Leadership Incubation Program for Health

(2019 – Present)

The Gates Foundation awarded AIHA a second capacity development project in 2019 to support the development of a cadre of public health leaders fully capable of supporting the strategies and objectives of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) as the government strives to develop a strong, fit-for-purpose health system to meet the needs of its citizens.

The Leadership Incubation Program for Health (LIP-H) worked to develop future leaders in public health and provide opportunities for them to make significant contributions to the health sector at all levels of leadership. The program recruited, developed, and nurtured young professionals who display exceptional commitment and passion for the health of the population and who demonstrate health sector leadership potential.

As of April 2025, 282 Ethiopian health professionals completed the six-month-long LIP-H training program – 145 women and 137 men.

Context and Background

Ethiopia faces a high disease burden with high morbidity and mortality rates often attributed to preventable infectious diseases and nutritional deficiencies. Ethiopia’s FMOH is best positioned to respond to these challenges and seeks to promote the health and well-being of all of its citizens by providing, promoting, and regulating a comprehensive package of high-quality and equitable preventive, curative, and rehabilitative health services. However, providing these services effectively is not only a technical matter; it also requires good management and leadership from the government and at facilities throughout the health system.

The Health Sector Transformation Plan (HSTP) Mid-term Review conducted in December 2018 recommended leadership, management, and governance capacity-building efforts to address critical gaps in the health sector, explicitly calling out areas in need of improvement, including:

Former LIP-H graduates participate in a panel discussion at the April 2025 graduation of Cohort 7, sharing insights into their leadership journeys and reflecting on how the LIP-H program contributed to their personal and professional growth.

Inadequate capacity to implement a decentralized health system;
Low utilization of health services;
Lack of follow-up on the implementation of policies and guidelines;
Insufficient application of standards and protocols; and
Poor coordination of public-private partnerships in health.

To address these issues, the FMOH must be able to rely on its greatest asset – its people – to plan, guide, develop, and implement needs-driven national health programs and initiatives. Ministry staff must excel not only in public health, but also in thinking and acting as true leaders and visionaries for their country’s complex health system. Specifically, critical skills in leadership, communications, and management need to be strengthened to empower personnel to emerge as FOMH leaders, which is imperative to the national effort to promote the health and well-being of all Ethiopians.

The Project

With support from the Gates Foundation and based on a proposal developed by AIHA, Ethiopia’s FMOH launched the LIP-H in 2019 to help meet the health sector’s leadership challenge. This project was co-managed by AIHA, the Human Resource Development Directorate of the FMOH, and the International Institute for Primary Health Care – Ethiopia (IPHC-E).

Project Design and Implementation

The LIP-H project supported the FMOH, its agencies, and Regional Health Bureau (RHB) staff by developing a cadre of highly trained public health leaders at all levels of Ethiopia’s health sector, so that they can equitably deliver quality health services to improve health outcomes. LIP-H training is a competency-based, six-month in-service program whose participants are professionals currently working in the health sector or health science education graduate interns who aspire to work in public health leadership, program management, or supervisory roles. Participants are also early-career professionals who are looking to prepare themselves for higher-level leadership roles. This includes experienced case team leaders or early career supervisory or management staff with little to no experience in program leadership or management. AIHA’s LIP-H provided leadership training and experience to ensure participants become more competent in these areas.

In a concerted effort to empower women in the health sector, AIHA and our local partners conducted advocacy workshops in Afar, Bahir Dar, Benishangul Gumuz, Dire Dawa, Gambella, Hawassa, and Jigjiga to encourage and motivate female health workers and women working at RHBs in these regions to apply for LIP-H training. By the conclusion of the program in April 2025, more than 50 percent of all graduates were women.

AIHA managed a competitive recruitment and selection process for LIP-H trainees, who were drawn from various healthcare institutions – particularly the FMOH, RHBs, and its agencies from both Addis Ababa and the regions. In close collaboration with the FMOH, IPHC-E, and other key stakeholders, AIHA assembled a team of dedicated trainers and coaches representing multiple sectors and fully capable of supporting LIP-H trainees and unlocking their leadership potential through a blended learning approach that combined traditional classroom learning with individual mentoring, coaching, and experiential learning opportunities.

The project armed trainees with leadership skills in areas such as planning, implementation, management, and evaluation through specialized hands-on training and mentorship. LIP-H trainees were also assigned to a ﬁeld site where they were provided opportunities to develop competencies as skilled program leaders and provide services that will improve public health.

In addition to meaningful and challenging on-the-job activities, the LIP-H provided formal instructor-led didactic training with a focused and short block course of 4-5 days maximum. Knowledge and capacities were further strengthened and expanded through hands-on developmental activities that enable LIP-H trainees to learn and practice leadership and public health problem solving skills. The curriculum is interdisciplinary and applicable to as many participants as possible. The training includes essential and universal leadership skills such as conﬂict management, negotiation, customer service, time management, as well as strategies to develop interpersonal skills.

