People that Deliver Theory of Change for Building Human Resources for Supply Chain Management: Applications in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia

Key Findings

• The Theory of Change for Building Human Resources for Supply Chain Management (TOC) was applied in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, and the Philippines to identify gaps and prioritize workforce interventions needed to strengthen the health supply chains (SCs) in these countries.

• The SC projects and interpretations of the TOC varied according to country context, donor priorities, and other external factors.

• Applying the TOC resulted in some favorable outcomes to help address improvements in the SC workforce.

Key Implications

• The TOC enables SC practitioners to capture and understand the pathway of change that connects interventions and investment in human resources to health SC performance improvements and improved health outcomes.

• This tool allows governments and technical partners to articulate the complexities that govern human resources in health SCs and identify how interventions can improve the staffing, skills, motivation, and working conditions of this workforce.

The Theory of Change for Building Human Resources for Supply Chain Management (TOC) offers a practical framework outlining 4 interdependent pathways—staffing, skills, working conditions, and motivation—to manage the workforce quantity and capability necessary to operate health supply chains effectively. We conducted a desk review of project reports on applications of the TOC as a diagnostic and analytical framework for health supply chains in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, and the Philippines. We compared approaches to program development, project management, and implementation to reach conclusions and make recommendations based on experience in each country. The TOC can be applied in multiple country contexts, is useful in highlighting supply workforce challenges, and provides a framework that allows governments and technical partners to readdress them.