Subnational Governance Program (SNGP) in collaboration with Bhimeshwar Municipality organized Health Sector Learning-Sharing event among SNGP partner municipalities’ health sector stakeholders on October 9-10, 2023. Coordinator from the Social Development Committee, Section Chief of Health, and Community Health Worker from seven partner municipalities attended and fully utilized the inter-municipality platform for learning and sharing good practices on public health system governance. Given the reality that public health is a largely overlooked sector in the municipality, participants from municipalities actively participated and engaged full two days to build network and exchange best practices among municipalities as well as to identify major public health and environmental sector priorities with the facilitation of Dr. Damodar Adhikari – Public Health System Expert such as

(I) developed a common understanding on the significance of public and curative health issues linked with multiple sectors (infra-structure, water and sanitation, hygiene, food quality, empowerment, behaviors, climate change and environment factors),

(II) drafted a health sector service delivery strategy aligned with established health system and procedures,

(III) identified some of the immediate actions to make fully functional
of the health sector structures like Health Facility Operation Management Committee (HFOMC),

(IV) discussed the plans on mitigating environmental and human health hazards caused by waste and garbage etc.

As a result of the event, municipalities have developed a draft action plan for public health system governance for their municipalities – for which they are committed to organize such workshops periodic basis to track the progress of the plans. Inter-municipalities’ learning and sharing of key achievements, best practices, and initiatives on public health during the post-federalization period helped them prepare these as strategy and municipal plan for health sector.

With this event, SNGP:

1. Provided an inter-municipality platform for learning and sharing of good practices on health sector governance,
2. Helped consolidate health sector governance achievements in municipalities during the post federalization period including major initiatives supported through SNGP
3. Assisted in identifying major health and environmental sector related challenges and priorities and developing broad strategies with an action plan for the municipalities to address these priorities through locally led initiatives.
4. Many of the participants reflected that this was their first experience with a learning-exchange platform in their work experience and they reinforced that similar event should be organized annual basis to review and reflect the
   action points they developed.