Dr Phindi Nxumalo Senior Technical Director
How Dr P led through one of Aurum’s most challenging periods
“We had to think about our staff, our patients and what needed to happen next.”
On a Monday morning in January, Dr Phindi Nxumalo, known to colleagues affectionately as Dr P, received a call she will never forget.
As the Principal Investigator for Aurum’s main PEPFAR-funded programme, she was responsible for one of the organisation’s largest HIV initiatives. The message from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was brief but unmistakable. Following an Executive Order, staff supported through PEPFAR were instructed not to report for work the next day.
For someone known for being poised and calm under pressure, the call shook her. She had to take a moment, dig deep, pray and pull herself together. The organisation needed its leaders to respond, and hundreds of staff would soon be looking to them for answers. “There wasn’t time to dwell on what it meant,” she recalls. “We had to think about our staff, our patients and what needed to happen next.”
“Resilience isn’t pretending things are easy. It’s staying true to your purpose, trusting your people and moving forward, even when the path isn’t clear.”
Leading without all the answers
Overnight, the questions came thick and fast. What would happen to hundreds of staff? How would patients continue receiving care? What would this mean for a programme that had spent years building trust in communities?
For Dr P, the answers did not come immediately, the responsibility did. The first priority was clear: Aurum’s leadership contacted the Department of Health to explain the situation. It was important that government partners heard the news directly before disruptions were felt at health facilities. Only then did leaders gather staff for a town hall to share what they knew and, just as importantly, what they did not know.
“There were many questions we simply couldn’t answer, we made a commitment to be honest.
We would share confirmed information and we wouldn’t speculate.”
For her, transparency became one of the most important leadership decisions of those early weeks. Rather than trying to create certainty where none existed, the focus was on maintaining trust.
Keeping People Connected
As uncertainty grew, so did the anxiety among staff. Many worried about their jobs and about the communities they had supported for years. Rather than leaving people at home waiting for news, Aurum introduced psychosocial support, live wellness sessions and regular debriefings. It gave staff an opportunity to stay connected, ask questions and support one another while leadership worked through the next steps.
Behind the scenes, Dr P and the executive team met daily. With communication from funders limited during those first weeks, they focused on what they could control. Different scenarios were mapped out, essential services identified and contingency plans developed. Throughout the uncertainty, the management team remained at work, ensuring the organisation was ready to respond as circumstances changed.
For Dr P, leading through uncertainty required something many people misunderstand. “People look to leaders for direction,” she says. “If you panic, everyone panics.” However, she is quick to point out that remaining calm did not mean she wasn’t worried. “It meant making sure my uncertainty didn’t become everyone else’s.”
She credits executive coaching with helping shape her leadership long before the crisis unfolded. It reinforced the importance of listening to different perspectives and recognising that leadership is not about carrying every decision alone.
While staff welfare remained a priority, patients were never far from the discussion. Years of work had gone into helping people remain in HIV care, particularly adolescents, young people and men, who are often the hardest to retain in treatment. An abrupt interruption to services threatened to undo much of that progress.
“We didn’t want people to fall out of the health system because services suddenly stopped.”
“Our biggest concern was continuity of care. We didn’t want people to fall out of the health system because services suddenly stopped.” Working closely with the Department of Health, Aurum focused on maintaining essential services while preparing for whatever came next.
From Shock to Action
Two weeks later, the breakthrough came. Aurum received a waiver to restart limited activities. The funding was smaller, the work plan had to change. But the team was ready, and services moved quickly back into motion.
Then came the hard choices: with a reduced budget, retrenchments could have been the easy answer. Aurum chose differently and roles were repurposed, staff were redeployed and teams shifted to meet new priorities. Consequently, all 804 jobs were retained.
One moment stood out. A four-person Aurum team presented to CDC Atlanta on what withdrawing frontline workers would mean for patients, communities and the health system. Their message landed, with funding extended for all four CDC-supported implementing partners until September.
For Dr P, the crisis left more than scars, it left life lessons. “I’ve always considered myself resilient. But moments like this stretch you. They teach you to trust your judgement, your team and the truth that you won’t always have all the answers.”
It also reminded her that relationships built over years become lifelines in a crisis.
Today, she sees the Executive Order as more than a funding crisis. It became a test of leadership: stay honest, work together and keep people at the centre.
“Resilience isn’t pretending things are easy. It’s staying true to your purpose, trusting your people and moving forward, even when the path isn’t clear.”
“We made a commitment to be honest. We would share confirmed information and we wouldn’t speculate.”