The Global Rehabilitation Leadership Institute in action: New alumnus applies learnings to inspire action and stimulate change

By Hanaa Ahsan, ReLAB-HS and Frank Manase, CCPmedicine

Following the completion of the third offering of the Global Rehabilitation Leadership Institute (GRLI) on July 26 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Dr. Frank Manase, a GRLI 2024 graduate and founder and current Chief Executive Officer of the Community Center for Preventive Medicine (CCPmedicine), put learnings from the training into practice. CCPmedicine is a non-profit organization based in Dar es Salaam committed to providing community-based social and health services. The main objective of CCPmedicine is preventing noncommunicable diseases while advocating for systems integration of rehabilitation, geriatrics, and palliative care.

Motivated by his recent completion of the GRLI, Dr. Manase led a two-day strategic meeting organized by CCPmedicine’s board of directors on August 9-10, 2024, in Dar es Salaam. The meeting aimed to improve CCPmedicine’s performance by reviewing the organizational vision, setting a goal and strategic objectives to achieve their goal, and reviewing the organization’s partnerships and collaborations. The meeting demonstrated the practical application of the leadership tools acquired during the GRLI, such as conducting an organizational situation analysis, root cause analysis, and stakeholder analysis. Participants refined CCPmedicine’s vision, formulated strategic objectives, and developed an organizational action plan. The meeting produced two key outcomes:

1. CCPmedicine and the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS)—collaborator for the GRLI 2024 offering—are now collaborating to formulate the Department of Rehabilitation at MUHAS, under Dr. Manase’s leadership as a newly appointed honorary lecturer at the university.
2. CCPmedicine and Ocean Road Cancer Institute (ORCI) are collaborating to influence policy on rehabilitation, geriatrics, and palliative care.

The collaboration between CCPmedicine and ORCI led to the following activities:

1. A high-level meeting engaging stakeholders from the private sector, public sector, Ministry of Health, and the World Health Organization (WHO) was held on August 23, 2024, to discuss national health and policy priorities in rehabilitation, geriatrics, and palliative care services.
2. CCPmedicine and ORCI supported the development of a resolution to form an alliance of organizations to advocate for and oversee the integration of rehabilitation, geriatrics, and palliative care services into Tanzanian health systems. CCPmedicine and ORCI will serve as co-chairs of this alliance.
3. CCPmedicine and ORCI formed a stakeholder technical working group (TWG) to harmonize activities implemented by national stakeholders working in rehabilitation, geriatrics, and palliative care. To date, the TWG has held three stakeholder meetings, and roles have been assigned to its members covering training, research, clinical placements, policy and regulations, workforce capacity building, and costing and finance.

Implementation of the GRLI in Tanzania has laid the foundation for rehabilitation to be prioritized on the local health agenda and has built national momentum for rehabilitation integration. The practical application of leadership tools by CCPmedicine demonstrates the importance of GRLI as a powerful resource in creating leaders and empowering individuals to drive improvements in organizational performance. As shown by Dr. Manase’s commitment and initiative, strengthening the skills of sector leaders and equipping them with the right tools has the potential to enhance workforce development and expand professional networks to foster partnerships that will drive the rehabilitation integration agenda forward.