As a collaboration between multi-sector partners, including the private sector, NGOs, donors, academia, and Ministries of Health (MoHs), the Aspen Management Partnership for Health (AMP Health) addresses the root causes of sub-optimal health services at the community level. Working with countries that have a bold vision for their community health systems, the partnership provides a menu of support to MoHs to strengthen management and leadership capacity. Through the AMP Health platform, partners actively problem-solve a range of real-time community health systems challenges and collaborate with local and global experts bringing together cross-sector perspectives and implementing solutions.

The specific Menu of Support that AMP Health offers to the MoH teams consists of six elements:1. Placement of Management Partners (MP) to provide on-the-job application of private sector management tools to real time problems. MPs are mid-career professionals with experience in the private sector and/or health care that are embedded within ministries of health, most often in community health units. 2. On-line training and education for real-time support and problem solving across a range of leadership and management and community health subject areas. Virtual tools and forums will allow AMP Health countries to share and interact with other practitioners interested in community health issues and the challenges of leadership and management in ministries of health.3. Access to a network of mentors. The mentor network, which will be tailored to needs and challenges of the ministry of health, will consist of proven and experienced country-based leaders who share an interest in improving health care systems and who can advise the ministry of health on innovative ways of leading and managing community health programs. The mentor network will consist of a both private sector and former senior ministry of health officials. 4. Twice yearly “Leadership Lab” convenings among the AMP Health MoH and MP teams to learn about leadership and management skills in a focused manner. These 3 day convenings will include facilitated leadership exercises, Harvard Business School-style case studies focused on leadership and management for health, and sharing and collaboration across AMP Health countries. We anticipate these Leadership Labs to also be an opportunity to track the MoH individuals’ progress as it relates to improved leadership and management skills development. 5. Regular convenings with MoH peers from other countries and global thought leaders to share experiences in community health program management and delivery. AMP Health will use these convenings, in part, as a venue to shine a light on the important gaps in good management in MoH, and identify tangible ways that AMP Health countries can address these gaps and help other countries improve their own management capacity. This focus on South-South teaching and learning is an important aspect of AMP Health’s strategy. 6. Targeted technical support. AMP Health will also provide demand-driven support to the MoH team as needs arise during the partnership, for example by providing and connecting the team to planning and strategy tools, consulting services, and relevant analytics.

At its core, AMP Health is about capacity building (see "Implementation" components above). Tapping into AMP Health partner resources and the MoH leadership with whom we work, AMP Health provides exposure of the importance of building management skills of mid-level managers in MoHs as well as effective community health models and systems. We will share these challenges, successes, and lessons-learned via the AMP Health network (i.e. Leadership Labs, regular convenings) and externally through high-profile roundtable and panel discussions, op-ed pieces and case studies, and wide dissemination of AMP Health reports. A complete knowledge management system (tied directly to a monitoring and evaluation program) is being developed with a focus on:1. Leadership and Management driven by the needs of our MoH and MP participants. Programming will be grounded in the priorities and challenges arising from their work and focused on building management and leadership capacity to drive impact on CHW systems in both the MoH team and Management Partners. The focus will include developing and sharing best practices around Systems, Teams, and Self: a) Systems - Drive systems change in complex environments, b) Team - Lead and manage by inspiring and elevating teams, and c) Self - Evolve personally to meet the needs of their systems and teams. This programming draws heavily from resources and best practices of our corporate partners.2. Effectiveness of national community health units. Best practices in effective community health systems vary from country to country and region to region. AMP Health, through our network of countries and partners, will be an effective platform for documenting and sharing these best practices in community health. Leveraging USAID's recently launched "Community Health Framework", AMP Health will begin collecting and disseminating effective community health models both internally across AMP Health partners and countries, but also externally.

The program is being implemented by the Aspen Institute, an organization with significant experience in capacity-building programs (for example, the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health). This leadership team provides oversight and day-to-day management of all aspects of programming at both global and country-levels. Members of the Partnership Board provide strategic guidance on major programmatic and financial decisions including country expansion, program strategy, new partnerships, and knowledge capture and dissemination. At the country-level, AMP Health adds capacity to MoHs directly by placing top-tier professionals (“Management Partners”) with private sector and management experience to work in close partnership with MoH staff on pre-identified, high priority community health projects. AMP Health works with the Director and Community Health teams over a period of 2-5 years, with clearly defined project deliverables and measures of success.

Funding Partners (to date): The Aspen Institute, USAID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), Merck, Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, and the MDG Health Alliance. In-Kind/Thought Partners/Advisory Network (to date): Ministries of Health (see countries below), Partners in Health (University of Global Health Equity), Living Goods, Last Mile Health, UNICEF, McCann Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Novartis, and Novo Nordisk. Note, we are in the early stages of expansion so expect partnership to grow.