#the-geneva-learning-foundation — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #the-geneva-learning-foundation, aggregated by home.social.
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The Geneva Learning Foundation is launching REACH (Relate, Engage, Act, Connect, Help), a new initiative to connect leaders of health organizations who are solving similar problems in different countries. Launching November 6, REACH responds to an unexpected outcome of Teach to Reach, a peer learning platform that–in less than four years–has already documented over 10,000 local solutions and experiences to health challenges by connecting more than 60,000 participants across 77 countries.
When organizations began formally participating in Teach to Reach in June 2024, many leaders discovered they were tackling similar challenges. A digital immunization tracking system in Rwanda sparked interest from several African countries. A community engagement approach to vaccine hesitancy in Nigeria resonated with teams in Kenya and Zimbabwe. These spontaneous connections led to the creation of REACH.
What is Teach to Reach?
“Teach to Reach is a place where you learn in the most formidable way. You’re learning from people’s experiences and it makes the learning very easy to adapt, very easy to replicate wherever you are,” says Ful Marine Fuen, Humanitarian Program Coordinator at Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services.
Teach to Reach is a bilingual (French/English) peer learning platform where government health workers, local organizations, and frontline staff document, analyze, and share implementation solutions across borders. Half of all participants work in government health services, with 80% based at district and facility levels where policy meets practice. The platform’s structured learning process includes pre-event experience sharing, live sessions for discussion and networking, and post-event analysis to capture insights.
“It’s a meeting of giving and receiving. Because with Teach to Reach, we always learn from peers and we develop ourselves and develop others,” notes Arthur Fidelis Metsampito Bamlatol, Coordinator at AAPSEB Cameroon.
From individual learning to organizational impact
The impact of these connections is already visible. Nduka Ozor, Project Director at the Centre for HIV/AIDS and STD RESEARCH in Nigeria, describes how a single connection expanded his organization’s reach: “I was able to meet with a potential partner who stays in Australia. Something I thought is just an online stuff is moving into a greater partnership. We have had several meetings with other networks from that initial meeting, including with representatives of New York University.”
These kinds of partnerships form naturally as organizations share their work. Here are just three examples:
- In Rwanda, Albert Ndagijimana’s team achieved 95% childhood vaccination rates through digital tracking
- In Kenya, Samuel Mutambuki’s organization partners with local groups to address water quality and disease outbreaks
- In Zimbabwe, Rebecca Chirenga’s team tackles interconnected issues of food security, education, and health
“It is essentially a framework that allows us to share experiences… to strengthen our capacities,” says Patrice Kazadi, Project Director at Save the Children International DR Congo. “The challenges in DRC can be the same as in Ivory Coast and what is done in Ivory Coast can also help address challenges in DRC.”
REACH: A new network exclusively for Teach to Reach Partners
REACH builds on this foundation but with an important distinction – it’s exclusively for leaders of organizations that have committed to partnership with Teach to Reach. Over 700 organizational leaders have already confirmed their participation, representing both government agencies and civil society organizations.
The first REACH session on November 6 will:
- Connect organizations working on similar challenges
- Share practical approaches that have worked in different contexts
- Facilitate direct conversations between organizational leaders
- Identify potential areas for collaboration
How can organizations join REACH?
To participate in REACH, organizations must complete all partnership steps for Teach to Reach:
- Attend a Partner briefing
- Complete the Partnership application
- Share the Teach to Reach announcement
- Have organizational leadership endorse participation
#globalHealth #leadership #peerLearning #REACH #TeachToReach #TheGenevaLearningFoundation
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This is the preface of the new publication The many faces of immunization. Learn more… Download the collection…
Every day, thousands of health workers, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, get up and go to work with a single goal in mind to ensure that vaccines reach those who need them.
To mark World Immunization Week 2023 (24–30 April 2023) and the launch of the “Big Catch Up” campaign, the Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) invited members of the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) to share photographs of themselves and their daily work.
More than 1,000 visual stories were shared.
These are not the carefully composed and technically accomplished shots of the professional photographer: rather, they capture a raw and authentic view of what immunization means in practice.
The transport challenges.
The concerned and loving mothers.
The curious onlookers.
The dialogue between practitioners and community members.
The schoolchildren waving their vaccination cards.
The reams of paper-based data.
This is our second annual gallery of photographs shared by members of the Movement. Get the 2022 World Immunization Week photo book It takes people to make #vaccineswork…
Once again, it celebrates their diversity of roles and challenges faced in their daily lives, and their commitment to the IA2030 goal of ensuring that every child, every family, is protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.
If we did it again, it is because we observed that visual storytelling had a profound effect across the Movement.
This effect may be hard to quantify.
On its own, it certainly does not improve vaccination coverage.
And yet, it has everything to do with how health workers perceive themselves, perceive the value of their own work.
Not just knowing but seeing that there are colleagues across the world who are doing the same work, whatever the contexts, is heartening and inspiring.
It can help strengthen or renew resolve and commitment.
It can help make a difference – and sustain it over time.
To achieve their goals, they may be working in health facilities offering immunization services and other forms of primary health care.
Or they may be taking part in outreach or stratégies avancées, delivering vaccines out in the communities where people live.
Alternatively, they may be based in district or regional offices, providing oversight and offering “supportive supervision” constructive feedback and advice to ensure practitioners can do their jobs better.
If they are among the many practitioners engaged in outreach activities, they may face multiple challenges.
They may have to overcome geographical obstacles rivers, flooding, poor roads, or just long distances.
They may have to venture into areas of political instability or conflict.
They may have to make contact with mobile populations whose precise location may be uncertain.
And they may have to enter informal urban settings in a state of permanent flux.
Then, when they reach their destination, they may find that those they engage are not receptive to vaccination.
They may have to spend time with people to help them understand the benefits and safety of vaccines.
Of course, actually vaccinating people is not the only task that needs to be undertaken.
Vaccination programmes rely on a collective of people with a diverse range of roles, such as maintaining essential cold chain equipment, managing data, and working with communities to build support for vaccination.
Community-based volunteers provide a vital link between immunization programmes and local communities.
Effective teamwork is essential.
At the end of a long day, every vaccination practitioner can return home knowing that they have done their bit to make the world a healthier place, and just might have saved a life.
Charlotte Mbuh and Reda Sadki
The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF)Jones, I., Sadki, R., & Mbuh, C. (2024). The many faces of immunization (IA2030 Listening and Learning Report 5) (1.0). Special Event: World Immunization Week. The Geneva Learning Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8166653
https://redasadki.me/2024/04/17/world-immunization-week-what-do-you-see/
#ChrisDeBode #IA2030 #ImmunizationAgenda2030 #TheGenevaLearningFoundation #VaccinesWork #visualStorytelling #WorldImmunizationWeek
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This is the preface of the new publication The many faces of immunization. Learn more… Download the collection…
Every day, thousands of health workers, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, get up and go to work with a single goal in mind to ensure that vaccines reach those who need them.
To mark World Immunization Week 2023 (24–30 April 2023) and the launch of the “Big Catch Up” campaign, the Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) invited members of the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) to share photographs of themselves and their daily work.
More than 1,000 visual stories were shared.
These are not the carefully composed and technically accomplished shots of the professional photographer: rather, they capture a raw and authentic view of what immunization means in practice.
The transport challenges.
The concerned and loving mothers.
The curious onlookers.
The dialogue between practitioners and community members.
The schoolchildren waving their vaccination cards.
The reams of paper-based data.
This is our second annual gallery of photographs shared by members of the Movement. Get the 2022 World Immunization Week photo book It takes people to make #vaccineswork…
Once again, it celebrates their diversity of roles and challenges faced in their daily lives, and their commitment to the IA2030 goal of ensuring that every child, every family, is protected from vaccine-preventable diseases.
If we did it again, it is because we observed that visual storytelling had a profound effect across the Movement.
This effect may be hard to quantify.
On its own, it certainly does not improve vaccination coverage.
And yet, it has everything to do with how health workers perceive themselves, perceive the value of their own work.
Not just knowing but seeing that there are colleagues across the world who are doing the same work, whatever the contexts, is heartening and inspiring.
It can help strengthen or renew resolve and commitment.
It can help make a difference – and sustain it over time.
To achieve their goals, they may be working in health facilities offering immunization services and other forms of primary health care.
Or they may be taking part in outreach or stratégies avancées, delivering vaccines out in the communities where people live.
Alternatively, they may be based in district or regional offices, providing oversight and offering “supportive supervision” constructive feedback and advice to ensure practitioners can do their jobs better.
If they are among the many practitioners engaged in outreach activities, they may face multiple challenges.
They may have to overcome geographical obstacles rivers, flooding, poor roads, or just long distances.
They may have to venture into areas of political instability or conflict.
They may have to make contact with mobile populations whose precise location may be uncertain.
And they may have to enter informal urban settings in a state of permanent flux.
Then, when they reach their destination, they may find that those they engage are not receptive to vaccination.
They may have to spend time with people to help them understand the benefits and safety of vaccines.
Of course, actually vaccinating people is not the only task that needs to be undertaken.
Vaccination programmes rely on a collective of people with a diverse range of roles, such as maintaining essential cold chain equipment, managing data, and working with communities to build support for vaccination.
Community-based volunteers provide a vital link between immunization programmes and local communities.
Effective teamwork is essential.
At the end of a long day, every vaccination practitioner can return home knowing that they have done their bit to make the world a healthier place, and just might have saved a life.
Charlotte Mbuh and Reda Sadki
The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF)Jones, I., Sadki, R., & Mbuh, C. (2024). The many faces of immunization (IA2030 Listening and Learning Report 5) (1.0). Special Event: World Immunization Week. The Geneva Learning Foundation. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8166653
https://redasadki.me/2024/04/17/world-immunization-week-what-do-you-see/
#ChrisDeBode #IA2030 #ImmunizationAgenda2030 #TheGenevaLearningFoundation #VaccinesWork #visualStorytelling #WorldImmunizationWeek
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The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) has created a platform enabling health workers to describe the impacts of climate change on their local communities. Here are ten of the most striking reports.
