Raising consciousness (MCNV)

Raising consciousness and looking at the bigger picture

Since 2003, the Medisch Comité Nederland-Vietnam (Medical Committee Netherlands-Vietnam, MCNV) has undergone many organisational changes as a result of substantial growth of the programmes in Vietnam and Laos. Policy staff member and programme advisor Veronique Ehlen was closely involved. ‘We have become more conscious of organisational development and various aspects of capacity building.’

The MCNV reinforces local structures in Vietnam and Laos which makes local authorities able to create good healthcare for all groups in society. ‘Healthcare has always been our foundation. But we also work on poverty eradication and administrative participation so that local communities can set their own priorities for their development processes,’ explains Veronique Ehlen.

The decisive change

Around 2003, structural reinforcement primarily took place through training sessions and workshops. The MCNV called it technical capacity building. Ehlen: ‘We concentrated on individual and operational capacity building. Think, for example of doctors being provided with management courses. From 2003 onwards, we made a decisive change. We structurally started looking at the bigger picture; at all levels of capacity development.’

This meant that our attention shifted from human resources development to organisational development. Ehlen explains: ‘What is an organisation capable of? Where does its added value lie? How can MCNV help its partner organisations to discover this? This rapidly leads to institutional development: what is the organisation's role in the wider social playing field? How can we widen that playing field and involve as many actors as possible? The MCNV has not only made that decisive change, but is also increasingly conscious of the various levels of capacity development and organisational reinforcement.’

Interaction

Partner organisations' capacity building also influences the MCNV itself. According to Ehlen it constitutes interaction: ‘Over the past five years, we have undergone enormous growth in Vietnam. That growth also has to be supervised within our own organisation. The knowledge centre and PSO's learning processes helped us to examine capacity building in a structured manner.’

The MCNV also acquired the necessary experience with external consultants who helped with policy development processes and with embedding all the changes in the organisation.

Disabled People’s Organisation

Have the quality improvements led to concrete results? ‘Definitely’, says Ehlen. ‘We are very proud of the development of the Disabled People’s Organisation. Originally, this organisation consisted of War Heroes, former soldiers who had become handicapped during the war. In Vietnam, a tightly organised Socialist country, these veterans have a certain status. Slowly, but surely however, younger handicapped people also started joining. The organisation received input from various levels in society. We supervised the organisation in cooperation with the government during this process of Civil Society Development. We sent staff to management courses and ensured that the organisation started undertaking income generating activities, for example.’

The Vietnamese government has seen that these developments have advantages. After all, the Disabled People’s Organisation can now indicate what it needs, independently arrange matters and look after the interests of the handicapped.

Community Health Training and Consultancy Network

Another example Ehlen mentions is the Community Health Training and Consultancy Network (CHTCN). This group has ties with the medical faculty of the Vietnam National University in Hanoi and has experience with and can be used for the supervision of healthcare programmes. Think, for example, of the development and financing of and the provision of access to healthcare.

‘CHTCN is a MCNV partner. It is a local organisation that has grown and strengthened so much in recent years that it can now manage its programmes and itself independently. The organisation has managed to find its way to the top within Vietnam's existing systems. It is recognised by the national government. The staff have positions at the faculty or at the Ministry of Health. It is a network which harbours a great deal of expertise, which enables other sectors to be involved. It constitutes an interesting example of institutional development’, concludes Ehlen.