Under the Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator project, Results for Development worked with Curatio International Foundation (CIF) to support Georgia’s Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs to ensure quality and accessibility of care by integrating rehabilitation services into the Universal Health Coverage Program (UHCP).

This learning brief chronicles and summarizes Georgia’s journey to integrate rehabilitation services into the health system. It describes the strategies, approaches, and actions undertaken throughout this transformative process, and offers practical insights and lessons learned from a developing country context. This resource can serve to guide program managers, technical assistance suppliers, and implementers of similar endeavors in other lower- and middle-income settings.

Key lessons learned discussed in the brief include:

• Data limitations and solutions: Tailoring activities and selecting tools according to available data is essential. This approach guarantees interventions are data-driven and customized to meet a country’s specific healthcare needs and resources efficiently. This project effectively addressed data scarcity by utilizing global estimates and collaborating with countries with relevant regional experience.
• The power of a participatory approach: Inclusive stakeholder engagement was crucial for the success of the Georgia rehabilitation program. Frequent engagement, including consultations with subject matter experts and service providers, ensured inclusivity, transparency, and the development of contextually relevant solutions.

The post Georgia’s Journey to Integrating Rehabilitation Services into the Health System: Insights and Lessons appeared first on Results for Development.

More than half of the Georgian population in need of assistive products (AP) do not have access to all the products they require to support basic daily functioning. Although Georgia provides funding to the AT sub-program of the State Program for Social Rehabilitation and Childcare, a rapid AT assessment conducted by the World Health Organization in 2022 suggests that only 4.3% of AP currently in use are government-funded, while 75% are funded through out-of-pocket payments. With increasing demand for assistive technologies and a commitment to meet the needs of the population, the Government of Georgia has been focused on how to diversify the assistive technology market in the country in efforts to make higher quality products available in the country and optimize its current State Program to reach as many beneficiaries as possible within the given program funding envelope.

In June 2023, as part of ongoing support being provided to the GoG through the USAID-funded Health System Strengthening Accelerator, the GoG engaged with Results for Development (R4D) on two main objectives:

1. To better understand the access barriers to three GoG-selected priority products offered through the State Program – wheelchairs, hearing aids and prostheses/orthoses
2. To co-design strategic options with the GoG and service providers to address the identified barriers and help improve quality, supply and financing of the selected ATs

To be responsive to the needs of the GoG, R4D designed an approach that combines both market shaping and market development frameworks to understand the market structure and diagnose areas of market underperformance. Leveraging both a mix of primary and secondary data and literature, an evidence-based analysis was conducted across four key market dimensions of (i) supply; (ii) demand; (iii) regulatory and (iv) financing. A co-design workshop was then held with AT service providers in the country to help define potential solutions to address prioritized market barriers. A policy brief summarizing the findings can be found in the download link above.

Please contact Nelsha Haji for any questions or comments on this brief.

The post Improving access to assistive technology in Georgia: Insights and considerations from a market analysis appeared first on Results for Development.

For events involving Results for Development staff, please see below. For the full agenda, click here.

What Makes for Ambitious Commitments in the Extractives Sector?
Wednesday July 18, 2018 14:00 – 15:30
R4D Program Director Mario Picon joined a panel on natural resource commitments and their transformative potential. Openness in extractives can pave the way for sustainable development, environmental protection and reduction of social conflicts. It therefore comes as no surprise that the top OGP commitment category is natural resources. Yet there is still a long way to go to ensure that OGP extractive sector commitments are fully implemented and contribute to deterring corruption. This session presented country examples along the extractive value chain and show how ambitious commitments can contribute to mitigating corruption risks and governance reforms.

Feminist Open Government: How It Helps Inclusion
Thursday July 19, 2018 10:30 – 12:00
This high-level panel featured prominent open government leaders who are accelerating the gender empowerment and inclusion agenda within the Partnership. Results for Development Executive Vice President Nathaniel Heller and Laura Neuman, Director of the Carter Center’s Global Access to Information Program, moderated a frank discussion about the promises and challenges of mainstreaming gender and inclusion into the open government movement. Speakers included the Georgia Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani and the Nigeria Minister of State for Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed.

Spotlight on Reformers and Tools: Fighting Corruption and Demystifying Artificial Intelligence
Thursday July 19, 2018 13:00 – 14:00
This session highlighted innovative projects undertaken and tools built by reformers in government and civil society to tackle some of the big open government challenges their countries face. The session provided inspiring entry points to spark conversations around new networks and ideas that attendants could consider adapting in your own jurisdictions and contexts. Stories from Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine and other countries were highlighted, as well as approaches around the effective use of different tools in tackling corruption and open government objectives more generally. Mario Picon focused his presentation on the Leveraging Transparency to Reduce Corruption program and its approach.

