From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
To boost health delivery in the country, the Governance Innovation Accelerator, Ekiti team, has won the technical support for Health Solutions from a leading American university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Governance Lab (MIT GOV/LAB).
The Ekiti State government had partnered MIT/GOVLAB, to launch the Governance Innovation Lifecycle Challenge and Accelerator in December last year.
Two teams of the state’s civil servants in the ministry of health were brought together to develop innovation driven solutions to solve problems in the health sector.
The six months program birthed technology driven solutions to improve health service delivery in Ekiti State, specifically in health security, quality of care, epidemiology as well as surveillance issues in Ekiti state.
Ekiti State Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr. Oyebanji Filani, while addressing Journalists in a statement, said that Innovation Framework, GIF, is a process that public sector organisations must adopt to accelerate delivery service and advance innovative solutions in Ekiti state.
Filani, while noting that civil servants are the drivers of policy implementation in the public sector, advocated for intensive training in a bid to improve their approach to public issues.
He said: “The Innovation Framework (GIF) is a process that public sector organisations like the Ministry of Health can use to improve processes in the public system. This will enable us to birth and sustain innovative solutions that respond to the needs of Ekiti people and improve service delivery.
“Civil servants are the drivers of policy implementation in the public sector and they have great potential to improve the way they solve problems, if given the opportunity and trained accordingly. Our aim is to build the capacity of our civil servants because they are there for the long haul.”
Speaking earlier, the Associate Director of Innovation at MIT GOV/LAB, Carlos Centeno, said: “the Qualicare team who won the challenge will receive full funding and technological support to implement their solution, certificate of accelerator completion from MIT GOV/LAB, and an opportunity to present their solutions to other development organizations in Boston USA..
On her part, the Lead Design for Health at Co-Creation Hub, Dr. Temi Filani, pledged that it would continue to advance innovations to improve the health of Ekiti people and Nigeria at large.