Kisiizi Health Cooperative is the most successful health community scheme in Uganda. The health cooperative has been in existence for 25 years and serves more than 43,000 people in 7 districts of Uganda. There are many factors that have been critical to this success including; community involvement, affordable premiums and a committed leadership team.
The leadership of the scheme is an executive committee of 9 members. They meet on a quarterly basis to discuss ways to improve the scheme. The committee has a chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary, treasurer and other members. The committee is the voice of the community to the hospital. They make sure that their members are receiving the best health service.
The executive committee is also key for mobilization. They mobilize their communities to keep part of the scheme. The executive committee plays an intermediary role between the hospital service provider and the community. For instance; if the hospital wants to change pricing, they discuss this with the executive committee which later transfers this information to the communities.
A Wide Gallery
The executive committee works with 2 other sub-committees; The supervisory committee and the vetting committee. The supervisory committee audits and keeps the executive committee in check. The supervisory committee is comprised of 3 members. The other sub-committee is the vetting committee which makes sure that any member being considered for a leadership position at the executive and the supervisory committees are good community members with high integrity. The supervisory committee also comprises of 3 members.
Power balance
One of the most important things to keep in check is the power balance between the hospital and the community. This must be managed well. Both the hospital and community play important and unique roles in a health cooperative. The hospital sometimes has an upper hand being the provider of healthcare service. However, the hospital must use its power in a balanced manner, always ensuring that the communities served are well represented and are involved in all key decisions of the health cooperative.
Voluntary in nature
The most beautiful thing about the leadership team is the voluntary nature. All the work done by the committee is done by volunteers who are not paid for the work they do. It is “Ubuntu” in practice.
For more than 25 years, the scheme has been led by community volunteers. These volunteers avail their resources including time, money and expertise to ensure that the whole community has access to affordable healthcare services. Unfortunately, voluntarism is a spirit that is dying out especially with the new generations. For a successful community strategy, we need volunteer leaders who will embrace the spirit of Ubuntu.
Last modified: October 30, 2023