Published on 30 November 2023 on the Gavi #VaccinesWork blog
In July 2023, more than 1,200 health workers from 68 countries shared their experiences of changes in climate and health at a unique Geneva Learning Foundation event designed to shed light on the realities of climate impacts on the health of the communities they serve.
A special TGLF report – On the frontline of climate change and health: A health worker eyewitness report – includes a compendium and analysis of these 1,200 health workers’ observations and insights. Here are ten of the most striking.
Samuel Chukwuemeka Obasi, who works for the Ministry of Health in Abuja, Nigeria, has noticed big changes to the environment.
“Going back home to the community where I grew up as a child, I was shocked to see that most of the rivers we used to swim and fish in have all dried up, and those that are still there have become very shallow, so that you can easily walk through a river you required a boat to cross in years past.”
Iruoma Chinedu Ofortube, who works at the district level in Lagos State, Nigeria, recounts two stories that illustrate the lethal impact of extreme weather.
“A family embarked on a journey without potentially expecting any danger. Sadly, on their way, heavy rainfall started. The family was oblivious to the reality that the rain started ahead of them while they were en route to their destination. Unfortunately, they ran into a massive flood near a river. The force and the current from the flood swept their vehicle down the river, and before help could come for them, they drowned helplessly alongside other victims of the same circumstances.
“There was also a pregnant woman in labour. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get a strong boat or canoe that could stand the high current and waves coming from the seaside. In the process of searching for a better means of taking her to the nearest health centre, she got exhausted and died.”
Assoumane Mahamadou Issifou, who works for an NGO in Agadez, Niger, points out how food shortages are leading to malnutrition and anaemia, particularly in women and children.
“During the five years that I served in the health service in the Agadez region, I observed significant changes, particularly in the occurrence of heavy rains, which were uncommon in the past. These heavy rains have led to flooding and the displacement of populations, often forcing them to settle wherever they can. Due to their vulnerability during these challenging times, children and women suffer greatly.
“This situation, especially prevalent among newborns and children under five, contributes to malnutrition. The challenges persist because the Agadez region is situated in a desert area with very low rainfall.
“However, even with minimal rain, the region faces immense difficulties. Nutritional foods are insufficient, and environmental degradation compounds the issue. As a result, the population struggles to access daily sustenance. Pregnant women and children lack foods rich in vitamins, leading to undernourishment and subsequent diseases such as malnutrition and anaemia.
“Historically, Agadez was known for its scarcity of rain. With the recent climate change-induced increase in rainfall, few people have come to accept and understand this phenomenon. The region’s architecture is outdated, and the city has transformed into a migratory hub where diverse behaviours converge. New diseases emerge, and the indigenous population is grappling with illnesses that were previously unknown to them.”
A woman working for the Ministry of Health in the DRC, based in Kinshasa, describes how water level changes are affecting insect proliferation and leading to changing patterns of malaria and other diseases.
“A drought, characterised by a drop in rainfall during recent rainy seasons, has affected the City Province of Kinshasa, particularly in the Makelele District (located in the Bandalungwa commune) where I live.
“This area is bordered by two rivers, Mâkelele 1 and 2. The scarcity of rain in the region during the past rainy seasons has led to a significant reduction in water flow within these two rivers. Consequently, rubbish and debris have accumulated along the riverbanks.
“This situation has resulted in the proliferation of mosquitoes and other unidentified insects. This increase in insect activity has not only led to a rise in malaria cases, but has also given rise to a newly emerging form of dermatosis, the exact nature of which is yet to be determined. It is suspected that these skin lesions develop due to scratching after insect bites. Disturbingly, over 10% of the population within the municipality has been affected by this condition.”
Dieudonne Tanasngar, who works for the Ministry of Health in Chad, explains how displacement contributes to poor sanitation practices, leading to increased spread of water-borne diseases.
“In Lake Chad, during the rainy season, the various arms of the lake expand, causing flooding that affects the villages situated along its shores. This flooding often forces the inhabitants to relocate to higher ground.
“However, a significant portion of the population around the lake lacks proper sanitation facilities, leading to open defecation near the water’s edge. As the water levels rise, this practice contributes to the spread of diseases, particularly when access to health care facilities becomes challenging.
“Access to health care centres is hindered by the need to cross one or two bodies of water before reaching the nearest facility. This geographical challenge adds to the difficulties faced by the affected population. Consequently, a range of diseases can emerge and afflict the community due to these conditions.
“The combination of poor sanitation practices, flooding, and limited access to health care facilities creates a complex situation that requires concerted efforts to improve living conditions, sanitation infrastructure, and health care access for the people living around Lake Chad.”
Coulibaly Seydou, who works for the Ministry of Health in Boussé District, Burkina Faso, has noted how changing dietary habits, alongside declining mental wellbeing, is leading to an increased risk of non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
“For several years, the pattern of rainfall has been becoming increasingly irregular. The duration of the rainy season is progressively getting shorter, interspersed with periods of drought. This unpredictability makes it challenging for farmers to adjust their crop choices according to the rainfall pattern, leading to growing concerns. Discussions about the upcoming rainy season can induce anxiety and worry among rural communities.
“When it comes to the impact of climate change on mental health, we can observe a significant disturbance in the well-being of farmers. Even just a couple of days without rainfall can trigger a sense of sadness among them. Instances of minor depression have been noted among household heads who helplessly witness their crops withering due to inadequate moisture.
“In terms of physical health, there has been an uptick in the prevalence of diseases and conditions that can be attributed to changes in dietary habits. Conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity are on the rise. This can be linked to the shift towards consuming industrially processed foods that are low in nutritional value and high in chemical additives.”
A man working for the Ministry of Health in Beni in the DRC describes the tragic case of a family driven into poverty and unable to afford health care for the children.
“As a result of the disruption in the seasonal shifts, a modest family reliant solely on agriculture experienced the tragic death of their young son within their community.
“The critical factors involved were as follows: their crop yield plummeted to zero due to their inability to manage the erratic changes in the seasons, and malnutrition, likely compounded by other illnesses, afflicted the family. Faced with financial constraints stemming from the complete failure of their agricultural efforts, they resorted to providing home-based care for their family.
“Tragically, their youngest son paid the ultimate price with his life. In summary, the ever-changing climate dynamics have left us disoriented and uncertain about the future.”
Fokzia Elijah, who works for the Ministry of Health in the Province of Batha, Chad, highlights how climate change is having multiple health and social impacts, particularly on pastoralists.
“Batha is the first pastoral province, often experiencing prolonged droughts followed by irregular and sometimes excessive rainfall. These climatic variations lead to challenges in cattle herding, house collapses, and difficulties in sustaining pastoralism, which typically lasts only two to three months.
“Pastoralists often migrate southward with women and children following them. Consequently, malnutrition prevails, affecting over 14% of the population, with women and children being the most vulnerable. Women who remain in the villages demonstrate resilience by engaging in limited market gardening and gathering wild oilseeds to produce sweet syrup for porridge.
“A significant issue is the death of animals between March and June due to inadequate pasture and water. This impacts the most vulnerable, particularly women and children. Batha Province, once renowned for its diverse flora and fauna, has seen the disappearance of most animals except for birds. Hyena attacks have become frequent as they search for food in communities, often targeting domestic pets.”
Linda Raji, who works for an NGO in the Kaida and Waru communities in Nigeria, highlights the implication of enviornmental change for young women – one of a range of gender-specific impacts of climate change.
“Prolonged drought dries up the dirty community stream that serves both livestock and residents. This makes it difficult for community members to access water and much harder for menstrual hygiene management for teenage girls leading to an increase in infections in the unbearable heat.
“Due to the difficulty in managing the monthly menstrual cycle due to limited access to water sanitation hygiene and period poverty, many teenage girls prefer to get pregnant to save them the worry of menstruating monthly for nine months.”
Dr Chinedu Anthony Iwu, who works at a health facility in Orlu Local Government Area in Nigeria, describes how working with communities can build resilience to climate change impacts.
“The changing climate has brought about an increase in the prevalence of vector-borne diseases. Mosquitoes are now breeding and transmitting diseases like malaria more intensely. The community lacked proper health care facilities and resources to effectively combat these diseases, leading to a rise in illness and mortality rates. Mothers’ means of livelihood were usually disrupted due to the time and effort spent in caring for their sick children with a significant impact on household welfare.
“Recognising the urgent need to address these climate-related health challenges, we engaged in community-led initiatives that included comprehensive health awareness campaigns to provide education on sanitation and hygiene practices, and education of residents about preventive measures against vector-borne diseases. By engaging our community health extension workers, we were able to organise regular health check-ups in the communities, focusing on early detection and treatment of illnesses.
“Over time, these collective efforts began to yield positive results. The mothers in the communities witnessed improvements in income as they progressively began to spend less time pursuing children’s health care challenges due to the adoption of preventive measures, thereby becoming more resilient to the changing climate.
This experience highlights the challenges faced by rural communities in Nigeria due to climate change. It demonstrates the importance of community engagement, sustainable practices, and support from relevant stakeholders in addressing the climate-health nexus and building resilience in the face of a changing climate.”
Written by Ian Jones for Gavi. Photo credit: Aerial view of a flooded urban residential area of Dera Allah yar city in Jaffarabad District, Baluchistan Province, Pakistan. Credit: Gavi/2022/Asad Zaidi
#climateAndHealth #climateChange #Gavi #immunization #TheGenevaLearningFoundation #VaccinesWork
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The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) has created a platform enabling health workers to describe the impacts of climate change on their local communities. Here are ten of the most striking reports.
Published on 30 November 2023 on the Gavi #VaccinesWork blog
In July 2023, more than 1,200 health workers from 68 countries shared their experiences of changes in climate and health at a unique Geneva Learning Foundation event designed to shed light on the realities of climate impacts on the health of the communities they serve.
A special TGLF report – On the frontline of climate change and health: A health worker eyewitness report – includes a compendium and analysis of these 1,200 health workers’ observations and insights. Here are ten of the most striking.
Samuel Chukwuemeka Obasi, who works for the Ministry of Health in Abuja, Nigeria, has noticed big changes to the environment.
“Going back home to the community where I grew up as a child, I was shocked to see that most of the rivers we used to swim and fish in have all dried up, and those that are still there have become very shallow, so that you can easily walk through a river you required a boat to cross in years past.”
