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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Paul Derstine, President, Interchurch Medical Assistance, College Avenue, P.O. Box 429, New Windsor, MD 21776, 410-635-8720, paulderstine@interchurch.org
Interchurch Medical Assistance (I.M.A.) is an association of twelve Church-related relief and development agencies. It was created in 1960 to streamline requests to pharmaceutical manufacturers for donations of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for overseas mission hospitals and health care programs.
Recently I.M.A. has sought to broaden its focus to include program coordination and management. This began with I.M.A. being selected to manage the NGO side of the National Onchocerciasis Control Programme in Tanzania. It has continued, and expanded greatly, when the Protestant Church of Congo asked I.M.A. to become their U.S.-based partner for the SANRU III project.
This has resulted in an exciting period of growth, new vision and rapid organizational adaptation to this expanded role in managing an SANRU III as an umbrella project on behalf of its member agencies, in collaboration with ECC and with financial assistance from OFDA and USAID.
Some of the important steps in I.M.A.’s growth in this new direction have included the following:
1) Identifying respective roles of I.M.A. and ECC with regards to financial management, communications with partners, and coordination of external assistance;
2) Preparing a sub-grant agreement between I.M.A. and ECC to legally define the respective roles;
3) Having some funding “up front” from I.M.A. member agencies to get project activities started months before funds from OFDA became available;
4) Upgrading the accounting system at I.M.A. and installing a compatible system at ECC;
5) Obtaining seconded missionary personnel from I.M.A. members to assist with project management and to provide technical assistance.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, the participants will be able to
Keywords: Partnerships, Management
Related Web page: interchurch.org
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.