Scholarships Available: Women Deliver Conference, London October 2007

Dear All,

I wanted to remind everyone again about the upcoming conference in London in October: Women Deliver. It looks like it will be a really interesting event, with a lot of material that is quite relevant to the Taskforce’s work.

For information on the conference, visit http://www.womendeliver.org/.

The theme of the conference is “Invest in women – it pays.” The sub-themes are: Improved education for girls, delayed marriage and childbearing, reduced maternal, newborn and child mortality, use of contraception and better family nutrition.

The dates of the conference are: 18-20 October 2007

In particular, I wanted to let you know that there are full scholarships available. These include travel, accommodation, registration, incidental expenses, etc. Deyanira just wrote me to let me know about the programme, and that there are 400 available!

For information on the scholarships, visit: http://www.womendeliver.org/scholarship/index.htm

PLEASE NOTE: THE SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS ARE DUE MAY 15TH!!!!

All of the application matierals are on the website above. You can complete and submit the application online, or print a form and fax it to Women Deliver.

I hope that many of you will apply for this opportunity, and are able to attend! If a number of you indeed decide to go, I will certainly look into going myself, and we can make it an official Taskforce event!

Warm wishes,
Marion

REMINDER: Mini-Grant Applications due 15 April 2007!

Call for Proposals

Promoting Women’s Health Learning for Health Professions Students


Sponsored by:
The Network: TUFH Women and Health Taskforce
and
Global Health through Education, Training and Service (GHETS)


Eligibility:
All active members of the Women and Health Taskforce are eligible to apply.

Purpose:
To encourage experienced institutions to spread their innovative strategies for improving training in women’s health within their communities and/or geographical (regional) areas.

Total available funding: US $10,000

Number and size of mini-grant awards:
3 to 8 awards of between US $1,000 and US $3,000.

Deadline for submission of proposals:
No later than April 15, 2007

Submit proposals to:
Marion Billings, GHETS, marion@ghets.org or by fax to +1 (508) 448-8346


As a follow-up to the publication of the second edition of the Women and Health Learning Package (WHLP), as well as the successful implementation of small grants in 2005-6, the Women and Health Taskforce would like to promote the use of the WHLP and/or other innovative women’s health learning materials and strategies, to improve the level and quality of student exposure to women’s health issues in medical, nursing and public health schools. Mini-grants of between US $1,000 and US $3,000 will be awarded to current active Taskforce members who demonstrate a clear vision of how to spread the Taskforce’s learning model to a wider audience in their country or region (neighboring countries).

Institutions are encouraged to think creatively about how they can serve as national and/or regional advocates for promoting increased student exposure to women’s health issues through the wider use of the WHLP and/or other problem-based and community-based learning experiences in women’s health. While the continued use of the WHLP is encouraged, activities could include, but are not limited to:

• Trainings on WHLP implementation at other health professions institutions in the region
  
• Establishment of regional email discussion lists or other communication networks to facilitate exchange of information
  
• Announcements about availability and distribution of copies of the WHLP and other resources
  
• Participation of institutional representatives at national and regional meetings and conferences where they can share their experiences with women’s health learning
  
• Sponsorship of a regional meeting on women’s health topics and women’s health learning
  
• One-on-one exchanges (physical or virtual) with faculty and departments at other institutions within the region.

Applicants are encouraged to use existing frameworks for regional outreach, such as national or regional professional associations, national or regional meetings/conferences, or targeted outreach to other Network: TUFH member institutions within the applicant’s country or neighboring countries. Each applicant should clearly define the geographical region to be targeted, whether that be a single country or region(s) within that country, or a larger region including several neighboring countries. Joint proposals from institutions in neighboring countries (such as Egypt-Sudan or Kenya-Uganda) will be considered, as will proposals from individual institutions.

The following categories of applicants are encouraged to apply:

• New institutions or projects that have not been previously supported through this granting scheme (attempts will be made to grant to new institutions and/or projects; however the quality of proposal will be the final deciding factor).
  
• Institutions and/or projects that were not successful in the previous cycle are encouraged to re-submit their proposals
  
• Institutions who received funding in the 2005-6 cycle who are requesting either continued support for a past project, and/or support for a new project
  

Any other active members of the Women & Health Taskforce

All proposals should provide the following information:

1. Name and Location of Institution
   
2. Name of Taskforce member submitting application
   
3. Geographical target region (province(s)/state(s) or country(ies) to be included in regional outreach efforts)
   
4. Detailed description of planned regional efforts or activities, including timeline (to begin no later than June, 2007 and be completed by the end of June, 2008)
   
5. Description of all existing national and regional contacts (with individuals, institutions or associations/networks), or planned contacts that could be made, which will be employed to encourage regional dialogue and exchange of information
   
6. Detailed budget for planned activities (total request to GHETS should not exceed $3000, but if additional funding or material support – including use of facilities, staff time or supplies – is available from other sources, such as the applicant institution, these may be noted)
   
7. Letter of support for the proposed project from a university representative, such as the dean of the faculty or university president/rector

Extra WHTF Meeting: 14 September 2007

Dear Colleagues,

I hope you are all well. I’m writing today to announce that we will be having an extra Women & Health Taskforce Meeting which will be held prior to the Network: TUFH conference in Kampala. The details are:

Friday 14 September 2007
10.00-16.00 (tentative)
Hotel Africana
Kampala, Uganda

All active members of the taskforce are encouraged to attend this meeting. All taskforce members who receive fellowship support from the Taskforce/GHETS will be required to attend this meeting.

The purpose of the meeting will be to allow the taskforce to organize prior to the conference, so that we can have a more directed agenda during the conference itself. Also by holding this meeting prior to the conference for key taskforce members, we can then devote more time during the general, regularly scheduled meeting during the conference to orient possible new members to the taskforce, etc.

The idea for this meeting arose from Taskforce feedback after the Ghent conference. It was felt that the Taskforce needed more time to meet, and an opportunity to organize on the front-end of the conference, otherwise everything is left to the official taskforce meeting, which is usually scheduled on the last day of the conference.

An agenda for the meeting will be developed in the coming months. For the time being, some general objectives for the meeting will likely be the following:

□ Updates on sub-committee activities
□ Discuss conference objectives (what do we want to accomplish during the conference?)
□ Begin setting Taskforce objectives for the coming year
□ Develop an agenda for the official Taskforce Meeting during the conference

If any active members of the taskforce which to suggest agenda items, or if anyone has an questions regarding the meeting, please feel free to email me at marion@ghets.org.

I look forward to seeing everyone in Kampala!

Warm wishes,
Marion