Iruoma Chinedu Ofortube, who works at the district level in Lagos State, Nigeria, recounts two stories that illustrate the lethal impact of extreme weather.
“A family embarked on a journey without potentially expecting any danger. Sadly, on their way, heavy rainfall started. The family was oblivious to the reality that the rain started ahead of them while they were en route to their destination. Unfortunately, they ran into a massive flood near a river. The force and the current from the flood swept their vehicle down the river, and before help could come for them, they drowned helplessly alongside other victims of the same circumstances.
“There was also a pregnant woman in labour. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get a strong boat or canoe that could stand the high current and waves coming from the seaside. In the process of searching for a better means of taking her to the nearest health centre, she got exhausted and died.”
Assoumane Mahamadou Issifou, who works for an NGO in Agadez, Niger, points out how food shortages are leading to malnutrition and anaemia, particularly in women and children.
“During the five years that I served in the health service in the Agadez region, I observed significant changes, particularly in the occurrence of heavy rains, which were uncommon in the past. These heavy rains have led to flooding and the displacement of populations, often forcing them to settle wherever they can. Due to their vulnerability during these challenging times, children and women suffer greatly.
“This situation, especially prevalent among newborns and children under five, contributes to malnutrition. The challenges persist because the Agadez region is situated in a desert area with very low rainfall.
“However, even with minimal rain, the region faces immense difficulties. Nutritional foods are insufficient, and environmental degradation compounds the issue. As a result, the population struggles to access daily sustenance. Pregnant women and children lack foods rich in vitamins, leading to undernourishment and subsequent diseases such as malnutrition and anaemia.
“Historically, Agadez was known for its scarcity of rain. With the recent climate change-induced increase in rainfall, few people have come to accept and understand this phenomenon. The region’s architecture is outdated, and the city has transformed into a migratory hub where diverse behaviours converge. New diseases emerge, and the indigenous population is grappling with illnesses that were previously unknown to them.”
A woman working for the Ministry of Health in the DRC, based in Kinshasa, describes how water level changes are affecting insect proliferation and leading to changing patterns of malaria and other diseases.
“A drought, characterised by a drop in rainfall during recent rainy seasons, has affected the City Province of Kinshasa, particularly in the Makelele District (located in the Bandalungwa commune) where I live.
“This area is bordered by two rivers, Mâkelele 1 and 2. The scarcity of rain in the region during the past rainy seasons has led to a significant reduction in water flow within these two rivers. Consequently, rubbish and debris have accumulated along the riverbanks.
“This situation has resulted in the proliferation of mosquitoes and other unidentified insects. This increase in insect activity has not only led to a rise in malaria cases, but has also given rise to a newly emerging form of dermatosis, the exact nature of which is yet to be determined. It is suspected that these skin lesions develop due to scratching after insect bites. Disturbingly, over 10% of the population within the municipality has been affected by this condition.”
Dieudonne Tanasngar, who works for the Ministry of Health in Chad, explains how displacement contributes to poor sanitation practices, leading to increased spread of water-borne diseases.
“In Lake Chad, during the rainy season, the various arms of the lake expand, causing flooding that affects the villages situated along its shores. This flooding often forces the inhabitants to relocate to higher ground.
“However, a significant portion of the population around the lake lacks proper sanitation facilities, leading to open defecation near the water’s edge. As the water levels rise, this practice contributes to the spread of diseases, particularly when access to health care facilities becomes challenging.
“Access to health care centres is hindered by the need to cross one or two bodies of water before reaching the nearest facility. This geographical challenge adds to the difficulties faced by the affected population. Consequently, a range of diseases can emerge and afflict the community due to these conditions.
“The combination of poor sanitation practices, flooding, and limited access to health care facilities creates a complex situation that requires concerted efforts to improve living conditions, sanitation infrastructure, and health care access for the people living around Lake Chad.”
Coulibaly Seydou, who works for the Ministry of Health in Boussé District, Burkina Faso, has noted how changing dietary habits, alongside declining mental wellbeing, is leading to an increased risk of non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes.
“For several years, the pattern of rainfall has been becoming increasingly irregular. The duration of the rainy season is progressively getting shorter, interspersed with periods of drought. This unpredictability makes it challenging for farmers to adjust their crop choices according to the rainfall pattern, leading to growing concerns. Discussions about the upcoming rainy season can induce anxiety and worry among rural communities.
“When it comes to the impact of climate change on mental health, we can observe a significant disturbance in the well-being of farmers. Even just a couple of days without rainfall can trigger a sense of sadness among them. Instances of minor depression have been noted among household heads who helplessly witness their crops withering due to inadequate moisture.
“In terms of physical health, there has been an uptick in the prevalence of diseases and conditions that can be attributed to changes in dietary habits. Conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and obesity are on the rise. This can be linked to the shift towards consuming industrially processed foods that are low in nutritional value and high in chemical additives.”
A man working for the Ministry of Health in Beni in the DRC describes the tragic case of a family driven into poverty and unable to afford health care for the children.
“As a result of the disruption in the seasonal shifts, a modest family reliant solely on agriculture experienced the tragic death of their young son within their community.
“The critical factors involved were as follows: their crop yield plummeted to zero due to their inability to manage the erratic changes in the seasons, and malnutrition, likely compounded by other illnesses, afflicted the family. Faced with financial constraints stemming from the complete failure of their agricultural efforts, they resorted to providing home-based care for their family.
“Tragically, their youngest son paid the ultimate price with his life. In summary, the ever-changing climate dynamics have left us disoriented and uncertain about the future.”
Fokzia Elijah, who works for the Ministry of Health in the Province of Batha, Chad, highlights how climate change is having multiple health and social impacts, particularly on pastoralists.
“Batha is the first pastoral province, often experiencing prolonged droughts followed by irregular and sometimes excessive rainfall. These climatic variations lead to challenges in cattle herding, house collapses, and difficulties in sustaining pastoralism, which typically lasts only two to three months.
“Pastoralists often migrate southward with women and children following them. Consequently, malnutrition prevails, affecting over 14% of the population, with women and children being the most vulnerable. Women who remain in the villages demonstrate resilience by engaging in limited market gardening and gathering wild oilseeds to produce sweet syrup for porridge.
“A significant issue is the death of animals between March and June due to inadequate pasture and water. This impacts the most vulnerable, particularly women and children. Batha Province, once renowned for its diverse flora and fauna, has seen the disappearance of most animals except for birds. Hyena attacks have become frequent as they search for food in communities, often targeting domestic pets.”
Linda Raji, who works for an NGO in the Kaida and Waru communities in Nigeria, highlights the implication of enviornmental change for young women – one of a range of gender-specific impacts of climate change.
“Prolonged drought dries up the dirty community stream that serves both livestock and residents. This makes it difficult for community members to access water and much harder for menstrual hygiene management for teenage girls leading to an increase in infections in the unbearable heat.
“Due to the difficulty in managing the monthly menstrual cycle due to limited access to water sanitation hygiene and period poverty, many teenage girls prefer to get pregnant to save them the worry of menstruating monthly for nine months.”
Dr Chinedu Anthony Iwu, who works at a health facility in Orlu Local Government Area in Nigeria, describes how working with communities can build resilience to climate change impacts.
“The changing climate has brought about an increase in the prevalence of vector-borne diseases. Mosquitoes are now breeding and transmitting diseases like malaria more intensely. The community lacked proper health care facilities and resources to effectively combat these diseases, leading to a rise in illness and mortality rates. Mothers’ means of livelihood were usually disrupted due to the time and effort spent in caring for their sick children with a significant impact on household welfare.
“Recognising the urgent need to address these climate-related health challenges, we engaged in community-led initiatives that included comprehensive health awareness campaigns to provide education on sanitation and hygiene practices, and education of residents about preventive measures against vector-borne diseases. By engaging our community health extension workers, we were able to organise regular health check-ups in the communities, focusing on early detection and treatment of illnesses.
“Over time, these collective efforts began to yield positive results. The mothers in the communities witnessed improvements in income as they progressively began to spend less time pursuing children’s health care challenges due to the adoption of preventive measures, thereby becoming more resilient to the changing climate.
This experience highlights the challenges faced by rural communities in Nigeria due to climate change. It demonstrates the importance of community engagement, sustainable practices, and support from relevant stakeholders in addressing the climate-health nexus and building resilience in the face of a changing climate.”
Written by Ian Jones for Gavi. Photo credit: Aerial view of a flooded urban residential area of Dera Allah yar city in Jaffarabad District, Baluchistan Province, Pakistan. Credit: Gavi/2022/Asad Zaidi
#climateAndHealth #climateChange #Gavi #immunization #TheGenevaLearningFoundation #VaccinesWork
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The following is excerpted from Watkins, K.E. and Marsick, V.J., 2023. Chapter 4. Learning informally at work: Reframing learning and development. In Rethinking Workplace Learning and Development. Edward Elgar Publishing.
This chapter’s final example illustrates the way in which organically arising IIL (informal and incidental learning) is paired with opportunities to build knowledge through a combination of structured education and informal learning by peers working in frequently complex circumstances.
Reda Sadki, president of The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF), rethought L&D for immunization workers in many roles in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Adapting to technology available to participants from the countries that joined this effort, Sadki designed a mix of experiences that broke out of the limits of “training” as it was often designed.
He addressed, the inability to scale up to reach large audiences; difficulty to transfer what is learned; inability to accommodate different learners’ starting places; the need to teach learners to solve complex problems; and the inability to develop sufficient expertise in a timely way. (Marsick et al., 2021, p. 15)
TGLF invited learners to create and share new learning to the social and behavioral challenges faced by front-line staff from all levels of immunization systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Sadki designed L&D for “in-depth engagement on priority topics,” insights into “the raw, unfiltered perspectives of frontline staff,” and peer dialogue that “gives a voice to front-line workers” (The Geneva Learning Foundation, 2022).
Reda started with an e-learning course, which he supplemented by interactive, community building, and knowledge creation features offered by Scholar, a learning platform developed by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis (Marsick et al., 2021, pp. 185-186).
Scholar’s data analytics enabled him to tailor learning to learner preferences and to continually check outcomes and adjust next steps.
