Organizational Self Assessment Tool

BARHII has taken a macro level approach to address the organizational challenges that impact public health departments' ability to effectively address health inequities. Over the course of several months members of the Internal Capacity Committee engaged in critical thinking about workforce competencies, organizational policies and standards that are essential for eliminating health inequities. These consensus-building discussions helped to define what we believe are the most critical elements of public health departments as social change organizations. The group ultimately categorized their outcomes into a "matrix" of 9 Workforce Competencies and 9 Organizational Standards and Policies.

Organizational self assessment is an effective tool for gauging where health departments are already making headway, where there is room for improvement and how they might increase institutional capacity. While there are a wide range of organizational self assessment tools, we were unable to find one that specifically addressed the factors that had been identified during our brainstorming exercises. The committee retained an organizational development consulting group to weave together public health expertise and organizational development theory into a comprehensive Self Assessment Tool.

The completed tool, which consists of organizational data and policy reviews, online surveys, interviews and focus groups, is presently in the validation phase. It is scheduled for piloting in the City of Berkeley Public Health Division this spring and will be available for wider dissemination in the fall of 2008. This work has been a central part of a statewide venture to explore methods for building the capacity to address health inequities. Through a grant from The California Endowment, NACCHO contracted with BARHII, Los Angeles and Shasta counties to establish a California base for developing new tools and practices.

To learn more about the value of Organizational Self Assessment visit the National Center for Cultural Competence.