Expanding the Ivory TowerCreating Educational Partnerships for Global Health

Dilemma: Engaging Students in Program Design•Educational

value beyond the transfer of essential knowledge

IH 744 Program Design for International Health- Objectives•Learn essential elements of program design &

proposal development•Learn to translate evidence based results to

action•Build team skills & learn from each other•Build confidence in professional skills

Expanding the Ivory Tower: Value Added Objectives•Foster real world

application of foundational knowledge

•Provide professional networking opportunities

•Form mutually beneficial practice-educational partnerships

• Add photo here

•Small NGO•Clear mission

and objectives•Willing to

partner

Partnership in Action•Student consultants to COHI• Learned COHI’s mission &

priorities•Researched areas for

potential expansion• Identified funding sources•Researched, designed, &

wrote program proposal•Presented proposals to COHI

Our Partner: Circle of Health International (COHI)•Mission: Working with women and

their communities in times of crisis and disaster to ensure access to quality reproductive, maternal and newborn care

•Founded in 2004 by BUSPH Alum

Results of the Partnership: Our Partner’s Perspective

•Provided potential programs for future work•Continued support of COHI in a volunteer

fashion amongst BU students•Provided quality work that COHI could not

complete, given limited means/personnel•Allowed for positive feedback on current COHI

projects and ideas for programming

Results of the partnership: Our students perspective

• Fully engaged in the learning process

• Confident of newly acquired skills

• Achieved learning objectives

BUSPH Summer Class Partners with NGO on Global Health Programming

Sofia Redford (left) and Joy Nolte present a poster

of the program they created for Circle of Health

International as part of the course IH 744:

Design & Implementation of International Health

Programs.

The Boston University School of Public Health students enrolled in this summer's IH 744: Design & Implementation of International Health Programs course may have completed their class assignments and turned in their final projects, but their work may not be done just yet.

For the course, students partnered with Circle of Health International (COHI), a non-profit that builds the capacity of women's healthcare providers in crisis settings around the world, to work as programming consultants for the organization. Their charge: design a program that COHI could implement in an international setting that addresses maternal mortality. The final outcome of their work could potentially be implemented on the ground by COHI.

BUSPH The Insider, Michelle Salzman, June 2010

Student Feedback on the Course•Real-world connection▫ “Having us develop an intervention program for COHI gave us all far

greater incentive and ownership over the work we produced”▫ “I really felt like a consultant and like what I was doing was

important and valuable. This was learn-by-doing to its ultimate extent”

•Multiple professional skills▫ “This class builds strengths of students on many levels.... a host of

valuable skills that can and will be used in a professional life of a student”

•Depth of student engagement▫ “…suggest that students stock up their refrigerators, and make sure

they have two-weeks worth of clean clothing because there will not be time to do much other than IH744 work”

Academic Benefits•Fully engaged &

motivated students•Meets practice-based

criteria•Opportunity to mentor

students•Students perform

above & beyond the norm

Expanding the Ivory Tower: Application•Fostering connections in the

professional world •Small businesses and organizations▫Benefit from the students’ work ▫Willing partners

•mutually benefit both students and partners

James Wolff – jwolff@bu.eduMonita Baba Djara – monitab@bu.edu

Leilani Johnson - leilani@cohintl.org

Thank you!