See Figure 4.3, which lays out the full learning cycle Reda implemented to support peer learning-based work—“work that privileges learning in order to build individual and organizational capacity to better address emergent challenges or opportunities” (Marsick et al., 2021, p.177).
In his initiative, over a period of 12-18 months, participants develop and implement projects related to local immunization initiatives.
To date, participants have come from 120 countries.
In this vignette, Reda Sadki reflects on how the approach evolved over time, and how L&D has changed in a connected, networked learning environment.
My reframe of L&D started when I wrote to Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, respectively professor and dean of the University of Illinois College of Education, after I was appointed Senior Officer for Learning Systems at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). I shared my strategy for the organization of facilitation, learning, and sharing of knowledge. I thought my strategy was brilliant.
They replied that these were interesting ideas, but I was missing the point because this is not learning. What I shared focused on publishing knowledge in different ways, but not on creation of knowledge as key to the learning process.
That was a shock to me.
So, the first realization about the limits of current thinking about L&D came from Bill and Mary challenging me by saying: “What are people actually getting to do? You know, that’s where the learning is likely to happen.”
I could see they had a point, but I didn’t know what it meant.
I reflected on recent work I had done for the IFRC, where I was responsible for a pipeline of 80 or so e-learning modules.
These information transmission modules were extremely limited, had very little impact.
But there is a paradox, which is that people across the Red Cross who we were trying to reach were really excited and enthusiastic about them.
The learning platform had become the fastest-growing digital system in the entire Red Cross Red Crescent movement.
I had not designed these modules.
It was 500 screens of information with quizzes at the end.
It violated every principle of learning design.
And yet people loved it and were really proud to have completed it.
The second realization was that what made people excited using the most boring format and medium was that this was the first time in their life that they were connecting in a digital space with something that spoke to their IFRC experience.
So, the driver was learning. People come to the Red Cross and Red Crescent because they want to learn first aid skills.
They want to learn how to prepare for a disaster or recover from one.
Previously, that was an entirely brick-and-mortar experience.
You have Red Cross branches pretty much everywhere in the world.
It’s a very powerful social peer learning experience.
The trainer teaching you first aid is likely to be someone like you from your community.
You meet people with like-minded values.
It’s a really powerful model.
And so, however inadequate, the digital parallel to that existed, and ti helped people connect with their Red Cross culture, but in the digital space.
The third insight was reading what George Siemens was writing in 2006.
That was the connection to complexity in networks.
I read Marsick and Watkins in the ’80s and ’90s, and then Siemens in the 2000s, on digital networks.
The Internet leads to a different kind of thinking, and his theory of learning, connectivism, grew out of that difference.
January of 201, Ivy League universities began to publish massive open online courses (MOOCs).
Stanford professors had 150,000 people in their artificial intelligence MOOC, versus 400 people who take the same course on the Stanford campus.
Sasha Poquet is developing a paper (still being written as of November 2023) based on a social networking analysis of what we did during the COVID-19 Scholar Peer Hub.
The COVID-19 Scholar Peer Hub was a digital network hosted by The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) and developed with health worker alumni from all over the world.
The Peer Hub launched in July 2020 and connected over 6,000 health professionals from 86 countries to contribute to strengthening skills and supporting implementation of country COVID-19 plans of action.
Using social network analysis (SNA), Poquet explored the value of a learning environment that builds a community of learning professionals, and that has ongoing activities to maintain the community both short- and long term, where you educate through various initiatives rather than create individual communities for each independent offering.
That’s where we have moved in rethinking Learning & Development.
You help people learn by connecting to each other, and by understanding the informal, incidental nature of learning.
A colleague commented that in today’s world, you’re better of talking about digital networks than you are about communities of practice.
Yet these are two competing frameworks that collide, contradict, and are superimposed on top of each other.
Both are helpful at specific times.
In general, you can recognize the tensions and say: “Well, let’s put each one in front of the problem. Let’s see what we gain by applying each. Let’s reconcile in situ what the contradictory things are that we learn through these different lenses and then make decisions and figure out what the design elements look like.”
What does it give to hold these notions of community and network in creative tension with one another?
It depends on the context.
It’s kind of like a fruit salad where you mix all these fruits together and the juice you get at the bottom of the bowl tends to be really delicious. That’s the best case.
The flip side can be confusion.
Some categories of learners just feel completely overwhelmed by being presented with multiple ways of doing something, having to make their own decisions in ways they’re simply not used to, being given too many choices or being put in contexts that are too ambiguous for there to be an easy resolution.
But if you think about the skills we need in a digital age—for navigating the unknown, accepting uncertainty, making decisions, that ability to look around the corner—we try to convey the message to people who are uncomfortable that if they don’t figure out how to overcome their discomfort, they’re probably going to struggle and not be ready to function in the age in which we live.
Evolution of the Model
Looking back to early 2020, Reda described the roots of this approach in an early pre-course symposium offering lived experiences shared by course applicants combined with video archives drawn from prior conferences sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Reda packaged selected talks in a daily sequence, and interspersed it with networking discussions and sharing of experiences of immunization training by field-based practitioners.
For many, it was the first time they could go online and discover the experience of a peer, who could be from anywhere in the world.
It was a process of discovery – realizing you can literally and figuratively connect across distance with people who are like yourself.
We were able to create a conference-like experience, a metaphor that’s familiar to many—the combination of presentation and conversation and shared experience – by basically Scotch-taping together some older videos and editing a few stories from the real world.
Now, it was part of an overall process over several years that got us to that point—where we had formed a community, a digital community that was mature enough, that was sophisticated enough, to overcome the barriers they were facing and participate.
But still, it showed it could be done.
We began to try out our new ideas.
In a Teach to Reach Conference we designed with an organizing committee composed of over 500 alumni, we set up opportunities for people to pair of and talk to one another about their field experiences with vaccination.
The conference offered some 56 workshops and formal sessions, but we discovered that the most meaningful learning was through some 14,000 networking meetings, where you pressed a button and you were randomly matched with someone else at the conference.
That gave birth to a quarterly event dedicated entirely to such networking, which has continued to grow.
People now joing a group session where you discuss, you hear people sharing their insights and experiences of vaccine hesitancy, and then you go off and network in one-to-one, private meetings and share your experience, nourished by what happened in that group session; and also continue your learning in that very intimate way that you get through individual conversation that you don’t get in the anonymization of the Zoom rectangles.
The next step was the addition of a project around a real problem that participants face, and use of learning resources to support work on that project.
An evaluation showed that people were already implementing projects and doing things with what they had learned.
The course includes the development of an action plan, but in order to catalyze action on project plans, we added the Ideas Engine, where people share ideas and practices, and give and receive feedback on them.
That’s followed by situation analysis really getting to the root cause of the problem they’re facing. We just ask learners to ask “why” fives times. Half of learners found a root cause different from the one they had initially diagnosed.
And third, then, is action planning to clarify: What’s your goal? What are three corrective actions you’re going to take? Do you have specific, measurable goals?
It has taken years to bring together the right components, in the right sequence, to encourage reflective practice, develop analytical competencies, higher-order learning… but in ways that link every step of thinking to doing, and where the end game is about improved health outcomes, not just learning outcomes.
That led us ultimately to the Impact Accelerator—that doesn’t have an end point.
It’s four weeks of goal setting, focused on continuous quality improvement.
People initially set broad goals like, “By the end of the month I will have improved immunization coverage.” This is too broad to be useful, and seldom can be achieved within a month.
We help them set specific goals. For example: “By the end of the month, I will have presented the project to my boss and secured some funding”— and even that may be very ambitious.
We help people figure out for themselves what they can actually do within the constraints they have.
Unlike “Grand Challenges” or other innovation tournaments, you don’t have a competitive element, you don’t have a financial incentive, and it still works.
The heart and soul of it is intrinsic motivation.
After these steps there’s ongoing longitudinal reporting.
Peer learning provides a new kind of accountability, as colleagues challenge each other to do better – and also to present credible results.
Basically, we’ll call you back and ask, what happened to that project you were doing? Did you finish it? Did you get stuck? if so, why? What evidence do you have that it’s made a difference? You share that with us and if you have good news to share, we’ll probably invite you to an inspirational event for the next cycle.
Supports and Challenges
If you look at this from the point of view of the learner, the first point of contact is social.
It’s somebody they know who’s going to share with them on WhatsApp the invitation to join the program.
Second are steps that test motivation and commitment because they could be seen as barriers to entry, for example, a long questionnaire for the current full learning cycle.
Close to 7,000 people have completed that.
About 40% of people who start the questionnaire finish it, and then start receiving instructions in a flow of emails, to prepare for the next steps.
We start with didactic steps, combined with some inspirational messages, e.g., asking them to reflect on why they are committed to the program, or how they are going to organize their time.
We don’t know what the program design will look like until we’ve collected the applications and analyzed what people share about their biggest challenges because it’s all challenge-based.
We think it’s vaccine hesitancy, and vaccine hesitancy is right up there, but there may be some things that surprise us.
And so, we adapt every part of the design, and we keep doing that every day throughout the program, so there’s no disconnect between the design and the implementation.
In the course, the first thing is an inspirational event to connect with their intrinsic motivation, which we mobilize throughout the cycle.
Yesterday, for example, we had an event for the network that completed the first part of the full learning cycle.
We challenged people to share photos, showing them in the field, doing their daily work during World Immunization Week.
We got over 1,000 photos in about two weeks.
We shared this with the community in a live event that was just sharing the photos with music and reading the names of the people, inviting them to comment each other’s photos.
A big chunk of what we do addresses the affective domain of learning that is critical to complex problem-solving and usually incredibly hard to get to.
And what we saw were people in the room having those moments of coming to consciousness, realizing their problems are shared, and feeling stronger because of it.
People love peer learning in principle but still are wary.
They might wonder how they can trust what their peer says: What’s the proof I can rely on them? What happens if they let me down? How do I feel if I don’t own up to the expectations? What if I’m peer-reviewing the work of somebody who’s far more experienced than I am, or conversely, if I read somebody’s work and judge they didn’t have the time or make the effort to do something good?
