainability objectives, committing to bi-annual virtual knowledge exchange workshops with each other, and planning regular in-country sessions designed to cascade national learnings to regional and district levels.
Day one:
Teams created a joint timeline of their two-year journey with AMP, acknowledging challenges and external forces, but also highlighting their agency to meet them with innovation and resilience. The participants plotted their key successes and learnings against the timeline, both as teams and individuals. This exercise in appreciative inquiry, designed to encourage self-determined change, set the teams up to envision the next stage in their learning journey.
Day two:
With the second day’s theme being ‘learning in community’, each team brought a current challenge they were facing and received thoughtful input and potential solutions from mixed groups of their cross-country peers. It was a powerful illustration of the potential for cross-team learning and sharing and stimulated a desire for ongoing dialogue between the teams. They agreed to hold two online forums in the remainder of the year organised by nominated learning champions.
Day three:
Teams drafted their sustainability objectives using SMART criteria which concretised their vision and commitment to ongoing learning. They also developed a learning action plan and nominated learning champions to keep the momentum going and nudge the team to achieve their objectives. Although the teams will drive initiatives to achieve these objectives, AMP will be on hand to provide support as required.
The AMP Health team pictured at the NCD Leadership Lab.
NCD Lab: reflections and resolutions
During the three-day lab, the teams:
reviewed their learnings and successes of the past two years, integrated and synthesised their key takeaways, and identified the most valuable learning habits and activities to nurture for ongoing growth
experienced the value and joy of learning in a community of peers through a mixed group problem-solving approach, and committed to ongoing cross-team dialogue and information-sharing
drafted sustainability objectives for their team such as SMART learning goals to ensure that their learning and growth continued after their MPs transitioned out of the team
nominated learning champions from each team to ensure their sustainability objectives would be met and to co-ordinate cross-team activities
A striking feature of the workshop was the equitable participation of English and Portuguese speakers, with the help of simultaneous translators and sessions designed to support multilingual active learning and participation. Energy levels stayed high throughout as participants worked in their country teams and in mixed groups to analyse cases, share solutions, and draft their sustainability objectives.
By reinforcing the learning and management skills acquired in the previous years, encouraging reflection and goal setting, and laying the foundation for cross-border collaboration and ongoing learning, the NCD Lab has proven to be an important step toward sustainability for all countries involved, paving the way for systemic change.