Final evaluation and SROI analysis of the project to train health personnel at the Salam Centre in Khartoum

Title Evaluation of the project “Nurse training: Clinical and Management Training, Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery”

Location Khartoum, Sudan

Duration May-November 2023

Partner EMERGENCY

Funding Fondo di Beneficenza Intesa San Paolo

 

Context

Sudan has an extremely fragile political, economic and social situation, with a large part of the population in need of health care. The situation has worsened following the heavy fighting that began in April 2023. Faced with a very weak healthcare system and a general shortage of qualified personnel, it is a priority to invest in the training of local staff and thus contribute to the provision of quality care.

The project “Clinical and Management Education – Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, Khartoum, Sudan” located in the Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery in Khartoum, Sudan, EMERGENCY intends to generate medium and long-term benefits for the country’s entire health system, by improving the specialised training offered to nursing staff and developing new training programmes integrated with the national training systems.

 

General Objective

ARC’s research team was involved to carry out the final evaluation of the project through two working components. The first component was the evaluation by investigating the OECD-DAC criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the project activities. The second component was the evaluation of the project’s social impact through the lens of the SROI – social return on investment – methodology.

 

Our cotribution

For the first component of the evaluation, Researchers  focused on the analysis of the project documents followed by interviews with EMERGENCY’s staff. The objective was in fact to define (i) the relevance of the project actions with respect to the context of intervention and for the target beneficiaries, (ii) the consistency of the intervention with other projects and initiatives active in the area of reference, (iii) the effectiveness in achieving the expected results and the identified objectives, (iv) the efficiency ensured in the implementation of the activities and (v) the sustainability of the results obtained.

A special attention was paid to the phenomenon of migration of health personnel, which has been observed in the context of the intervention. A substantial proportion of trained medical and health personnel decide to leave their country to seek work abroad. Official data regarding this phenomenon are extremely fragmented. The Sudanese Medical Specialisation Board  indicates as main destination of Sudanese medical personnel the Gulf countries, and in particular Saudi Arabia. In 2018, the Sudanese Ministry of Health estimated that 60% of medical personnel were employed abroad. Despite the strong impact on the national health system, no effective interventions have been identified and/or implemented.

The SROI (Social Return on Investment) methodology was used to carry out the second component of the social impact evaluation  work. The evaluation thus focused on the analysis, identification and measurement of the changes generated in the medium to long term with reference to all the main stakeholders involved directly or indirectly by the training activities.

The SROI methodology adopted involved the application of an input-output-impact model and the direct involvement of key project stakeholders. The analysis then made it possible to provide EMERGENCY with analytical elements that were useful for reflecting on the outcomes of the activities carried out and on the efficiency in the use of the resources invested.

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