Health financing
8 July 2026
Quality health systems
8 July 2026Health financing
8 July 2026Quality health systems
8 July 2026
Leadership in South Africa’s DHS requires motivating and coordinating local providers while facilitating whole-of-government and whole-of-society collaboration. Here, we explore how to strengthen and conceptualise leadership without exercising traditional command-and-control managerial authority.
Journal Articles
Strengthening system leadership for the District Health System
By: L Gilson, H Schneider, B Engelbrecht, M Shung-King
Webinars
Shaping the future DHS leader
This September 2026 webinar featured several current and former DHS leaders, each sharing practical knowledge they wish they’d had when they started. Themes discussed include stakeholder management, self-management, navigating complexity, and data-informed decision-making.
District-level innovations that strengthen human resources for health
This July 2026 webinar explores strategic and systemic innovations designed to strengthen and support the health workforce within the DHS. Speakers discuss the integration of 5,000 community health workers into formal structures in KwaZulu-Natal, virtual clinical mentorship in the Eastern Cape, and recruitment strategies in Limpopo.
From disabling to trustworthy leadership: Towards psychological safety in the District Health System
This June 2026 webinar examines the shift from a punitive, compliance-driven management culture toward a culture that prioritizes psychological safety and encourages staff to openly report errors and fail safely. Speakers highlight how leadership styles impact workplace trust and team performance, concluding with a call for distributed and relational leadership models to build a resilient health system rooted in empathy and continuous learning.
Innovation in leadership development – a dialogue
This May 2025 webinar explores new approaches to leadership development via workplace-based learning and the evolving role of mentorship as a mutually enriching process for mentor and mentee.
Other
Lessons in organising and scaling up mentorship as workplace-based support in health systems
On 7 September 2026, the South African Learning Alliance for the District Health System (SALAD) hosted a one-hour organised session at the World Congress on Public Health in Cape Town, South Africa.
SALAD featured in national article on psychological safety in the District Health System
The South African Learning Alliance for the District Health System (SALAD) features in Spotlight’s new in-depth piece, How to thaw a health system frozen in fear, by Joan van Dyk.
Collaborative learning and co-creation as catalysts for health system strengthening
On 9 September 2026, SALAD hosted a one-hour organised session at the World Congress on Public Health in Cape Town, South Africa. The session, which was attended by more than fifty local, national and international delegates, included an introduction to the DHS and SALAD as a learning network before a four-person panel shared their perspectives collaborative learning for health system strengthening.
Insights and experiences on leadership development: South African Learning Alliance for the District Health System
Overall, current evidence suggests that there is a need to rethink and advance health system learning and management development in South Africa. This policy brief outlines the key conclusions we have reached in the SALAD network on strengthening leadership and management capacity in and for the DHS. The focus in this brief is on the development of leadership capacity.