Technical Report: South Africa Pharmaceutical Leadership Development Program

The Pharmaceutical Leadership Development Program (PLDP) is a participatory training program using innovative strategies to strengthen health care professionals’ leadership and management skills. Based on the framework behind Management Sciences for Health (MSH)’s Leadership Development Program, the PLDP was developed at the request of South Africa’s provincial heads of Pharmaceutical Services to strengthen pharmacy managers’ leadership capacities and target key pharmaceutical management challenges.

The PLDP is delivered in a series of five workshops over a period of six to seven months. As an integral part of the program, participants, who work at different levels of service delivery, develop quality-improvement projects aimed at addressing a key challenge experienced within their workplace. Participants bring what they learn back to their workplaces, where they teach and inspire their coworkers to apply these practices to real challenges in priority health system strengthening areas. PLDP coaches provide feedback and support throughout the process.

The technical report describes the approach to the design and implementation of the PLDP in South Africa. The report shares lessons learned and efforts taken for sustainability and ownership.