African Regional Meeting Follow Up Report

AFRICAN

Regional Meeting 2017 Follow-up Report

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A message from the Regional Director

I am very pleased and honored to be serving with the greatest minds of this region. From the Dear African Family day we started working together I have witnessed the zeal and motivation behind your work, I am very happy for what we have been able to accomplish together and I look forward to seeing what this region will have to offer to this world.

Africa is a unique region with its own challenges and opportunities we have got no other chance rather building on our strength and overcome our challenges. We are members of the best federation in the world (IFMSA). We live in a very diverse world, so let us use that chance as a stepping stone. Africa needs me and you more than ever before, we need to draw our focus on what matters the most!

In this report you’ll navigate through different activities done during our last African Regional Meeting, where we have come together as medical student sin the region and we decided to prioritize health, by enhancing the advocacy in the climate change area. Let us keep the pace at the highest rate ever and no rest until we make this continent proud. We can make it, believe me we can!!!

I hope you will enjoy reading this report. I would like to thank the IFMSA EB and TO for their support and loving heart to make this meeting the best of its kind. To AEM-Burkina I am out of words to thank you. You were a wonderful host, a country of “ integral people�. To the Regional Team, thank you for your dedication of time and the energy you have put in this. To all of you amazing participants, thank you for making the 12th ARM a story that we will tell to our descendants.

Much Love from your Regional Team Irakoze Magnifique IFMSA Regional Director for Africa 2016/17

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African Regional Meeting 2016 at one glance

African Region

24 21

National Member Organizations (NMOs) NMOs represented at ARM 2016

110

Participants

Pre-Regional Meeting

64

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Participants trained

4

Workshops

Student Declaration on Climate Change and Health submitted to the Burkina Faso Parliament (can be found here).

First consultation for IFMSA Strategic Plan 2017/20 conducted on regional level.

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Table of Contents 1. Pre-Regional Meeting Workshops

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2. Standing Committee and Presidents’ Sessions

6

3. Capacity Building Sessions

11

4. Theme Event

11

5. Activities Presentation

12

6. IFMSA Strategic Plan 2017-2020

13

7. The Regional Meeting in Numbers

14

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Pre-Regional Meeting Workshops

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Training Old Trainers: Capacity Building Systems Participants

5 Countries

Background and Goals. The workshop was supposed to Facilitators teach the participants how to design and organize training Andrej Martin Vujkovac sessions and workshops according to the needs of the IFMSA Vice-President for Capacity Building organisation they serve and its strategic goals. Additionally, Etuk Eno-Abasi Etim there was an aspect of developing a quality assurance Capacity Building Regional Assistant for system that could be implemented on an organisational level, Africa which would keep the level of training on a high level.

Outcomes. None of the participants that attended were IFMSA trainers, therefore we needed to change the content of the workshop a bit to accommodate those needs. In addition to session on strategic planning, methodology, evaluation and quality assurance, the participants went through basics of training session planning and delivery. Because of the workshop, several participants expressed motivation to conduct SRTs in their country. These events will be supported and followed up on by the CB RA for Africa. All participants of the TOT also delivered a graduation training session in the ARM.

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Training Medical Education Trainers (TMET) Participants

6 Countries

Background and Goals. The goals of the workshop were as Facilitators follows: Yasser Mechati · Provide knowledge about existing guidelines, (medical) Le-Souk Algeria education theory, models and trends from literature. · Provide skills for development of medical education, including student leadership and advocacy. · Empower and motivate participants to take action at a local and national level. · Gather and develop tools and resources for fostering communication and sharing of relevant information for students. · Provide skills in peer education and teaching.

Outcomes. The workshop was balanced between soft skills and Medical Education training sessions to prepare the trainers empower their members in the field of Medical Education.

The follow-up will mainly be done by the Regional Assistant, who will assess the capacity building opportunities offered in the region after this TMET and especially in the trainees NMOs.

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10

Climate Change and Health Participants

4 Countries

Background and Goals.

Facilitators 1. To educate participants on the concepts of climate Skander Essafi IFMSA Liaison Officer on Public Health science and health impacts of climate change, the issues 2. health co-benefits, the solutions and the relevance to the medical profession.

3. To introduce participants to the climate negotiations, and the role medical students and professionals can 4. play within these processes 5. To provide participants with the confidence to be able to communicate and educate other medical students, the medical profession, the wider community and policy makers within their countries the health effects of climate change and the need to act.

6. To provide the tools to engage in political advocacy on behalf of the medical profession.

7. To empower medical students to take action within their own countries.

8. To build on the network of medical students and professionals.

9. To build capacity in climate action linked the SDGs and health in all policies.

10. To coordinate and adapt a “regional� message of meaningful commitment to climate change mitigation and adaptation as the most important health measure from the Paris Agreement and beyond.

Outcomes.

1. Participants are aware of the climate and weather scientific information, and the impacts on populations health 2. Participants have discussed the impacts specifically in the african region and their countries 3. Participants have brainstormed about the possible priorities for action on climate and health in their respectives countries 4. Participants have the skills to speak and advocate for better inclusion of climate and health in different discussions (youth groups and in the medical curricula) 5. Participants are aware of the different opportunities in the IFMSA to get involved in the climate and health activities in order to adapt them to the african context.

