| dc.description.abstract | The objectives of this study were to exam me the extent to which Kenyan
Reproductive Health NGOs apply the strategic management process in developing
and implementing their programs and to examine the strategic responses by Kenyan
Reproductive Health NGOs to the changes facing the Kenyan health sector. The
changes in the Kenyan health sector include rapid developments in the health sector
are namely, health sector reforms, declining resources, and shifting and increasing
client demands.
The main thrust of the study was to establish whether strategic management practices
have been successfully implemented in meeting the challenges facing Reproductive
Health NGOs within this changing health sector environment. These challenges
include continued population growth, a stagnant economy and per capita incomes,
declining health sector financial resources, slow health sector reforms and
decentralization and the HIV and AIDS crisis.
The respondents included the NGO founders/leaders or chief executives or, if these
were unavailable, a board member from the organization. Interviews were carried out
through personal interviews, email or telephone interviews. We managed to receive
27 completed questionnaires from founders, finance managers, program managers or
the administrative managers fr0111the various institutions.
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Results indicate that majority of the NGOs conduct some form of strategic
management. They have a vision and formulate missions. They are passionate and
effective in what they do and are keen to establish themselves as credible agents for
change. However, they stagger when they are confronted with the challenge of
translating their vision and mission into tangible strategies.
Further results show that very few of the Reproductive Health NGOs fully
comprehend the Health Sector Reforms or even have the ability to seize the
opportunities offered by the changing arena. Majority of the NGOs are unlikely to
focus on long term operation within the sector given their lack of attention to the
policy changes within the sector. It is not surprising that the NGO sector is dominated
by numerous small NGOs with limited coverage, working in isolation, uncoordinated
and often duplicating efforts. This also explains why many NGOs are not aligned to
system wide issues.
The NGOs consider the donor shifts as critical to their operations. Although this is
important, the high degree of donor dependency cripples the NGOs ability to think
freely and even to develop a strategy. It is critical for NGOs to re-assess their focus
of attention. Once the donor priorities change the NGOs are forced to shift their
priorities thus resulting in numerous small NGOs with limited coverage, working in
isolation, uncoordinated and often duplicating efforts and potential risk of folding
operations in the event of no funding.
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Client needs assessment was mentioned as having been conducted by a minority of
the NGOs. Many NGOs rely on quarterly evaluations which most likely measure the
internal operations of the organization and the accounting and reporting. The need to
establish the client needs and client responses remains a challenge to many NGOs. In
the current environment where customer care is a critical factor this raises concern.
The study is in five parts. The first part contains an introduction to the study,
objectives of the study and need for the study. The second part provides a theoretical
framework of strategic management practice with a focus on Reproductive Health
programs. Details of the research methodology appear in the third part, and results
are presented in the fourth part. The questionnaire used in the study is appended at
the end of the paper. The study is summarized and concluded in the fifth and final
part. | |
