Impact of the budget process on the performance of public health programs: A balanced scorecard assessment of Thyolo District Health Office in Malawi
| dc.contributor.author | Chibowa, Henry Jr | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-07-20T10:02:53Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-07-20T10:02:53Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-06-06 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This is a retrospective descriptive case study. The problem Implementation of the Decentralisation Policy in Malawi has delegated a lot of responsibility and funds for public health programs to the District Health Office (DHO). To produce the performance the country has envisioned. there is need to develop ways to ensure districts effectively utilise these resources. There exist several management tools for managing organisational performance. Of these tools, the budget is the only management tool that can directly link an organisation’s funding utilisation with its performance. Studying the budgeting practices of organisations and how they affect performance thus provides valuable insights into how organisations can use this tool to optimise their performance. Indeed, studies in private for-profit companies have demonstrated relationships between the three budget processes of negotiation, approval, and implementation, with organisational performance. However, very few such studies have been done in the public sector, let alone in the public health sector in developing countries. As such, it is imperative to study how the budgeting practices affect the performance of public health programs. Study Objectives The main objective of the study is to assess the effect of the budget process on the performance of public health programs at Thyolo District Health Office. in the 2020/2021 financial year. The specific objectives are the following: • To assess the effect of budget negotiation on public health program performance at Thyolo District Health Office. in the 2020/2021 financial year. • To assess examine the effect of budget approval on public health program performance at Thyolo District Health Office in the 2020/2021 financial year. • To assess examine the effect of budget implementation on public health program performance at Thyolo District Health Office. in the 2020/2021 financial year. Methodology This is a retrospective descriptive case study. It will be carried out at Thyolo DHO. The study population comprises the 20 distinct public health programs that DHOs are currently mandated to manage in the decentralised era. Convenience sampling has been used to select 16 programs to be studied. These have been chosen because it is the reports of these programs that are readily available in the District Health Management Information System (DHIS2). Program performance data will be collected from the DHIS2 system using forms. Data on budget processes will be obtained through interviews with the respective District Program Coordinators using a structured questionnaire. The data will be analysed with SPSS. To make inferences, regression analysis with Pearson’s correlation coefficients will be used to determine the significance of the relationship between the budget processes (independent variables) and the performance of public health programs(dependent variable) at Thyolo DHO. Judgement of significance will be made at 95% level (p<0.5). Expected Findings It is expected that the study will demonstrate the nature of the relationship between budget processes and the performance of public health programs at Thyolo DHO. This knowledge will provide insight into what best practices DHOs can employ to use the available funds effectively. Dissemination The results will be disseminated to Thyolo DHO, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Local Government, the College of Medicine Research Ethics Committee (COMREC), and the wider scientific community. Dissemination will be through meetings, sharing of research report and publication of findings in a journal. | en_US |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Self funded | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://rscarchive.kuhes.ac.mw/handle/20.500.12988/1034 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Kamuzu University of Health Sciences | en_US |
| dc.relation.ispartofseries | Ethics Approval;P.01/22/3545 | |
| dc.subject | Effect of budgeting on public health programs | en_US |
| dc.title | Impact of the budget process on the performance of public health programs: A balanced scorecard assessment of Thyolo District Health Office in Malawi | en_US |
| dc.type | Plan or blueprint | en_US |