Successful Kick-Off workshop for the EPHAM-NORPART Project
EPHAM stands for Enhancing Public Health capacity through Academic network and Mobility and is a five-year project between VID, Norway & Ambo and Jimma Universities (AU and JU), Ethiopia. On the 23rd –24th of May VID hosted the first EPHAM-NORPART project Kick-Off workshop in Bergen. Delegates from Norway and Ethiopia came together and started the planning of this exciting collaboration.
Day One- introduction and further development of two courses
The Kick-off workshop was officially opened by the Health Faculty dean, Elisabeth Jeppesen.
The workshop lasted for two days. Day one consisted of presentations of the of the background history of the EPHAM project by project coordinator, Tesfaye Leta. This was followed by presentations of the respective partner institutions: VID, AU and JU. Receiving this frame of the EPHAM project, it gave the participants inspiration and understanding of future opportunities for collaboration.
The next on the program was an introduction of Work Package (WP) 1; The development of two courses- (i) Global Health Nursing and (ii) Participatory action Research (PAR). Leader of WP1, Prof. Zada Pajalic gave a short presentation of the status. This was followed by a group work where participants assessed the description of the plan for the two courses. The group work was based on Story Dialogue Method (SDM) having Prof. Zada as an inspiring facilitator. Data collected through the SDM will be published in an article.
Furthermore, different e-learning methods and the possibility of linking the methods to the two courses developed was presented by WP2 & 5 by Vidar Tobiassen and Mari Digernes (SLIPP). SLIPP will in fall 2022 arrange a course on how to use different e-learning and digital platforms both for the EPHAM project team members, students taking the Global Health Nursing and PAR course, and for other up to 40 academic staffs from AU and JU.
Day one was completed with a dinner at a restaurant in one of the historical buildings in Bergen, Bryggen Tracteursted which is around 325 years old.
Happy EPHAM workshop participants after the dinner.
Day two – implementation, collaboration, and coordination
On day two the WP team leaders presented their respective WP’s aim, activities, responsible team member and possible implementation strategies. Thereafter, the workshop’s participants worked in groups on how to collaborate and coordinate between each WP. During the group work the participants answered questions about which WPs they think their own WP will collaborate with, and on what and how they will collaborate. Finally, each group were asked to list 2-3 implementation strategies.
The next on the program was a group work where participants discussed how to minimize the risk of brain drainage, how to motivate students to mobility, how the respective partner institutions can utilize the acquired knowledge, skill, and experiences of the students, and finally the strategies for the follow-up of student mobility alumni. At the end of day two, there was a round tables reflection and evaluation of the two days intensive workshop. Tesfaye Leta closed the workshop and welcomed all participants to the next EPHAM annual meeting that will be hosted by AU, Ethiopia from 14-18th November 2022.
We had a good time, and a productive workshop with successful deliberations. We are all looking forward to the next annual meeting in Ambo in November 2022.
