When I joined Africa CDC, there was no dedicated MIS Division. What existed was a handful of ad-hoc systems and a small budget of about 6,000 USD. Over the next few years, through persistence, strategic planning, and a lot of collaboration, we built it into a division with over 15 staff members and a budget exceeding 2 million USD annually.
Here are some of the key lessons I learned along the way:
1. Start with quick wins. We identified pain points that could be solved with simple digital tools — an asset tracker, a help desk system, a one-page access portal. These early wins built trust and demonstrated value.
2. Invest in people, not just technology. The best systems in the world fail without trained, motivated users. We prioritized capacity building at every stage.
3. Think continental, act practical. Our mandate covered 55 Member States, but we had to be realistic about what could be achieved incrementally. We focused on interoperability standards that would allow systems to grow and connect over time.
4. Document everything. In a fast-moving environment, institutional memory matters. We documented our architecture decisions, our data standards, and our lessons learned.
5. Build relationships with stakeholders. Technology adoption is as much about relationships and trust as it is about code and infrastructure.
I hope these reflections are useful to anyone building digital health capacity in similar contexts.