A strategic problem-solving course was also provided, which involves identifying an existing problem in a real-world setting and applying learned skills and methods to develop solutions that address public health issues. The fellows chose topics related to their current work in a group, designed capstone projects, and proposed solutions that could be implemented at their respective institutions. Click here to read more about one example of a successful capstone project that culminated in the opening of the Oromia Health Bureau Staff Clinic in Addis Ababa.

Celebrating the opening of the Oromia Health Bureau Staff Clinic.

Emphasis was also placed on developing competence in program and operations planning, program management and evaluation, oral and written communication, team building, negotiation, ethical consideration, emotional intelligence, and conflict resolution.

During their training period, the responsibilities of the fellows included designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating programs, supervising staff, establishing and maintaining community partnerships, managing timelines and project work plans, or other public health-related duties as assigned. Individual assignments and opportunities were made available either at their primary training site or elsewhere to provide accelerated on-the-job learning.

Graduating from the LIP-H program signifies that the trainee has gained extensive experience in public health leadership and developed both the management and leadership competencies needed to serve as an effective public health leader in Ethiopia and beyond. Graduates of the program are expected to contribute to improved health planning, management, and, ultimately, outcomes.

Project Accomplishments

Minister of Health Dr. Mekdes Daba at the April 2025 graduation of LIP-H Cohort 7.

The LIP-H project enjoyed a very high profile in Ethiopia and the FMOH declared that it would prioritize LIP-H graduates for leadership positions before considering other individuals for open or newly created posts. This declaration was based on the changes observed and commented on by health sector directors who supervised the graduates. Directors commented on the positive attitude and aptitude changes of LIP-H trainees, with particular accolades related to performance improvement, time management, enthusiasm for their work, professional presentations, and communication skills. As a true testament to the importance and success of the project, graduation ceremonies were attended by prominent leaders from the FMOH, including the Minister of Health.

A total of seven cohorts – 282 people in all – were graduated from the LIP-H program as described below:

Cohort 1 (Nov. 2019 – Jul. 2020) graduated 23 trainees, including 15 women
Cohort 2 (Oct. 2020 – Aug. 2021) graduated 298 trainees, including 8 women
Cohort 3 (Oct. 2021 – May 2022) graduated 30 trainees, including 17 women; click here to read the booklet distributed to participants at the graduation ceremony
Cohort 4 (Jul. 2022 – Nov. 2022) graduated 49 trainees, including 20 women
Cohort 5 (Mar. 2023 – Dec. 2023) graduated 38 trainees, including 22 women
Cohort 6 (Aug. 2023 – Apr. 2024) graduated 57 trainees, including 29 women
Cohort 7 (Jun. 2024 – Feb. 2025) graduated 57 trainees, including 34 women

Expanding the Pool of Ethiopian LIP-H Trainers to Foster Sustainability

In April 2024, AIHA – in collaboration with the FMOH and IPHC-E – conducted a Training of Trainers (TOT) course attended by 20 alumni of our Leadership Incubation Program for Health (LIP-H). “The goal of the TOT training was to expand the pool of LIP-H trainers, ensuring its sustainability,” said Nurhan Mawi, LIP-H Program Coordinator, FMOH / IPHC-E. “AIHA has been supporting the the program technically and financially, from recruiting candidates to setting an innovative training agenda.” As Mawi explained, the TOT was designed to develop a cadre of local trainers capable of delivering LIP-H training as a way to ensure the sustainability of the program. To this end, the training focused on facilitation skills and mastery of the relevant contents of each module. Trainees also had the opportunity to facilitate a session using appropriate and innovative adult learning methods and received feedback on their performance from their trainers and colleagues alike. At the end of the course, the trainees were able to articulate the essential leadership concepts in all the modules, discuss the various training methods and techniques of facilitation, and demonstrate effective facilitation techniques.

Click here to read about project milestone activities in October 2024.

Click here to read about the April 2025 graduation of Cohort 7 of the LIP-H; the text of speeches given at the event by trainees Duresa Endalew and Dr. Haregewoine Amare are also available to read.

Selected LIP-H graduates shared their thoughts on the training program, networking events, and the TOT course; click here to read what they had to say.

You can also click here to watch a video highlighting what graduates learned through the program and how it is helping them in their day-to-day work.

Graduates of the LIP presented their capstone projects at the International Conference on Primary Health Care Sept. 5-7, 2023 in Addis Ababa. Strong health systems require strong, forward-thinking public health leaders, and this program is helping train Ethiopia’s next generation.

Updated April 30, 2025