WE ARE A NETWORK OF SOCIAL CHANGE AGENTS

Interview with CAHI Executive Director: Shivaugn Ahern

Shivaugn Ahern is the current Executive Director of CAHI, a position she comes to after serving as communications officer with an emphasis on fundraising. From her previous experience, her involvement with programs to improve public policies, the promotion of community participation in decision-making processes relevant to collective well-being stands out.

Ahern refers to having discovered many years ago his community vocation and in favor of human well-being, which is evidenced by the commitment he shows in his work within CAHI and is clearly expressed throughout the interview that was carried out in Costa Rica, during the Second Module of the 6th generation of CAHI Fellows.

Interviewer: What led you to connect with CAHI? shivaugn: I am a lawyer, with studies in public policy. Although I went to law school, I never really wanted to litigate, I wanted to work with the community, to make sure that everyone is heard, to allow the exchange of different points of view, that diverse actors and interests are well represented when decisions are made. .

After law school, I had the opportunity to work in a consulting company for several years, doing work promoting the participation of interest groups in various topics. I got involved in a project in Australia, visiting various communities and trying to understand how certain decisions were made in their context, around the management of limited resources such as water. Those experiences around connecting with people and groups, to address such relevant issues and involve them in decision-making processes, forged my perspective on equity and justice in the sphere of public policy.

Then, about 8 years ago, I participated in an executive education program on leadership offered by North Carolina State University. I was part of a cohort of 20 scholarship professionals, all related to agriculture, in my case as representing the voice of the community for sustainable agriculture. That was a deeply transformative experience for me.

So when I learned about CAHI and their fellowship program, I realized that they were offering a similar experience in leadership development, but in the context of health, and that piqued my interest. My previous experience in the development of leadership skills and how significant that experience was for my life, deeply motivated me to work with strength and commitment in this CAHI Fellows program. I want to make sure that this opportunity is available to the leaders of Central America, to those who are working hard to improve health in their countries.

Interviewer: What is CAHI and what is its mission? shivaugn: CAHI – Central American Healthcare Initiative, was founded in 2012 with the mission of developing, supporting and promoting innovation, effectiveness and efficiency in the area of ​​health. The vision is that all people in Central America, regardless of where they live or what their socioeconomic status is, have access to quality health.

This is a big mission that involves a lot of work, so CAHI cannot do it alone as a non-profit organization. Our operating model implies working in partnership with all sectors: public, private and organized civil society; In addition, support health professionals and other related areas, to develop projects, with the vision that we are not only looking for the absence of disease, but also the approach of the multiple factors that influence the well-being of a family, a community and a country.

The work that CAHI carries out is centered on identifying leaders who are already committed and are implementing actions and innovations to improve access to health for people and communities in their countries. We identify those leaders and bring them together in this program called CAHI Fellows.

One of the things that we are passionate about about the program is that the barriers between different sectors are removed. In the same group we have people who work in public hospitals, private clinics, non-profit organizations or government institutions, all with the focus of improving access to health.

After five years of operation, we have a network of more than 100 leaders working in Central America, cooperating with each other to improve health services, prevent diseases and bring quality of life to the communities with which they are working.

Interviewer: What makes CAHI different from other similar programs? shivaugn: There are other programs that connect professionals and provide training to develop their leadership skills, especially in the business area. However, what makes our program unique is that we bring in leaders who are developing a specific project with the goal of influencing social well-being and improving health. CAHI Fellows' projects are tangible, something within their sphere of control, within which they have identified a problem they want to solve.

Within the program they establish relationships, become friends, some even verbalize feeling like a family, and with these bonds they develop better management skills and implement their projects.

CAHI Fellows is not just a network of leaders, it is a network of individuals who are generating real change, who are agents of social change in Central America and in the field of health.

Interviewer: What is CAHI's relationship with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals? shivaugn: The most obvious connection is in the work we do in favor of health and well-being, which corresponds to the third objective. We are committed to achieving improvements in health and that is the reason that motivates us to move forward.

Our vision is also to collaborate with the reduction of inequities, which is related to objective number ten. Our efforts are focused on increasing access to quality health services for all people in Central America, so that the work we do is guided by the values ​​of equity and solidarity, which we share with all our partners in the region. If we manage to advance in greater equity in health, we know that this will also have an effect on other aspects of social equity.

