Assessment of World Health Organization Collaborating Centres in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

ABSTRACT

Following in-house training, there was a need for assessing perceived performance of World Health Organization [WHO] collaborating centres in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, with special relevance to WHO's programme of work. Thus, a questionnaire was shared with responsible officers covering selection process, frequency of communication, monitoring mechanisms, key delivered activities, and identified gaps during implementation. These included tendency to implement regular activities, weak technical capacity and communication, and discrepancies between planned activities and actual implementation. Recommendations for centres included establishing communication plan/modalities, selecting activities of global/regional nature, and mobilizing resources for work plan implementation. Recommendations for responsible officers included carefully explaining updated WHO rules and regulations; ensuring that specific terms of reference are set as per WHO's global/regional mandates; setting up regular communication mechanisms; agreeing on regular monitoring and coordination modalities; and ensuring that redesignation planning takes place during the 4th year of prior designation period