We use didactic constraints to create spaces of possibility: If your project is due by Friday, we announce that there will be no extension. By contrast, the choice of project is yours.
We’re not going to tell you from Geneva, Switzerland, what your challenge is in your remote village, so you define it. We will challenge you to put yourself to the test, to demonstrate that this is actually your toughest challenge.
Or to demonstrate that what you think is the cause is the actual root cause.
And then we’ll have a support system that has about 20 different ways in which people can not only receive support, but also give it to others.
For the technical support session, we’ll say there are two reasons for joining. Either you have a technical issue you want to solve; or you’re doing so well, you have a little bit of time to give to help your colleagues.
This is an example of how we encourage connections between peers. It took us years to find the right way to formulate the dialectic between those who are doing well, and those who are not. Are they really peers?
Over time, we gained confidence in peer learning after we adopted it. We had a particularly challenging course that led to a breakthrough.
We had prior experiences with learners who wanted an expert to tell them if their assignment was good or not.
Getting people to trust peer learning forced us to think through how we articulate the value of peer learning.
How do we help people understand that the limitations are there, but that they do not limit the learning? An assumption in global health is that, in order to teach, you need technical expertise. So if you are a technical expert, it is assumed that you can teach what you know.
We consider subject matter expertise, but if you are an expert and come to our event, you’re actually asked to listen.
You do not get to make a presentation, at least not until learners have experienced the power of peer leraning.
You listen to what people are sharing about their experiences, and then you have a really important role, that is, to respond to what you’ve heard and demonstrate that your expertise is relevant and helpful to people who are facing these challenges.
That has sometimes led to opposition when people understand to what extent we flipped the prevailing model around.
Some people really embrace it.
Others get really scared.
One of the most recent shifts we have made is that we stopped talking about courses.
Courses are a very useful metaphor, but we are now talking about a movement for immunization.
In the past, we observed that people who dropped out felt shame and stopped participating.
Even if you are not actively participating, you’re still a member of the immunization movement.
People have participated as health professionals, as government workers, as members of civil society, in various kinds of movements since decolonization.
So the “movement” metaphor has a different resonance than that of “courses”.
We used to call the Monday weekly meeting a discussion group.
We’re now calling it a weekly assembly.
It is a term that speaks to the religiosity of many learners, as well as to those with social commitments in their local communities.
About ten years ago, I began to think of my goal for these discussion groups like the musician, the artist that you most appreciate, who really moves your soul, moves you, your every fiber and your body and your soul and your mind.
I remember in 1989 I went to a Pink Floyd concert.
When we left the concert, we were drenched in sweat; we were exhausted and just had an exhilarating experience.
That’s what I would like people who participate in our events to feel.
I believe that’s key to fostering the dynamics that will lead to effective teaching and learning and change as an outcome.
We’re still light years away from that.
Recently, a global health researcher shared that when she joins our events, she feels like she is in church in her home country of Nigeria.
So, light years away, but making some progress.
#complexity #immunization #incidentalLearning #informalLearning #KarenEWatkins #PerformanceManagement #RethinkingWorkplaceLearningAndDevelopment #TheGenevaLearningFoundation #VictoriaJMarsick #workforceDevelopment
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The following is excerpted from Watkins, K.E. and Marsick, V.J., 2023. Chapter 4. Learning informally at work: Reframing learning and development. In Rethinking Workplace Learning and Development. Edward Elgar Publishing.
This chapter’s final example illustrates the way in which organically arising IIL (informal and incidental learning) is paired with opportunities to build knowledge through a combination of structured education and informal learning by peers working in frequently complex circumstances.
Reda Sadki, president of The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF), rethought L&D for immunization workers in many roles in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Adapting to technology available to participants from the countries that joined this effort, Sadki designed a mix of experiences that broke out of the limits of “training” as it was often designed.
He addressed, the inability to scale up to reach large audiences; difficulty to transfer what is learned; inability to accommodate different learners’ starting places; the need to teach learners to solve complex problems; and the inability to develop sufficient expertise in a timely way. (Marsick et al., 2021, p. 15)
TGLF invited learners to create and share new learning to the social and behavioral challenges faced by front-line staff from all levels of immunization systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
Sadki designed L&D for “in-depth engagement on priority topics,” insights into “the raw, unfiltered perspectives of frontline staff,” and peer dialogue that “gives a voice to front-line workers” (The Geneva Learning Foundation, 2022).
Reda started with an e-learning course, which he supplemented by interactive, community building, and knowledge creation features offered by Scholar, a learning platform developed by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis (Marsick et al., 2021, pp. 185-186).
Scholar’s data analytics enabled him to tailor learning to learner preferences and to continually check outcomes and adjust next steps.
See Figure 4.3, which lays out the full learning cycle Reda implemented to support peer learning-based work—“work that privileges learning in order to build individual and organizational capacity to better address emergent challenges or opportunities” (Marsick et al., 2021, p.177).
In his initiative, over a period of 12-18 months, participants develop and implement projects related to local immunization initiatives.
To date, participants have come from 120 countries.
In this vignette, Reda Sadki reflects on how the approach evolved over time, and how L&D has changed in a connected, networked learning environment.
My reframe of L&D started when I wrote to Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, respectively professor and dean of the University of Illinois College of Education, after I was appointed Senior Officer for Learning Systems at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). I shared my strategy for the organization of facilitation, learning, and sharing of knowledge. I thought my strategy was brilliant.
They replied that these were interesting ideas, but I was missing the point because this is not learning. What I shared focused on publishing knowledge in different ways, but not on creation of knowledge as key to the learning process.
That was a shock to me.
So, the first realization about the limits of current thinking about L&D came from Bill and Mary challenging me by saying: “What are people actually getting to do? You know, that’s where the learning is likely to happen.”
I could see they had a point, but I didn’t know what it meant.
I reflected on recent work I had done for the IFRC, where I was responsible for a pipeline of 80 or so e-learning modules.
These information transmission modules were extremely limited, had very little impact.
But there is a paradox, which is that people across the Red Cross who we were trying to reach were really excited and enthusiastic about them.
The learning platform had become the fastest-growing digital system in the entire Red Cross Red Crescent movement.
I had not designed these modules.
It was 500 screens of information with quizzes at the end.
It violated every principle of learning design.
And yet people loved it and were really proud to have completed it.
The second realization was that what made people excited using the most boring format and medium was that this was the first time in their life that they were connecting in a digital space with something that spoke to their IFRC experience.
So, the driver was learning. People come to the Red Cross and Red Crescent because they want to learn first aid skills.
They want to learn how to prepare for a disaster or recover from one.
Previously, that was an entirely brick-and-mortar experience.
You have Red Cross branches pretty much everywhere in the world.
It’s a very powerful social peer learning experience.
The trainer teaching you first aid is likely to be someone like you from your community.
You meet people with like-minded values.
It’s a really powerful model.
And so, however inadequate, the digital parallel to that existed, and ti helped people connect with their Red Cross culture, but in the digital space.
The third insight was reading what George Siemens was writing in 2006.
That was the connection to complexity in networks.
I read Marsick and Watkins in the ’80s and ’90s, and then Siemens in the 2000s, on digital networks.
The Internet leads to a different kind of thinking, and his theory of learning, connectivism, grew out of that difference.
January of 201, Ivy League universities began to publish massive open online courses (MOOCs).
Stanford professors had 150,000 people in their artificial intelligence MOOC, versus 400 people who take the same course on the Stanford campus.
Sasha Poquet is developing a paper (still being written as of November 2023) based on a social networking analysis of what we did during the COVID-19 Scholar Peer Hub.
The COVID-19 Scholar Peer Hub was a digital network hosted by The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) and developed with health worker alumni from all over the world.
The Peer Hub launched in July 2020 and connected over 6,000 health professionals from 86 countries to contribute to strengthening skills and supporting implementation of country COVID-19 plans of action.
Using social network analysis (SNA), Poquet explored the value of a learning environment that builds a community of learning professionals, and that has ongoing activities to maintain the community both short- and long term, where you educate through various initiatives rather than create individual communities for each independent offering.
That’s where we have moved in rethinking Learning & Development.
You help people learn by connecting to each other, and by understanding the informal, incidental nature of learning.
A colleague commented that in today’s world, you’re better of talking about digital networks than you are about communities of practice.
Yet these are two competing frameworks that collide, contradict, and are superimposed on top of each other.
Both are helpful at specific times.
In general, you can recognize the tensions and say: “Well, let’s put each one in front of the problem. Let’s see what we gain by applying each. Let’s reconcile in situ what the contradictory things are that we learn through these different lenses and then make decisions and figure out what the design elements look like.”
What does it give to hold these notions of community and network in creative tension with one another?
It depends on the context.
It’s kind of like a fruit salad where you mix all these fruits together and the juice you get at the bottom of the bowl tends to be really delicious. That’s the best case.
The flip side can be confusion.
Some categories of learners just feel completely overwhelmed by being presented with multiple ways of doing something, having to make their own decisions in ways they’re simply not used to, being given too many choices or being put in contexts that are too ambiguous for there to be an easy resolution.
But if you think about the skills we need in a digital age—for navigating the unknown, accepting uncertainty, making decisions, that ability to look around the corner—we try to convey the message to people who are uncomfortable that if they don’t figure out how to overcome their discomfort, they’re probably going to struggle and not be ready to function in the age in which we live.
Evolution of the Model
Looking back to early 2020, Reda described the roots of this approach in an early pre-course symposium offering lived experiences shared by course applicants combined with video archives drawn from prior conferences sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Reda packaged selected talks in a daily sequence, and interspersed it with networking discussions and sharing of experiences of immunization training by field-based practitioners.
For many, it was the first time they could go online and discover the experience of a peer, who could be from anywhere in the world.
It was a process of discovery – realizing you can literally and figuratively connect across distance with people who are like yourself.
We were able to create a conference-like experience, a metaphor that’s familiar to many—the combination of presentation and conversation and shared experience – by basically Scotch-taping together some older videos and editing a few stories from the real world.
Now, it was part of an overall process over several years that got us to that point—where we had formed a community, a digital community that was mature enough, that was sophisticated enough, to overcome the barriers they were facing and participate.
But still, it showed it could be done.
