A collaboration for lasting change

At Kupona, we are committed to finding creative, high impact solutions to the challenges facing CCBRT as they continue to strengthen their reputation as an expert provider of quality healthcare in Tanzania. We tap expertise across sectors, calling on innovative minds to share their knowledge and help us to build scalable solutions, all to ensure the longevity of CCBRT’s impact on the ground. Our recent project with a Strategic Management Research (SMR) team from UCLA Anderson School of Management, facilitated through support from Johnson & Johnson, highlights how Kupona unlocks access to a network of experienced, multi-disciplinary talent in the United States. This type of collaboration connects CCBRT to cutting-edge thinking, opportunities for partnership and innovative approaches that would be challenging to reach as a local Tanzanian NGO.

From Left to Right: Abbey Kocan (Kupona), Matt Mather, Derek Herrera, Chris Mora, Kim Hoang, Anastasia Melis (CCBRT), Heidi Pease

A severe shortage of skilled professionals
The need for high quality medical and managerial training in Tanzania is undeniable. There is a shortage of skilled professionals able to meet the healthcare needs of a growing population, and there is currently no established program of Continuing Medical Education for licensed medical professionals in the country. In the coming years, CCBRT will face a steep increase in internal training requirements with the recruitment of new staff for the CCBRT Maternity and Newborn Hospital. New staff will need to complete pre-employment training and credentialing, and be equipped to provide high quality care.

In the face of internal and external training gaps, CCBRT identified the need for a Training Center in Dar es Salaam. The vision is to establish a Training Center to equip healthcare and managerial professionals across the region with the skills they need to deliver high quality medical care. By addressing both internal and external training needs, CCBRT’s Training Center will improve operational excellence, patient care and outcomes throughout the entire organization, and provide a central location to support healthcare provider training across the East African region.

As planning for the Training Center gained momentum, it became clear that CCBRT needed to develop a strategic business plan if they were going to realize this vision and operate the Training Center in a sustainable manner. Given CCBRT’s limited internal capacity to conduct the necessary research and analysis, Kupona Foundation engaged the support of one of the top Executive MBA programs in the United States.

“The objective of the CCBRT Training Center project was to develop a strategic business plan that would empower CCBRT to plan for and eventually operate a high quality, high impact training center in a sustainable manner. The UCLA SMR team demonstrated their dedication to help us meet our objective from the beginning, when CCBRT’s Training Center project leader from Tanzania and I joined them in California for the project launch.”
Abbey Kocan, Executive Director, Kupona Foundation

Leading the way
Funded by Kupona’s longstanding partner Johnson & Johnson, a team of five Executive MBA students from UCLA travelled to CCBRT in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in March 2015. Over the course of their project, the team travelled over 100,000 miles collectively, covering three continents and four countries. They completed over 300 hours of research, attended multiple development and global healthcare conferences, and conducted over 70 interviews with CCBRT’s patients, medical and management teams, global educators, government officials, and other non-profits. The team identified gaps and growth opportunities, conducted extensive market research and analysis, developed a working financial model to test several scenarios for sustainable operating models, and identified potential future international partnerships. The project highlighted the opportunity for CCBRT to become a recognized leader of quality training programs in the region of East Africa.

“Over the course of our two week visit to Tanzania and Kenya in March, we witnessed for ourselves the need for increased access to medical care and the vital role that CCBRT plays in the region.  We realized that the smallest of contributions and changes can have the biggest impact there.”
Matt Mather, UCLA Anderson School of Management Executive MBA ’15, Strategic Management Research consultancy team member

Turning challenges into opportunities
CCBRT is faced with a dynamic, fluctuating field of challenges, with the shortage of skilled professionals in country being one of the most critical risks facing the organization. As CCBRT’s sister organization in the United States, Kupona can help establish innovative partnerships and apply creative thinking, turning those challenges into opportunities for growth and long-term change across the region. Kupona would like to express gratitude to the UCLA team for their dedicated efforts and exceptional work, which provided a foundation for planning and establishing a sustainable Training Center, and is helping CCBRT continue to improve access to quality healthcare in the region by addressing the critical skilled human resources gap through training.

Kupona and Direct Relief

Enabling access to high quality healthcare is the driving force behind everything we do at Kupona Foundation. Our sister organization, CCBRT, has a 20-year legacy of providing exemplary care for people with disabilities in Tanzania and has a strong reputation for quality services in the Tanzanian community. Safeguarding this quality is vital, not only to the lives of patients, but for the continued success of the entire organization.

Photo credit: Dieter Telemans

Kupona is, therefore, delighted to announce a new partnership with Direct Relief, facilitating vital equipment and systems upgrades to CCBRT’s operating theaters. This investment will allow CCBRT to continue to provide high quality surgical care for thousands of patients with correctable impairments every year, including 550 fistula patients expected to receive care in 2015. Upgraded equipment will also enable CCBRT to provide better training opportunities for surgeons from across the continent.

“We are, of course, very excited that Direct Relief has committed funding for these vital systems and equipment upgrades. But this partnership doesn’t begin and end with a financial contribution. Direct Relief has vast experience in supporting healthcare providers in developing countries, and a well respected in-kind donation program for essential medicines and supplies, which we expect to begin soon. I’m particularly encouraged by the potential that this partnership has to make a significant contribution to the development of the CCBRT Maternity and Newborn Hospital as we enter the final phase of construction and focus upon detailed plans for opening and managing the new facility.”
– Abbey Kocan, Executive Director, Kupona Foundation

Direct Relief is a California-based non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health and lives of people affected by poverty or emergency situations by mobilizing and providing essential medical resources needed for their care. They are the latest member of Kupona’s ecosystem of donors, doctors, academic institutions and partners who convene to support CCBRT as they build a brighter future for children, families, and communities for generations to come.