Country Leadership Programs and Databases
Date: Ongoing
WHO CC involvement: Michele Rumsey, Professor John Daly, Professor James Buchan, Professor Caroline Homer, Assoc. Professor Lin Lock, Jodi Thiessen, Amanda Neill in partnership with SPCNMOA
This Australian Awards Fellowship (AAF) program funded by DFAT is developed by the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Development at University of Technology Sydney in close collaboration with the South Pacific Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers Alliance (SPCNMOA).
Fellows work with a Mentor and member of SPCNMOA who is a leader in a position of influence in their country. This model is designed to promote relevant and sustainable nursing and midwifery activities for population health in the Fellows’ home countries. While in Australia, Fellows gain valuable insight and learning from each other and from internationally renowned health experts while they further develop their country-specific action plans. Many workshops take place with highlights including:
- Project planning, development and implementation
- Data searching and retrieval
- Personal appraisal of leadership development
- Working with international agencies and international policy development
- Leadership in different cultural contexts and negotiating conflict
The aim of the Australian Awards Fellowship program is to strengthen regional relationships and build leadership capacity. This was achieved by working closely with the counterpart organization, The South Pacific Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers Alliance (SPCNMOA) and senior nurses and midwives in Pacific countries to develop and provide a regional skills development program. The SPCNMOA identified the following five priority areas around which the program was developed; leadership, policy development and implementation, human resources for health (HRH), regulation and data literacy for decision-making.
The program objectives were designed to increase local capacity to meet changing population and health system needs by providing tools and strategies and developing supportive nursing and midwifery networks across the region. These objectives were also met by facilitating the development and implementation of Action Plans in the priority areas which were relevant to the participating countries health development plans as they were specifically chosen by the Fellows in conjunction with their in-country mentors.
The impact of these courses and events will aid the ongoing aim of the WHO CC UTS to contribute to building leadership capacity within the region. New leadership relationships have been formed at country and regional levels through this program. With continuing programs, a critical mass of nursing and midwifery leaders across the South Pacific countries can be attained.
So far, since 2009 the program has facilitated 103 Pacific health leaders.
2016
The countries with representatives in attendance: Fiji, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, and Tuvalu.
Professor James Buchan is the Adjunct Professor of the WHO CC UTS, and specialises in developing strategic intelligence and policy advice at national level and internationally on the human resources for health (HRH) implications of health sector organisation and healthcare reform; performance management, labour market analysis; and skill mix/ extended roles.
Among much global human resources for health work, Professor Buchan has advised the Ministry of Health in Malaysia on the development of a HRH Masterplan for the country; contributed to a high level policy round table on the recruitment and retention of primary care workers in remote areas in China; and advised the Ministry of Health in Moldova on the development of a national HRH strategy. He was involved in the program of work on HRH for the WHO Offices for South East Asia region, and for Europe including developing a policy report on health workforce sustainability for the WHO Europe Regional Committee in Lithuania. He also undertook consultancies for World Bank in India and advised on organisation and remuneration of primary care workers in Latvia. Professor Buchan participated in the convening of a WHO Expert Advisory Group Meeting to address the relevance and effectiveness of the WHO Global Code of Practice on international recruitment of health personnel, representing the WHO CC UTS.
2015
The countries with representatives in attendance: Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, Kiribati, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea
In 2015, the program was held in June at UTS and was again a success with a variety of speakers contributing to the event. Fellows created an action plan relevant to the healthcare system needs of their respective countries. Once again, the fellows provided much positive feedback:
"This is a very good program that supports Pacific Island Nations in providing information and assistance to develop a project plan to address issues in the health care setting. I would like to encourage the continuation of this project in years ahead."
AAF Round 15 Fellow, 2015 (Niue)
The WHO CC UTS remains in contact with the fellows as they implement their action plans formulated during the AAF Program in Sydney.
The DFAT AAF program strengthens regional relationships and builds leadership capacity in participating countries. These aims are achieved by working closely with the counterpart organisation, SPCNMOA, and senior nurses and midwives in Pacific countries to develop and provide regional skills development programs.
Projects from the 2015 AAF include:
Strengthening palliative care services
- Guidelines on support supervisory tools
- Standard operating procedures: triage outpatient department Niue Hospital
- Preceptorship training
- Development of Tongan Nurses Code of Ethics
- Staff attitudes to work
The WHO CC UTS is continuing to receive positive feedback from participants of the AAF program, and has already witnessed career successes from previous fellows who have attained high level nursing and midwifery positions.
The impact of these courses and events will aid the ongoing aim of the WHO CC UTS to build leadership capacity within the region. New leadership relationships have been formed at country and regional levels through this program. With continuing programs, a critical mass of nursing and midwifery leaders across the South Pacific countries can be attained. There are now two established programs – leadership and faculty development – further courses can be implemented as required. Projects will continue to be aligned with WHO strategic directions for strengthening nursing and midwifery services, particularly those related to universal health coverage.
2014
The countries with representatives in attendance: Fiji, Samoa, Tuvalu, Nauru, Tokelau, and Solomon Islands attended and this year, WHO funded a 13th Fellow, from Samoa
An evening reception was held at UTS honouring the former Samoan Chief Nurse, Professor Pelenatete Stowers. This event allowed valuable time for the fellows to celebrate advances in nursing and midwifery with international health leaders. The reception also provided a platform for building professional networks to promote partnership for health in the region.
Since their return home Fellows have submitted reports on achievements to date on their nominated projects and have benefitted by sharing the experiences and wisdom of the Mentors who are members of the SPCNMOA.
2013
The countries with representatives in attendance: Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu
2012
The countries with representatives in attendance: Fiji, Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu
In 2012, there was also a secondary program specifically aimed towards faculty development. The institutions with representatives in attendance: University of Papua New Guinea, St Barnabas School of Nursing (Alotau), Nazaren School of Nursing, St Mary's School of Nursing (Vunapope), Lae School of Nursing, Goroka School of Nursing, University of Goroka, Mendi School of Nursing, Lutheran School of Nursing and Pacific Adventist University.
2011
The countries with representatives in attendance: Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu
2009
The countries with representatives in attendance: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau and Tonga