We began to try out our new ideas.
In a Teach to Reach Conference we designed with an organizing committee composed of over 500 alumni, we set up opportunities for people to pair of and talk to one another about their field experiences with vaccination.
The conference offered some 56 workshops and formal sessions, but we discovered that the most meaningful learning was through some 14,000 networking meetings, where you pressed a button and you were randomly matched with someone else at the conference.
That gave birth to a quarterly event dedicated entirely to such networking, which has continued to grow.
People now joing a group session where you discuss, you hear people sharing their insights and experiences of vaccine hesitancy, and then you go off and network in one-to-one, private meetings and share your experience, nourished by what happened in that group session; and also continue your learning in that very intimate way that you get through individual conversation that you don’t get in the anonymization of the Zoom rectangles.
The next step was the addition of a project around a real problem that participants face, and use of learning resources to support work on that project.
An evaluation showed that people were already implementing projects and doing things with what they had learned.
The course includes the development of an action plan, but in order to catalyze action on project plans, we added the Ideas Engine, where people share ideas and practices, and give and receive feedback on them.
That’s followed by situation analysis really getting to the root cause of the problem they’re facing. We just ask learners to ask “why” fives times. Half of learners found a root cause different from the one they had initially diagnosed.
And third, then, is action planning to clarify: What’s your goal? What are three corrective actions you’re going to take? Do you have specific, measurable goals?
It has taken years to bring together the right components, in the right sequence, to encourage reflective practice, develop analytical competencies, higher-order learning… but in ways that link every step of thinking to doing, and where the end game is about improved health outcomes, not just learning outcomes.
That led us ultimately to the Impact Accelerator—that doesn’t have an end point.
It’s four weeks of goal setting, focused on continuous quality improvement.
People initially set broad goals like, “By the end of the month I will have improved immunization coverage.” This is too broad to be useful, and seldom can be achieved within a month.
We help them set specific goals. For example: “By the end of the month, I will have presented the project to my boss and secured some funding”— and even that may be very ambitious.
We help people figure out for themselves what they can actually do within the constraints they have.
Unlike “Grand Challenges” or other innovation tournaments, you don’t have a competitive element, you don’t have a financial incentive, and it still works.
The heart and soul of it is intrinsic motivation.
After these steps there’s ongoing longitudinal reporting.
Peer learning provides a new kind of accountability, as colleagues challenge each other to do better – and also to present credible results.
Basically, we’ll call you back and ask, what happened to that project you were doing? Did you finish it? Did you get stuck? if so, why? What evidence do you have that it’s made a difference? You share that with us and if you have good news to share, we’ll probably invite you to an inspirational event for the next cycle.
Supports and Challenges
If you look at this from the point of view of the learner, the first point of contact is social.
It’s somebody they know who’s going to share with them on WhatsApp the invitation to join the program.
Second are steps that test motivation and commitment because they could be seen as barriers to entry, for example, a long questionnaire for the current full learning cycle.
Close to 7,000 people have completed that.
About 40% of people who start the questionnaire finish it, and then start receiving instructions in a flow of emails, to prepare for the next steps.
We start with didactic steps, combined with some inspirational messages, e.g., asking them to reflect on why they are committed to the program, or how they are going to organize their time.
We don’t know what the program design will look like until we’ve collected the applications and analyzed what people share about their biggest challenges because it’s all challenge-based.
We think it’s vaccine hesitancy, and vaccine hesitancy is right up there, but there may be some things that surprise us.
And so, we adapt every part of the design, and we keep doing that every day throughout the program, so there’s no disconnect between the design and the implementation.
In the course, the first thing is an inspirational event to connect with their intrinsic motivation, which we mobilize throughout the cycle.
Yesterday, for example, we had an event for the network that completed the first part of the full learning cycle.
We challenged people to share photos, showing them in the field, doing their daily work during World Immunization Week.
We got over 1,000 photos in about two weeks.
We shared this with the community in a live event that was just sharing the photos with music and reading the names of the people, inviting them to comment each other’s photos.
A big chunk of what we do addresses the affective domain of learning that is critical to complex problem-solving and usually incredibly hard to get to.
And what we saw were people in the room having those moments of coming to consciousness, realizing their problems are shared, and feeling stronger because of it.
People love peer learning in principle but still are wary.
They might wonder how they can trust what their peer says: What’s the proof I can rely on them? What happens if they let me down? How do I feel if I don’t own up to the expectations? What if I’m peer-reviewing the work of somebody who’s far more experienced than I am, or conversely, if I read somebody’s work and judge they didn’t have the time or make the effort to do something good?
We use didactic constraints to create spaces of possibility: If your project is due by Friday, we announce that there will be no extension. By contrast, the choice of project is yours.
We’re not going to tell you from Geneva, Switzerland, what your challenge is in your remote village, so you define it. We will challenge you to put yourself to the test, to demonstrate that this is actually your toughest challenge.
Or to demonstrate that what you think is the cause is the actual root cause.
And then we’ll have a support system that has about 20 different ways in which people can not only receive support, but also give it to others.
For the technical support session, we’ll say there are two reasons for joining. Either you have a technical issue you want to solve; or you’re doing so well, you have a little bit of time to give to help your colleagues.
This is an example of how we encourage connections between peers. It took us years to find the right way to formulate the dialectic between those who are doing well, and those who are not. Are they really peers?
Over time, we gained confidence in peer learning after we adopted it. We had a particularly challenging course that led to a breakthrough.
We had prior experiences with learners who wanted an expert to tell them if their assignment was good or not.
Getting people to trust peer learning forced us to think through how we articulate the value of peer learning.
How do we help people understand that the limitations are there, but that they do not limit the learning? An assumption in global health is that, in order to teach, you need technical expertise. So if you are a technical expert, it is assumed that you can teach what you know.
We consider subject matter expertise, but if you are an expert and come to our event, you’re actually asked to listen.
You do not get to make a presentation, at least not until learners have experienced the power of peer leraning.
You listen to what people are sharing about their experiences, and then you have a really important role, that is, to respond to what you’ve heard and demonstrate that your expertise is relevant and helpful to people who are facing these challenges.
That has sometimes led to opposition when people understand to what extent we flipped the prevailing model around.
Some people really embrace it.
Others get really scared.
One of the most recent shifts we have made is that we stopped talking about courses.
Courses are a very useful metaphor, but we are now talking about a movement for immunization.
In the past, we observed that people who dropped out felt shame and stopped participating.
Even if you are not actively participating, you’re still a member of the immunization movement.
People have participated as health professionals, as government workers, as members of civil society, in various kinds of movements since decolonization.
So the “movement” metaphor has a different resonance than that of “courses”.
We used to call the Monday weekly meeting a discussion group.
We’re now calling it a weekly assembly.
It is a term that speaks to the religiosity of many learners, as well as to those with social commitments in their local communities.
About ten years ago, I began to think of my goal for these discussion groups like the musician, the artist that you most appreciate, who really moves your soul, moves you, your every fiber and your body and your soul and your mind.
I remember in 1989 I went to a Pink Floyd concert.
When we left the concert, we were drenched in sweat; we were exhausted and just had an exhilarating experience.
That’s what I would like people who participate in our events to feel.
I believe that’s key to fostering the dynamics that will lead to effective teaching and learning and change as an outcome.
We’re still light years away from that.
Recently, a global health researcher shared that when she joins our events, she feels like she is in church in her home country of Nigeria.
So, light years away, but making some progress.
#complexity #immunization #incidentalLearning #informalLearning #KarenEWatkins #PerformanceManagement #RethinkingWorkplaceLearningAndDevelopment #TheGenevaLearningFoundation #VictoriaJMarsick #workforceDevelopment
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A digital human knowledge and action network of health workers: Challenging established notions of learning in global health
When Prof Rupert Wegerif introduced DEFI in his blog post, he argued that recent technologies will transform the notions and practice of education. The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) is demonstrating this concept in the field of global health, specifically immunization, through the ongoing engagement of thousands of health workers in digital peer learning.
As images of ambulance queues across Europe filled TV screens in 2020, another discussion was starting: how would COVID-19 affect countries with weaker health systems but more experience in facing epidemic outbreaks?
In the global immunization community, there were early signs that ongoing efforts to protect children from vaccine preventable diseases – measles, polio, diphtheria – would suffer. On the ground, there were early reports of health workers being afraid to work, being excluded by communities, or having key supplies disrupted. The TGLF quickly realised it had a role to play in ensuring that routine immunization would carry on in the Global South during the pandemic and then to prepare for COVID-19 vaccine introduction.
Peer learning vs hierarchical, transmissive learning models
Since 2016, TGLF had been slowly gaining traction in the world of immunization learning, with its digital peer learning programmes for immunization staff. These programmes reached around 15,000 people in their first four years, before the pandemic, about 70% of whom were from West and Central Africa, and about 50% of whom work at the lowest levels of health systems: health facilities and districts.
The TGLF peer learning programmes were developed as an alternative to hierarchical, transmissive learning models, in which knowledge is developed centrally, translated into guidance by global experts, which is then disseminated through cascade training.
In the hierarchical model, health workers are merely consumers at the periphery of the process. COVID-19 brought the inadequacies of this approach into sharper focus, as health workers dealt with challenges that had not been foreseen or processed through existing guidance.
No technical guidance could address every scenario health workers faced, such as reaching the most marginalised communities or engaging terrified parents at a time when science had few reassuring answers. They needed to be creative and empowered to find their own solutions. Health professionals learned to rely on each other as peers, learning from each other how to negotiate many unknowns, without waiting for the answers provided by formal science.
The TGLF approach quickly demonstrated its usefulness in connecting peers during the pandemic. In 2020, the number of platform users doubled to 30,000 in just six months (compared to four years to gain the first 15,000 users) and has now trebled to 45,000.
Adoption doubled from 15,000 pre-pandemic users to 30,000 users in the first six months of the pandemic. It now stands at 45,000 in 2022.
Addressing Covid-19 impacts through challenge-based learning
The foundation of the TGLF approach was the COVID-19 Peer Hub, an 8-month project based on challenge-based learning, which challenged individuals to give and receive feedback as they collaborated to:
- Identify a real challenge that they were expected to address in their everyday work
- Carry out situation analysis, and
- Develop action plans that are peer-reviewed and improved.
