By the SayPro Chief Learning and Monitoring Officer- Tsakani Rikhotso
Honourable Guests, Healthcare Leaders, Development Partners, SayPro Team Members, and Valued Communities,
Good morning.
It is an honour to speak on this significant day — SayPro’s 2025 National Healthcare Decisions Day — a moment that reminds us of the vital connection between knowledge, accountability, and informed choice in our healthcare system.
As the Chief Learning and Monitoring Officer at SayPro, I am entrusted with a critical responsibility: ensuring that what we do is not only done well but also done with purpose, equity, and impact.
National Healthcare Decisions Day isn’t only about encouraging individuals to make decisions about their health — it is also about holding ourselves, as institutions, accountable for creating the systems, knowledge, and environments where those decisions are possible and respected.
At SayPro, we believe that:
- Learning drives change. We learn from data, from communities, and from the stories of those whose healthcare decisions were respected — and those whose decisions were ignored.
- Monitoring builds trust. It allows us to see where gaps exist — in service delivery, in communication, in support systems — and to correct course before people fall through those cracks.
- Evaluation inspires progress. It helps us move from assumptions to evidence and from intention to measurable impact.
In 2025, our work has focused on:
- Monitoring how people access healthcare information and whether it leads to confident decision-making
- Tracking the inclusion of patient voices in health planning and delivery
- Evaluating training programmes for healthcare workers on respecting patient autonomy
- And building feedback systems so that our communities are not just recipients of healthcare — but active participants in shaping it
This year, SayPro has launched several new community-based learning and monitoring initiatives that give real people the power to speak up, share their experience, and co-create solutions that reflect their values and needs.
Because healthcare decisions are not made in isolation — they are shaped by culture, access, language, literacy, and trust. And unless we learn from real-life contexts, our systems risk failing the very people they are designed to serve.
Today, I call on all sectors to:
- Invest in learning, not just teaching
- Monitor not just numbers, but human experiences
- And evaluate not only outcomes, but also respect for dignity and choice
Let us make healthcare not just a service, but a shared learning journey — one where everyone’s decision is informed, heard, and honoured.
Happy National Healthcare Decisions Day 2025.
Together, let’s learn better. Let’s monitor fairly. Let’s support every voice, every choice.
Thank you.
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