USAID/Nicaragua: Improving services in the social sector

Improving services in the social sector

OFFICIAL SPEARHEAD FOR PRONICASS PROJECT

With the support of the U.S. Government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the PRONICASS Project (Support Project for the Nicaraguan Social Sector) will help improve Nicaraguans’ health, education, and welfare by collaborating with the country’s social sector ministries in streamlining their administration, institutionalizing systems and norms, and in strengthening budget planning to maximize resources.

USAID’s $13.7 million PRONICASS project, implemented by Management Sciences for Health (MSH), provides assistance for formulating budgets based on results, acquisition information systems, and constant improvement in service quality. It will help institutionalize policies to expand citizen and private sector participation in health and educational systems.

The project, which began in September 2005 and concludes in September 2009, provides support to the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECD), Ministry of the Family, the Nicaraguan Institute of Social Security, the Nicasalud Network, the Profamilia helath clinics, the Department of the Treasury and Public Credit, and the Technical Secretariat of the Presidency.

This year and during 2007, the project will work in 32 municipalities, 200 health centers, and 85 primary schools in the departments of Boaco, Nueva Segovia, Matagalpa, Chinandega, and the Autonomous Region of the south Atlantic(RAAS. During the following two years, the program will expand nationwide.

RESULTS TO DATE

The project helped the Department of the Treasury and Public Credit develop a methodology to define intermediate and final results that were used for guiding all ministries in the preparation of their 2007 budgets.

At the end of last year, support for PRONICASS helped the Minsitry of the Family obtain approval of its Annual Operating Plan and thus qualify for the program of Institutional Strengthening financed by the Inter-American Development Bank BID).
PRONICASS helped re-organize the technical secretariat offices for health and education in the RAAS region.
Has assisted in the design of educational materials for primary-school teachers and students to cover the first trimester of the new curriculum.