Project Background
Partners In Health (PIH) is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to providing high-quality healthcare to marginalized communities, addressing social determinants of health, and advocating for health equity. PIH Engage is its grassroots advocacy and fundraising network, mobilizing volunteers to support PIH’s mission through community organizing, education, and policy change efforts.
The need for community health systems strengthening became increasingly evident for Partners In Health (PIH) in 2014, when we were invited by local partners and Ministries of Health in Liberia and Sierra Leone to join the effort to address the ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa. It was reinforced in 2020, when we responded to calls from our partners around the world to help fill crucial gaps in local and national responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. Our experiences delivering care in community during these crises, witnessing the impact of community-based solutions on equitable outcomes, and our work partnering with Ministries of Health to strengthen health systems in their wake was the impetus for PIH to launch the Global Academy for Community Health Systems Resilience (the Global Academy), in partnership with the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and the Aspen Global Innovators Group.
Definition of Opportunity
The Global Academy, currently in its first year of implementation, is a twelve-month-long fellowship program which convenes community leaders to learn from experts in community health and health systems strengthening and to work together to pilot innovative, community-centred solutions to the most pressing challenges and underexplored opportunities in their communities. The program recognises the power in bringing together community leaders from diverse backgrounds to learn from one another and engage in a collaborative exchange of experiences and best practices. Our long-term vision is to build a collective voice of community leaders who can influence plans, policies, and movements in the fight to strengthen community health systems worldwide.
As part of this collaborative effort, PIH contributes our experience in care delivery and health systems strengthening and our global network of implementers and partners. This fellowship program is built on the experience and expertise of UGHE, PIH’s training and research university in Rwanda, which has extensive experience delivering transformative executive education to healthcare and public health professionals on the African continent through its Center for Leadership in Global Health Equity. Together with the Aspen Global Innovators Group, who have extensive, global experience catalysing leadership potential to drive community change, we are seeking to elevate the place of community in the global conversation around health systems resilience and to shine a light on interventions for strengthening community health systems.
Definition of Success
A successful final product would be in the form of a well-written, well-packaged and visually appealing report, including the following components:
Background and rationale of the Global Academy in the context of PIH’s mission and values and the global conversation about health systems resilience
Profiles of our current fellows, including the early impact that this program is having in their personal and professional lives, and on their understanding of community health systems resilience
Illustrative case studies on the early outcomes of our current fellows’ breakthrough projects
Engaging imagery
Short video summary of the report, produced from interview footage, graphics provided by interviewees, and other publicly available materials