Leadership for change: Promoting diversity of leadership in the Palestinian health system

To support the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) in fulfilling its vision for reform, the USAID Palestinian Health Sector Reform and Development Project (Flagship Project) initiated an innovative Leadership Development Program (LDP) that enables health officials to champion reform by envisioning and leading change. The Project engaged key MoH decision-makers in designing the LDP through collaborative identification of leadership competencies and behaviors that they would like to see practiced within the MoH. Within each LDP, there are three cohorts of participants. Each cohort is composed of senior and mid-level staff with varying job responsibilities, including nurses, physicians, lab technicians, and administrators. Within these cohorts, participants share common experiences and leadership frameworks and develop collegial support systems for implementing change initiatives. Given the limited participant capacity of the LDP program, having a transparent selection process led by the MoH is vital. Participants are drawn from many districts and key departments of the MOH, including management, primary, secondary, and emergency services. To drive reform nationwide, the Flagship Project also included health professionals from NGOs working in the Palestinian health care sector. The integration of NGO staff is intended to ensure consistency and high quality of care across all sectors providing health care services in Palestine. The USAID-funded LDP takes into consideration the particularities of each individual's management challenges while simultaneously strengthening leadership reform within the greater health sector. Through this professional and institutional diversity, the LDP strengthens Flagship Project's integrated approach to health sector management and reform.