The Peer Hub was inspired by the works of several of academics who helped create the Foundation: Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, and their technological implementation of “New Learning;” George Siemens’ learning theory of connectivism; and Karen E. Watkins and Victoria Marsick’s insights into the significance of incidental and informal learning.
The Peer Hub demonstrated the creation of a “human knowledge and action network” formed through both formal and informal peer learning combined with ongoing informal social learning between participants. The network was built on the principle that participants were themselves experts in their own contexts, and creators, rather than consumers, of knowledge. Front-line health workers suddenly had the legitimacy and ability to share experiences with their peers and experts from around the globe.
In the first ten days, COVID-19 Peer Hub participants shared 1224 ideas and practices through the Ideas Engine, an online innovation management tool.
Results of peer-led, challenge-based learning interventions
More than 6,000 health workers joined the TGLF COVID-19 Peer Hub, where they:
- Documented and shared 1,224 practices and ideas to maintain routine immunization through the Ideas Engine;
- Developed 700 peer-reviewed action plans, informed by ideas and practices shared through the Ideas Engine;
- Learned to support each other in implementing these plans during a four-week “Impact Accelerator Launchpad;”
- Responded to concerns about vaccine hesitancy in the face of COVID-19 vaccine introduction, by developing a peer-reviewed case study documenting a situation in which they had helped an individual or group overcome their initial reluctance, hesitancy, or fear about vaccination. The resulting qualitative analysis – unique in accessing so many firsthand narratives from health workers – was produced by 734 participants.
Assessing the value of peer-led learning in a global vaccine education programme
The next challenge for TGLF was how to document and capture the value of this? Most of what was shared between peers was not new or innovative at a global level – but this did not make it less useful to the individual practitioner who had not encountered it before. How to account for the sense of identity, community and solidarity arising from peer learning that gives health workers the confidence and motivation to try new things? How to make a link between investment in peer learning, and children immunized?
“Participation in the Peer Hub has motivated me to organize my district to implement actions developed. It has also encouraged me to invite many Immunization Officers to learn the experiences from other countries to improve country immunization sessions”
Peer Hub participant
Tracking movement of practices and ideas shared through the Ideas Engine between countries
Because while health workers responded positively to opportunities to connect, learn and lead with one another, TGLF is very much a new entrant in a well-established institutional learning environment for global health. Here are some questions we’ve developed as TGLF challenges established norms and ways of working:
- How would you feel as a global expert if you were asked to give up your role as ‘sage on the stage’ to be a ‘guide on the side’ to thousands of health workers?
- Can self-reported data from thousands of health workers evaluated by peers be trusted more or less than a peer-reviewed study?
- What does ubiquitous digital access mean for training programmes that have previously incentivised learner participation in face-to-face events through payment?
“I can actually broaden my vision and be more imaginative, creative towards new ideas that have come up to improve overall immunization coverage.” – Peer Hub participant
Working with DEFI and other similar institutions, TGLF looks forward to:
- Exploring and demonstrating the credibility of what we do through critical independent research and commentary
- Demonstrating the potential of our approaches to large institutions and their donors;
- Developing a bigger picture of how other sectors are adapting to the affordances of digital learning technologies;
- Meeting others innovating in digital learning to be inspired and cross fertilise.
We look forward to fruitful dialogues!
Ian Steed, Associate, Hughes Hall
Ian works as a consultant in the international humanitarian and development sector, focusing on the policy and practice of ‘localising’ international aid. In addition to his work with TGLF, Ian is involved with financial sustainability in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and is founder and board member of the Cambridge Humanitarian Centre (now the Centre for Global Equality). He studied German and Dutch at Jesus College, Cambridge, and has lived and worked in Germany and Switzerland.https://redasadki.me/2022/09/16/digital-challenge-based-learning-in-the-covid-19-peer-hub/
#CollectiveIntelligence #COVID19PeerHub #DEFI #TheGenevaLearningFoundation
-
A digital human knowledge and action network of health workers: Challenging established notions of learning in global health
When Prof Rupert Wegerif introduced DEFI in his blog post, he argued that recent technologies will transform the notions and practice of education. The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) is demonstrating this concept in the field of global health, specifically immunization, through the ongoing engagement of thousands of health workers in digital peer learning.
As images of ambulance queues across Europe filled TV screens in 2020, another discussion was starting: how would COVID-19 affect countries with weaker health systems but more experience in facing epidemic outbreaks?
In the global immunization community, there were early signs that ongoing efforts to protect children from vaccine preventable diseases – measles, polio, diphtheria – would suffer. On the ground, there were early reports of health workers being afraid to work, being excluded by communities, or having key supplies disrupted. The TGLF quickly realised it had a role to play in ensuring that routine immunization would carry on in the Global South during the pandemic and then to prepare for COVID-19 vaccine introduction.
Peer learning vs hierarchical, transmissive learning models
Since 2016, TGLF had been slowly gaining traction in the world of immunization learning, with its digital peer learning programmes for immunization staff. These programmes reached around 15,000 people in their first four years, before the pandemic, about 70% of whom were from West and Central Africa, and about 50% of whom work at the lowest levels of health systems: health facilities and districts.
The TGLF peer learning programmes were developed as an alternative to hierarchical, transmissive learning models, in which knowledge is developed centrally, translated into guidance by global experts, which is then disseminated through cascade training.
In the hierarchical model, health workers are merely consumers at the periphery of the process. COVID-19 brought the inadequacies of this approach into sharper focus, as health workers dealt with challenges that had not been foreseen or processed through existing guidance.
No technical guidance could address every scenario health workers faced, such as reaching the most marginalised communities or engaging terrified parents at a time when science had few reassuring answers. They needed to be creative and empowered to find their own solutions. Health professionals learned to rely on each other as peers, learning from each other how to negotiate many unknowns, without waiting for the answers provided by formal science.
The TGLF approach quickly demonstrated its usefulness in connecting peers during the pandemic. In 2020, the number of platform users doubled to 30,000 in just six months (compared to four years to gain the first 15,000 users) and has now trebled to 45,000.
Adoption doubled from 15,000 pre-pandemic users to 30,000 users in the first six months of the pandemic. It now stands at 45,000 in 2022.
Addressing Covid-19 impacts through challenge-based learning
The foundation of the TGLF approach was the COVID-19 Peer Hub, an 8-month project based on challenge-based learning, which challenged individuals to give and receive feedback as they collaborated to:
- Identify a real challenge that they were expected to address in their everyday work
- Carry out situation analysis, and
- Develop action plans that are peer-reviewed and improved.
The Peer Hub was inspired by the works of several of academics who helped create the Foundation: Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, and their technological implementation of “New Learning;” George Siemens’ learning theory of connectivism; and Karen E. Watkins and Victoria Marsick’s insights into the significance of incidental and informal learning.
The Peer Hub demonstrated the creation of a “human knowledge and action network” formed through both formal and informal peer learning combined with ongoing informal social learning between participants. The network was built on the principle that participants were themselves experts in their own contexts, and creators, rather than consumers, of knowledge. Front-line health workers suddenly had the legitimacy and ability to share experiences with their peers and experts from around the globe.
In the first ten days, COVID-19 Peer Hub participants shared 1224 ideas and practices through the Ideas Engine, an online innovation management tool.
Results of peer-led, challenge-based learning interventions
More than 6,000 health workers joined the TGLF COVID-19 Peer Hub, where they:
- Documented and shared 1,224 practices and ideas to maintain routine immunization through the Ideas Engine;
- Developed 700 peer-reviewed action plans, informed by ideas and practices shared through the Ideas Engine;
- Learned to support each other in implementing these plans during a four-week “Impact Accelerator Launchpad;”
- Responded to concerns about vaccine hesitancy in the face of COVID-19 vaccine introduction, by developing a peer-reviewed case study documenting a situation in which they had helped an individual or group overcome their initial reluctance, hesitancy, or fear about vaccination. The resulting qualitative analysis – unique in accessing so many firsthand narratives from health workers – was produced by 734 participants.
Assessing the value of peer-led learning in a global vaccine education programme
The next challenge for TGLF was how to document and capture the value of this? Most of what was shared between peers was not new or innovative at a global level – but this did not make it less useful to the individual practitioner who had not encountered it before. How to account for the sense of identity, community and solidarity arising from peer learning that gives health workers the confidence and motivation to try new things? How to make a link between investment in peer learning, and children immunized?
“Participation in the Peer Hub has motivated me to organize my district to implement actions developed. It has also encouraged me to invite many Immunization Officers to learn the experiences from other countries to improve country immunization sessions”
Peer Hub participant
Tracking movement of practices and ideas shared through the Ideas Engine between countries
Because while health workers responded positively to opportunities to connect, learn and lead with one another, TGLF is very much a new entrant in a well-established institutional learning environment for global health. Here are some questions we’ve developed as TGLF challenges established norms and ways of working:
- How would you feel as a global expert if you were asked to give up your role as ‘sage on the stage’ to be a ‘guide on the side’ to thousands of health workers?
- Can self-reported data from thousands of health workers evaluated by peers be trusted more or less than a peer-reviewed study?
- What does ubiquitous digital access mean for training programmes that have previously incentivised learner participation in face-to-face events through payment?
“I can actually broaden my vision and be more imaginative, creative towards new ideas that have come up to improve overall immunization coverage.” – Peer Hub participant
Working with DEFI and other similar institutions, TGLF looks forward to:
- Exploring and demonstrating the credibility of what we do through critical independent research and commentary
- Demonstrating the potential of our approaches to large institutions and their donors;
- Developing a bigger picture of how other sectors are adapting to the affordances of digital learning technologies;
- Meeting others innovating in digital learning to be inspired and cross fertilise.
We look forward to fruitful dialogues!
Ian Steed, Associate, Hughes Hall
Ian works as a consultant in the international humanitarian and development sector, focusing on the policy and practice of ‘localising’ international aid. In addition to his work with TGLF, Ian is involved with financial sustainability in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and is founder and board member of the Cambridge Humanitarian Centre (now the Centre for Global Equality). He studied German and Dutch at Jesus College, Cambridge, and has lived and worked in Germany and Switzerland.https://redasadki.me/2022/09/16/digital-challenge-based-learning-in-the-covid-19-peer-hub/
#CollectiveIntelligence #COVID19PeerHub #DEFI #TheGenevaLearningFoundation
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The Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) and the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 represent two interconnected but distinct aspects of a global effort to enhance immunization coverage and impact.
What is Immunization Agenda 2030?
Immunization Agenda 2030 or “IA2030” is a global strategy endorsed by the World Health Assembly, aiming to maximize the lifesaving impact of vaccines over the decade from 2021 to 2030.
- It sets an ambitious vision for a world where everyone, everywhere, at every age, fully benefits from vaccines for good health and well-being.
- The strategy was designed before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of saving 50 million lives through increased vaccine coverage and addresses several strategic priorities, including making immunization services accessible as part of primary care, ensuring everyone is protected by immunization regardless of location or socioeconomic status, and preparing for disease outbreaks.
- IA2030 emphasizes country ownership, broad partnerships, and data-driven approaches. It seeks to integrate immunization with other essential health services, ensuring a reliable supply of vaccines and promoting innovation in immunization programs.
Watch the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) inaugural lecture by Anne Lindstrand (WHO) and Robin Nandy (UNICEF)
What is the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030?
The Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030, on the other hand, is a collaborative, community-driven effort to operationalize the goals of IA2030 at the local, national, and global levels.
It emerged in response to the Director-General’s call for a “groundswell of support” for immunization and combines a network, platform, and community of action.
The Movement focuses on turning the commitment to IA2030 into locally-led, context-specific actions, encouraging peer exchange, and sharing progress and results to foster a sense of ownership among immunization practitioners and the communities they serve. It has:
- has demonstrated a scalable model for facilitating peer exchange among thousands of motivated immunization practitioners.
- emphasizes locally-developed solutions, connecting local innovation to global knowledge, and is instrumental in resuscitating progress towards more equitable immunization coverage.
- operates as a platform for learning, sharing, and collaboration, aiming to ground action in local realities to reach the unreached and accelerate progress towards the IA2030 goals.
In April 2021, over 5,000 immunization professionals came together during World Immunization Week to listen and learn from challenges faced by immunization colleagues from all over the world. Watch the Special Event to hear practitioners from all over the world share the challenges they face. Learn more…
What is the difference between the Agenda for IA2030 and the Movement for IA2030?
- Scope and Nature: IA2030 is a strategic framework with a global vision for immunization over the decade, while the Movement for IA2030 is a dynamic, community-driven effort to implement that vision through local action and global collaboration.
- Operational Focus: IA2030 outlines the strategic priorities and goals for immunization efforts by global funders and agencies, whereas the Movement focuses on mobilizing support, facilitating peer learning, and sharing innovative practices to achieve those goals.
- Engagement and Collaboration: While IA2030 is a product of global consensus and sets the agenda for immunization, the Movement actively engages immunization professionals, stakeholders, and communities in a bottom-up approach to foster ownership and tailor strategies to local contexts.
What is the role of The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF)?
The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) plays a pivotal role in facilitating the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030). A Swiss non-profit organization with the mission to research and develop new ways to learn and lead, TGLF is instrumental in implementing large-scale, collaborative efforts to support the goals of IA2030. Here are the key roles TGLF fulfills within the Movement:
- Facilitation and leadership: TGLF leads the facilitation of the Movement for IA2030, providing a platform for immunization professionals to collaborate, share knowledge, and drive action towards the IA2030 goals.
- Learning-to-action approach: TGLF contributes to transforming technical assistance (TA) to strengthen immunization programs. This involves challenging traditional power dynamics and empowering immunization professionals to apply local knowledge to solve problems, support peers in doing the same, and contribute to global knowledge.
- Peer learning scaffolding and facilitation: TGLF has demonstrated the feasibility of establishing a global peer learning platform for immunization practitioners. This platform enables health professionals to contribute knowledge, share experiences, and learn from each other, thereby fostering a community of practice that spans across borders.
- Advocacy and mobilization: TGLF calls on immunization professionals to join the Movement for IA2030, aiming to mobilize a global community to share experiences and work collaboratively towards the IA2030 objectives. This includes engaging over 60,000 immunization professionals from 99 countries.
- Governance, code of conduct, and ethical standards: Participants in TGLF’s programs are required to adhere to a strict Code of Conduct that emphasizes integrity, honesty, and the highest ethical, scientific, and intellectual standards. This includes accurate attribution of sources and appropriate collection and use of data. Movement Members are also expected respect and abide by any restrictions, requirements, and regulations of their employer and government.
- Research and evaluation: TGLF may facilitate the connections between peers, for example to help them give and receive feedback on their local projects and other knowledge produced by learners. Insights and evidence from local action may also contribute in communication, advocacy, and training efforts. TGLF also invites learners to participate in research and evaluation to further the understanding of effective learning and performance management approaches for frontline health workers.
https://redasadki.me/2022/06/20/what-is-the-movement-for-immunization-agenda-2030-ia2030/
#AnnLindstrand #IA2030 #immunization #ImmunizationAgenda2030 #MovementForImmunizationAgenda2030 #peerLearning #RobinNandy #TheGenevaLearningFoundation
-
The Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) and the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 represent two interconnected but distinct aspects of a global effort to enhance immunization coverage and impact.
What is Immunization Agenda 2030?
Immunization Agenda 2030 or “IA2030” is a global strategy endorsed by the World Health Assembly, aiming to maximize the lifesaving impact of vaccines over the decade from 2021 to 2030.
- It sets an ambitious vision for a world where everyone, everywhere, at every age, fully benefits from vaccines for good health and well-being.
- The strategy was designed before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of saving 50 million lives through increased vaccine coverage and addresses several strategic priorities, including making immunization services accessible as part of primary care, ensuring everyone is protected by immunization regardless of location or socioeconomic status, and preparing for disease outbreaks.
- IA2030 emphasizes country ownership, broad partnerships, and data-driven approaches. It seeks to integrate immunization with other essential health services, ensuring a reliable supply of vaccines and promoting innovation in immunization programs.
Watch the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) inaugural lecture by Anne Lindstrand (WHO) and Robin Nandy (UNICEF)
What is the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030?
The Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030, on the other hand, is a collaborative, community-driven effort to operationalize the goals of IA2030 at the local, national, and global levels.
It emerged in response to the Director-General’s call for a “groundswell of support” for immunization and combines a network, platform, and community of action.
The Movement focuses on turning the commitment to IA2030 into locally-led, context-specific actions, encouraging peer exchange, and sharing progress and results to foster a sense of ownership among immunization practitioners and the communities they serve. It has:
- has demonstrated a scalable model for facilitating peer exchange among thousands of motivated immunization practitioners.
- emphasizes locally-developed solutions, connecting local innovation to global knowledge, and is instrumental in resuscitating progress towards more equitable immunization coverage.
- operates as a platform for learning, sharing, and collaboration, aiming to ground action in local realities to reach the unreached and accelerate progress towards the IA2030 goals.
In April 2021, over 5,000 immunization professionals came together during World Immunization Week to listen and learn from challenges faced by immunization colleagues from all over the world. Watch the Special Event to hear practitioners from all over the world share the challenges they face. Learn more…
What is the difference between the Agenda for IA2030 and the Movement for IA2030?
- Scope and Nature: IA2030 is a strategic framework with a global vision for immunization over the decade, while the Movement for IA2030 is a dynamic, community-driven effort to implement that vision through local action and global collaboration.
- Operational Focus: IA2030 outlines the strategic priorities and goals for immunization efforts by global funders and agencies, whereas the Movement focuses on mobilizing support, facilitating peer learning, and sharing innovative practices to achieve those goals.
- Engagement and Collaboration: While IA2030 is a product of global consensus and sets the agenda for immunization, the Movement actively engages immunization professionals, stakeholders, and communities in a bottom-up approach to foster ownership and tailor strategies to local contexts.
What is the role of The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF)?
The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) plays a pivotal role in facilitating the Movement for Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030). A Swiss non-profit organization with the mission to research and develop new ways to learn and lead, TGLF is instrumental in implementing large-scale, collaborative efforts to support the goals of IA2030. Here are the key roles TGLF fulfills within the Movement:
- Facilitation and leadership: TGLF leads the facilitation of the Movement for IA2030, providing a platform for immunization professionals to collaborate, share knowledge, and drive action towards the IA2030 goals.
- Learning-to-action approach: TGLF contributes to transforming technical assistance (TA) to strengthen immunization programs. This involves challenging traditional power dynamics and empowering immunization professionals to apply local knowledge to solve problems, support peers in doing the same, and contribute to global knowledge.
- Peer learning scaffolding and facilitation: TGLF has demonstrated the feasibility of establishing a global peer learning platform for immunization practitioners. This platform enables health professionals to contribute knowledge, share experiences, and learn from each other, thereby fostering a community of practice that spans across borders.
- Advocacy and mobilization: TGLF calls on immunization professionals to join the Movement for IA2030, aiming to mobilize a global community to share experiences and work collaboratively towards the IA2030 objectives. This includes engaging over 60,000 immunization professionals from 99 countries.
- Governance, code of conduct, and ethical standards: Participants in TGLF’s programs are required to adhere to a strict Code of Conduct that emphasizes integrity, honesty, and the highest ethical, scientific, and intellectual standards. This includes accurate attribution of sources and appropriate collection and use of data. Movement Members are also expected respect and abide by any restrictions, requirements, and regulations of their employer and government.
- Research and evaluation: TGLF may facilitate the connections between peers, for example to help them give and receive feedback on their local projects and other knowledge produced by learners. Insights and evidence from local action may also contribute in communication, advocacy, and training efforts. TGLF also invites learners to participate in research and evaluation to further the understanding of effective learning and performance management approaches for frontline health workers.
https://redasadki.me/2022/06/20/what-is-the-movement-for-immunization-agenda-2030-ia2030/
#AnnLindstrand #IA2030 #immunization #ImmunizationAgenda2030 #MovementForImmunizationAgenda2030 #peerLearning #RobinNandy #TheGenevaLearningFoundation