Organisational Capacity Building in Health Systems

Capacity building – which focuses on understanding the obstacles that prevent organisations from realising their goals, while promoting those features that help them to achieve measurable and sustainable results – is vital to improve the delivery of health care in both developed and developing countries. Organisations are important structural building blocks of health systems because they provide platforms for delivery of curative and preventive health services, and facilitate health workforce financing and functions.

Organisational capacity building involves more than training and equipment and this book discusses management capacity to restructure systems, structures and roles strategically to optimise organisational performance in healthcare. Examining the topic in a practical and comprehensive way, Organisational Capacity Building in Health Systems is divided into five parts, looking at:

• What health organisations are and do
• Management and leadership in health organisations
• How to build capacity in health systems
• Building capacity in a range of health system contexts
• Dealing with challenges in building capacity and evaluating work

Looking at how to effectively design, implement and evaluate organisational capacity building initiatives, this book is ideal for public health, health promotion and health management researchers, students and practitioners.

Niyi Awofeso is Professor in the School of Population Health, University of Western Australia, and Conjoint Professor in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales.