Evaluation of Malawi's Emergency Human Resources Programme

Management Sciences for Health
Table 3. Focus Group Discussions
Focus group topic Target Group Purpose
Financial incentives for new and
returning staff
Financial incentives for current
staff
Expanded training capacity
Student perceptions of school
fees, bonding and commitment to
Malawi health sector
Role of international volunteers
Overall impact of EHRP on
health services
People who had re-entered
or have remained (after
retirement) in the
government and/or CHAM
health services.
62 people participated
Sample of various cadres
of health workers, from all
zones, currently in the
Government and/or
CHAM health services
77 people participated
Faculty and administrators
at health training
institutions
15 people participated
Students in their final year
of school at health training
institutions
56 people participated
International volunteers
recruited by UNDP
30 people participated
DHOs, Hospital Directors,
Heads of Health Facilities
at MOH and CHAM
27 people participated
To examine the impact of
financial incentives on
recruitment of new staff
To examine the impact of
financial incentives on retention
of current staff
To examine how innovative
Programmes increased intake
and output of students
To determine views on student
fees, bonding and commitment
to Malawi health sector
To examine the impact of
international volunteers in the
short term
To solicit information regarding
the impact of the EHRP on staff
retention, recruitment, vacancies,
and utilisation of health services
2. Key Informant Interviews. As some objectives of the EHRP did not lend themselves
to traditional focus groups, the MSH/MSC team identified a number of key informants
based on their relevance to several key objectives and their ability to take a long term view
of the EHRP. A set of questions was developed for each topic and used to interview the
key informants (see Table 4 on the following page). The interviews were recorded,
transcribed and used to inform the analysis for frequency of response to the various
themes. The findings from the key informant interviews are reported in the overall
evaluation and recommendations section of this evaluation. For the complete list of
informants, see Annex F.
EHRP Evaluation Final Report Page 18