A multilingual Leadership Lab for NCD teams from Liberia, Malawi and Mozambique
Growing rates of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) pose a real threat to the health and lives of millions of people living in Africa.
Responsible for 37% of deaths in 2019, NCDs such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes are rising, in-part due to weaknesses in the implementation of critical control measures including prevention, diagnosis, and care.
NCD teams on the continent typically face a triad of challenges: the rapidly rising burden of NCDs, high expectations from political leaders, and inadequate human and financial resources. Building these teams' leadership and management capabilities can help them better prioritise the use of scarce resources, develop costed and feasible strategic plans, and communicate the importance of greater investment in combatting NCDs.
In November, AMP Health convened our first cross-country in-person Leadership Lab since the Covid-19 pandemic. The multi-day event, held in Maputo, Mozambique, brought together NCD teams from Liberia, Malawi, and Mozambique, and focused on empowering them to make a strong investment case for NCDs in their countries.
But how do you create a memorable learning experience in a room of people who don’t speak the same language?
Chief Learning Officer at AMP Health, Klara Michal, says it was important to be transparent about what the event was going to be like from day one. “Creating an environment where people don't have to worry, because you know that others will take the time to listen or translate for you, creates a space for openness and learning. We let people know that this is the price of inclusion - slowing down and practising elements of patience, and caring enough to listen and potentially do some things you're not used to.”
Many of the sessions combined presentation slides in both English and Portuguese, while having simultaneous live translation in other languages. “Facilitators were careful about getting the most important points across, and all instructions were available in both key languages. We designed activities where it would be easier to mix languages and created time for self reflection, where it didn't need to be about talking, just about experiencing something together,” says Klara.
But it was more than just translation that helped facilitate connection. Klara explains that the design of the NCD Lab allowed teams to be active creators of learning content rather than passive recipients of presentations.
“We created space for relationship building, which allowed us to cross cultural boundaries,” she explains. “So much of the learning happened during the moments in between sessions, moments standing around the coffee. A lot of knowledge sharing is based on relationships, which takes time”.
This model of experiential learning allowed the programme teams to build relationships with one another that will continue into the future. “When you add different modes of learning as well as colour and fun to it, you really can access peoples’ state of learning. The time spent on relationships and experiential moments were the most memorable,” Klara added.
“Every time I interact with AMP I’m impressed, and I think, wow this is amazing what they’ve done and then they take it to the next level.”
Our learning model at AMP Health is rooted in human-centred design. According to Klara, the Leadership Lab further demonstrated the value of this approach when she observed participants enjoying moments of applying techniques that they had just learned, playing around, and trying new things. Although the Lab took place only a few weeks ago, positive feedback has already been shared by participants.
Following the Leadership Lab, a number of team members also shared that they immediately began working on investment cases for their own countries, and were excited to put their learnings around data usage, stakeholder engagement and effective communication into practice.