MLI's Leadership Approach

MLI was designed as a demand-driven, country-led leadership development initiative. As such, MLI countries were competitively selected based on technical proposals they submitted. Technical workplans to address country-identified priorities with regard to health financing for equity, donor harmonization and reproductive health have been defined. For specific information about the technical work taking place in each MLI country, visit the MLI country pages.

MLI’s country support includes practice-based leadership development, aimed at increasing effectiveness in real-time and on-the-ground activities for individuals in positions of authority and responsibility for health policy reform and implementation. MLI seeks to enhance leadership capacities and skills in such areas as:

• Building political strategic positioning skills to advance policy reform both within the health ministry and between other government entities.
• Increasing analytic skills to assess various dimensions of potential reform efforts
• Translating evidence into advocacy to advance policy reform
• Enhancing negotiation skills in order to advance reform
• Improving systems for accountability to ensure that policies are effectively implemented
• Enhancing organizational development skills to build stronger ministerial teams

The MLI5

The five MLI countries, Ethiopia, Mali, Nepal, Senegal and Sierra Leone, often referred to as the “MLI5,” together form a cohort of high-level national health officials.  As part of a learning collaborative network, senior level representatives from the MLI5 work to improve their leadership capacity and advance health policy reform in each of their countries.  In order to encourage and strengthen the MLI5, minister and senior staff will have opportunities to come together and share their experiences, discuss challenges they face and potential solutions, and develop supportive relationships with one another. These relationships will be cultivated through technical sessions and informal meetings as well as peer sharing opportunities including: multi-country collaborative learning forums, specialized study tours, in-country workshops, and attendance and participation in global meetings.