Improving health systems, creating sustainable change, growing as professionals, learning and sharing with peers – these are some of the factors that motivated 8 young health professionals to apply for the Pan-European Leadership Academy (ELA), a multilevel programme aiming to maximize country impact by building health leadership for the future while strengthening health leadership for the present.
Officially launched at the 71st session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (RC71), the vision of Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, for the ELA is to build a cadre of young public health and health professionals, with a particular focus on transformational leadership. “We need health leaders in policy, health leaders in research, health leaders in education and health leaders in practice,” Dr Kluge said at RC71 in his address to Member States on the state of health in the WHO European Region.
In November 2021, an enthusiastic team of early career professionals from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Russian Federation and Turkmenistan joined WHO/Europe as the participants of the first ELA Tier One demonstration project.
What does the ELA Tier One programme entail?
The Tier One programme, has been designed to provide different types of opportunities to develop, enhance and practice transformational leadership competencies. It comprises 5 blocks:
- experiential placements in the Regional Office and one of WHO/Europe’s country offices or technical centres outside Copenhagen;
- transformational leadership webinars;
- online learning to develop transversal skills;
- tailored learning opportunities including language training;
- participation in WHO/Europe special initiatives, such as European Immunization Week.
Eleven months later, in October 2022, the demonstration project finished. Equipped with first-hand experience on how WHO works at both the regional and country levels, these young health professionals have returned to their home countries, ready to promote in their own contexts the benefits of transformational leadership and intersectoral collaboration, the value of diverse multidisciplinary teams, and the importance of engaging young health-care leaders in decision-making.
Delivering country impact together
The ELA Tier One demonstration project has been a whole Regional Office effort. Alumnae have worked in teams in the Regional Office in Copenhagen, in the Division of Country Health Programmes, the Division of Country Health Policies and Systems, and WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme. For the second part of their experience, they have also supported teams in the WHO Country Office in Georgia, the WHO Country Office in Kyrgyzstan, the WHO European Centre for Primary Health Care in Kazakhstan, the WHO Health Emergencies Balkan Hub in Serbia, and the WHO Office on Quality of Care and Patient Safety in Greece.
Gabrielle Jacob, Special Advisor for Transformation and Organizational Development and lead for the ELA project explains, “As early career professionals, the ELA participants bring their experience and their knowledge from the country setting to the receiving unit or receiving office where they will be working as part of the team for the duration of their placement. In turn, they receive a rich learning experience, benefitting from the technical knowledge of that receiving unit, or office, as well as the opportunity to see how WHO works both at the regional level and at the country level”.
The project brings together different capacities across the Regional Office and would not be possible without the technical and administrative areas working hand-in-hand, supported by communications. “This project demonstrates what we can do when we bring all of the capabilities of the organization to work together. It’s a great example of agile teamwork to deliver impact for countries,” adds Ms Jacob.
What are the aims of the ELA?
The programme aims to:
- advocate for leadership competencies for health in research, policy and practice;
- strengthen human resources for health in the European Region by providing structured opportunities for learning and professional development within WHO/Europe;
- create a network of trained health professionals to support and advance the European Programme of Work 2020–2025 through strengthened health systems in the Region;
- enhance knowledge and insight into health systems challenges and operations at country level within WHO/Europe;
- provide a vehicle for practical dialogue between the regional and country levels in priority technical areas;
- assist in addressing the issue of under-representation of some European Region Member States in international governmental organizations over time.
What will the ELA look like in the future?
When fully operationalized, the ELA will comprise 3 tiers.
Tier Two will invite mid-career professionals from ministries of health and institutes of public health to work side by side with WHO/Europe over the course of a 6-month programme.
A Tier Two demonstration project will launch in November 2022, after which both demonstration projects will be fully evaluated with reporting to Member States through the 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe.
Tier Three will support high-level decision-makers, with structured support for the exchange and scaling up of nationwide and sustainable health system and public health innovations, and is in development.