Civic Engagement for Service Delivery Improvements
Thursday July 19, 2018 13:30 – 15:00
This session focused on recent innovative work on the role of citizen empowerment and civic engagement on service delivery in countries including Indonesia and Tanzania. The facilitators, including R4D Senior Program Director Courtney Tolmie and Program Officer Preston Whitt, presented evidence and experiences from the work of Twaweza, the Open Democracy Advice Center, and the Transparency for Development project, followed by an interactive discussion highlighting the role of citizen engagement in social actions to improve health, education and other outcomes. The goal of this session was to surface lessons from these organizations in a dynamic workshop to improve how our field leverages open governance to improve services and citizens’ lives.

The post Open Government Partnership Global Summit appeared first on Results for Development.

This webinar was conducted in English. Traduction en français disponible.

Session Highlights:  

Participants discovered how IR has been an essential tool for program partners and country counterparts in Georgia, Ghana, and Indonesia:

• Georgia: Assessing the introduction of financing for rehabilitation services in the UHC program.
• Ghana: Examining health equity outcomes following the roll-out of primary-care provider networks.
• Indonesia: Pilot-testing inclusive strategic purchasing approaches to strengthen primary healthcare providers’ performance.

Speakers:

• Dr. Rachel Marcus, DrPH, Senior Health Systems Strengthening Advisor, Office of Health Systems, USAID
• Dr. Ama Pokuaa Fenny, PhD, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana, and R4D senior fellow
• Ms. Alisa Tsuladze, MPH, Curatio International Foundation, Georgia
• Ms. Astara Lubis, MA, Program Director, Indonesia, R4D

The post Webinar: Special Session on Implementation Research and Universal Health Coverage appeared first on Results for Development.

Dr. Georges is a program officer with the global health team at Results for Development (R4D), where she provides technical and program management guidance to the Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator (HSS Accelerator) in West Africa. She oversees and supports implementation, planning and development of country-level activities and works with country stakeholders, partners, leaders and staff develop approaches to enhance local capacities to improve health systems.

Dr. Georges has focused her career on implementing health programs in low-resource settings, targeting vulnerable communities using local resources and decentralized health facilities. Through this work, she developed expertise in local resource enhancement and community health strategies adapted to specific populations and their needs. From 2012 to 2014, she supported Haiti’s ministry of health in restructuring its national community health program.

Dr. Georges holds a medical degree from Haiti and completed a master’s in public health (MPH) from Georgia State University in the U.S. through a Fulbright Scholarship. She also holds a master of science (MSc) in tropical and infectious diseases from the University of Liverpool, England. She is a native speaker of Creole and French and speaks fluent English.

The post Yves Marie Dominique Georges Duperval appeared first on Results for Development.

Date: November 26, 2019
Time: 6:00 AM EST / 11:00 AM Accra / 3:00 PM Tbilisi / 6:00 PM Hanoi
Details: This session will be hosted in English. Materials from the session will be available in English, French, Portuguese, and Russian.

Panelists:

• Ann Levin, Senior Consultant, UNICEF; Immunization Financing Consultant, Abt Associates
• Temwa Mzengeza, Ag Program Manager & National Routine Immunization Officer, Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), Ministry of Health, Malawi
• Ekaterine Adamia, Head of Public Heathcare and Programs Division of Healthcare Department, Ministry of Health, Georgia

Moderators:

• Grace Chee, Results for Development Senior Program Director & LNCT Technical Facilitator
• Miloud Kaddar, Senior Health Economist, Independent Consultant and LNCT Technical Facilitator

The post Webinar: Strengthening Public-Private Engagement for Immunization Delivery appeared first on Results for Development.

At Results for Development (R4D), Ms. Chikhradze is a program director providing technical, managerial and strategic leadership on health systems and health financing projects. Her technical expertise ranges from benefits package design to provider payment models, expenditure tracking and analysis, policy development, operational and implementation research. Ms. Chikhradze’s portfolio includes multiple global initiatives as well as country level work in Indonesia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Georgia. 

Ms. Chikhradze holds an MSc in health policy, planning and financing from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is a native Georgian speaker and is fluent in English and Russian. 

The post Tamara Chikhradze appeared first on Results for Development.