Finally, we are part of the efforts that are made to generate alliances in favor of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This is in the way we work, it is our DNA.

Interviewer: What do you think makes CAHI a social innovation? shivaugn: When we hear the word innovation, the first thing we think of is technology, but innovation can take many forms: innovation in public policies, in processes, in the type of organizations that we form.

Social innovation is currently a very attractive notion, we are all talking about it. We refer to innovations in all areas, but the distinctive element is the purpose of generating collective well-being.

A social innovation can take the form of a non-profit organization, a for-profit enterprise, it can also constitute an initiative within public institutions, or changes in government policies. The differentiating element is the focus on the common good.

Each one of the CAHI Fellows qualifies as a social innovator, because they are developing ideas and actions to generate social well-being. Some are entrepreneurs, others are part of NGOs, others are promoting changes in the public sector making it stronger and more efficient, but all are social innovators. Even we at CAHI are social innovators.

I feel that this is an ideal place to be, because this is the future, this is how society and business will continue to function, with a greater focus on social welfare that we are generating. Consumers are demanding it, but it is also an ethical imperative.

Interviewer: What is the impact of CAHI in the Region? shivaugn: At CAHI we do not have a centralized agenda nor do we decide on the necessary changes in the area of ​​health, because that changes according to each context. What we are doing is encouraging each leader who becomes a CAHI Fellow to identify himself, within his environment of influence, community or country. They are the ones who are setting the agenda for the necessary changes in the area of ​​health in each context. That is why we have a wide variety of initiatives and projects.

CAHI Fellows have reported to us that their personal and professional growth has been positively impacted by their participation in the Program. Many of them have reached positions of greater influence, in addition to gaining autonomy through their endeavors.

When we think of the impact with a broad vision, we can see that CAHI's reputation has been growing and that more people in the countries of Central America recognize the relevance of the work we are doing. Organizations, public institutions and leaders from all sectors express their interest in joining CAHI, participating in the program, so that they can improve their operations and the results they obtain with it.

Our CAHI Fellows are reaching positions of influence, by implementing what they learned during the program and in the development of their projects. As these years go by, they are able to implement the findings, learning and tools in new contexts, which generates a positive impact in their environments. In addition, there is an improvement in the management processes, with more committed and more efficient human teams in the operation of the institutions.

The vision I have today about the future is to generate a significant critical mass. In about 20 years, with more than 20 generations of CAHI Fellows, a movement of committed and high-level leadership will be generated, with the operation of important projects and efficient administration of public funds, a large number of alliances around the CAHI Network Fellows, to achieve significant improvements in the health system and with a significant impact on the quality of life of the population.

Interviewer: What is the immediate future of CAHI? shivaugn: This is what we call CAHI 2.0. In the next 5 years of operation we will continue with the CAHI Fellows Program, to train between 18 and 24 people each year. In addition, we will continue with our Annual Conference, which we usually hold in February, to bring together leaders and people interested in continuing to learn about health management in the region, including sharing learning with the CAHI Fellows Network. Next year (2020) the Conference will be in Guatemala.

Our greatest emphasis for this new stage is to support the CAHI Fellows Network in each country, in a more strategic way. In the rest of this year (2019) we will be launching CAHI Fellows committees in each country, using our platform to help organize them and identify the most critical needs from their perspectives, for the development of new collaborative projects that achieve the maximum possible impact.

Interviewer: What is CAHI looking for in a leader? shivaugn: We have more and more clarity about this, there are already 120 leaders who are part of our program.

We are looking for people who have a deep connection to the community work they are doing, a true commitment to the institution in which they work, to their country and their fellow citizens, to the territory they occupy. We want people with a strong conviction to achieve improvements in the health system in the immediate future.

In addition, we select leaders with clear projects, with a defined beneficiary population. It is important that they are clear about the problem they are trying to solve, about their public of interest. They must be able to explain it clearly, because we evaluate both the person and the project. 

Thirdly, and I must say that this is perhaps the mysterious element, we strive to differentiate those people who only want to add one more academic merit or degree, from those who have a real commitment as agents of social change, those who want to use the tools that they will learn in the program to produce a change in the world.

In short, we are looking for people with a vocation to serve others, who are willing to leave their comfort zone to achieve it. This is what we have today, a network of people who share these values, this commitment and the willingness to go beyond their own interests to cooperate with the collective well-being.