Capacity Building Programs

Project ECHO ® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) was developed in 2003 as a method to improve equitable access to healthcare and demonopolize knowledge to improve capacity. The platform uses technology for combined case-based and didactic, multi-directional learning (5,6). As at September 2020, there are 77 ECHO Hubs for cancer, in 14 countries, running 143 programs (7). Many of these ECHO hubs focus on cancer prevention, treatment, diagnosis, and survivorship.

The Africa Cancer Research and Control ECHO program is one of the first, and only programs that focus on the convening of academic scientists, planners, clinicians, and policy-makers from the region to share best approaches and challenges in cancer control, to advance sustainable NCCP development and implementation. This ECHO was launched in March 2018, with support from the National Cancer Institute/Centre for Global Health and in October 2019, the program transitioned to KENCO as the new convening regional HUB in Africa, upon completion of ECHO Institute-led Immersion Training in Johannesburg, South Africa in February 2019 and in Maputo, Mozambique in November 2019.

KENCO hosts the Africa ECHO sessions using the Zoom® video conferencing platform. There is also a regionally-based leadership structure that makes up the steering committee. Currently, 12 African countries are represented. Additional participants and partners were welcomed throughout the year through word-of-mouth, and through learning about the ECHO from colleagues and collaborators at conferences and scientific meetings. The target populations for this ECHO are professionals involved in cancer research and control at the country level and partners who support research and program implementation in the region. For more details: Contact: info@kenconetwork.org

The cancer science training for cancer advocates seeks to empower lay individuals interested in or working on cancer control with the right information on cancer to help ensure they have the right and uniform knowledge and skills as they navigate around their cancer control work. KENCO has been training advocates within its membership in a two days program which involves a rigorous exercise in which members learnt, discussed and shared various knowledge and experiences on chosen thematic areas in cancer control.

The training are quite interactive and also give participants opportunity to share their knowledge and experiences. Key concerns for the trainings often involves exposing the participants to the current advancements made in cancer treatment both locally and to identify new areas of advocacy.

The Strengthening Organizations for a United Response to Cancer Epidemic (SOURCE) Program is a long-running program that seeks to empower cancer civil society organizations with training and technical expertise to develop and strengthen their organizations for a stronger response to the cancer scourge. The Program touches on various organizational development domains such as Governance, Financial Management, Financial Sustainability, Human Resource Management, External Relations and Partnerships, Program Management, Operations and Administration and Workplace Effectiveness and Management. The program is grounded at KENCO, supported by American Cancer Society and implemented by Steps Ahead Consulting Ltd. and basically benefits KENCO member organizations. The program which was initiated in 2016 has seen the first (1 st ) cohort of nine (9) organizations graduating in 2019 after undergoing the comprehensive program for 3 years and the second (2 nd ) cohort of ten (10) organizations set to complete the program in 2020.