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Maternal Health & Access to Safe Abortion Participants

3 Countries

Background and Goals. According to the World Health Facilitators Organization (WHO), 21.6 million Women experience unsafe Oluwatoyosi Afolabi abortion worldwide with 18.5 million out of this occurring in SCORA Regional Assistant for Africa developing Countries and 47,000 dying as a result of the Carlos Acosta complications of unsafe abortion. Factors contributing to this IFMSA Standing Committee on Sexual and high figure can be found within the context of our cultures, Reproductive Health Director laws, policies and healthcare settings which have put a form of restriction to women exercising their full reproductive health rights.

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We as future healthcare providers with the main task of delivering the best quality of care within our capability to our patients, who are also burdened and strongly affected by this. We must stand to advocate against violation of any form of Women’ Reproductive Health rights.

The Ipas Maternal Health and Access to Safe Abortion Training has been designed in a way to help future healthcare providers come to terms with the burden of unsafe abortion and build up in them advocacy skills to advocate against unsafe abortion.

Outcomes. During the 15th to 18th of December 2016, one of such training was held during the Pre African Regional Meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. 12 participants in total were opportune to be part of the training and along with this were also chanced to have some sessions from Dr. Adama (from UNFPA, Burkina Faso) and representatives from Maries Stopes International, Dr. Sawadogo and Dr. Mare. The 3rd Day ended with a round-the-circle discussion on what participants have learnt so far and afterwards group picture.

Some of the challenges during the 3 days were; · Language barrier as most of the participants could only communicate fluently in French · On and off availability of some of the participants due to the fact that some were part of the Organizing Committee and had to be called upon at different times.

In conclusion, the whole 3 days of another Ipas training in Africa ended perfectly well with hopes of another group of passionate individuals been raised that they can make a change and bring unsafe abortion to an end in Africa.

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Standing Committee and Presidents’ Sessions

17

Presidents’ Session Participants

Topics discussed. During the Presidents’ Sessions we discussed a number of different topics according to need of the region. We kicked off with a very vibrant energizer that lead us to the introduction of the three days sessions. We started by reminding the Participants about IFMSA, we dug into the history and the mission and vision of our noble Federation. We also talked about the online communication where we looked at the challenges and the way forward to improve. When it comes to online involvement, we discussed in Small Working Groups.

We discussed about handover and transferring the knowledge, we discussed about the debts to IFMSA, and we also had the plenary simulation. Furthermore, we had an opportunity to explore the external representation in the region! Last but not last, we kicked off the discussion about the African Strategy, which was very much appreciated by participants.

13 Countries

Facilitators Magnifique Irakoze IFMSA RD Afirca

Monica Kujabi IFMSA Vice-President for Members

Omar Cherkaoui IFMSA President

Andrej Vujkovac IFMSA Vice-President for Capacity Building

Edward Appiah-Kubi Past IFMSA RD Africa

Skander Essafi IFMSA Liaison Officer for Public Health issues

Outcomes. As an outcomes, we formed three different Small Working Groups, each of which had a different topic and came up with recommendations. We set new deadlines for the Region and we started the draft of the African Stratey. We hope this will bring about the change in the Region.

Participants of the Presidents’ Session at the African RM 2017

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Exchanges Sessions Participants

9 Countries

How to establish SCOPE/SCORE. Here we discussed Facilitators how SCORE and SCOPE can be established in the Elise Tirza A. Ohene respective countries, and the barriers that can prevent SCORE Regional Assistant for Africa these.

Rodrigo Enrique Roa Tasks for National Exchange and Research IFMSA Standing Committee on Professional Exchange Officer. We went through the different tasks Exchange Director assigned to different positions within the IFMSA. Global Health and Exchanges. We discussed how Global health has effects on exchanges, and what the social determinants of health are.

TNET/PRET. We discussed the benefits of Training New Exchange Trainers, Pre Exchange trainings and upon arrival trainings.

Academic Quality. We discussed how to keep up academic quality in our exchanges, and how to prevent them from becoming just travel and fun things.

Health sector in various countries. We did presentations on the differences in the health sectors of each country, and this was very educative.

Financial management in Exchanges. Finally we discussed how to manage our finances within our exchanges, using activities planned budgets etc.

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Standing Committee on Medical Education (SCOME) Participants

Topics discussed. · Teaching methods · Assessment and Evaluation · Curriculum development · Medical Ethics · Fundraising · Outcome Based Learning · Reasearch in Medical Education

5 Countries

Facilitators Tendwa Ongas SCOME Regional Assistant for Africa

Yasser Mechati Le-Souk Algeria

Joakim Bergman IFMSA Vice-President for Finance

Outcomes. The sessions were quite interactive and the participants were very cooperative.

You could tell from the quality of presentations that they understood the topic and each had a unique way of looking at the same concept. Majority of the participants also respected time and hence there were no major hitches in the plans we had made with regard to the sessions One of the major challenges we however experienced was a language barrier. This is because 2/3rds of the participants were French speakers with little English to work with and hence it helped to have a translator who could at least translate the more difficult concept to understand. We also dealt with this by creating a safe space where participants were comfortable raising an issue when they did not understand something.

All in all we really enjoyed the sessions and feel that we met the participants expectations as well as achieving our goals

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Participants of SCOME sessions at the African Regional Meeting 2017

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Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH) Participants

Topics discussed. · Introduction Sessions · Social Determinants of Health · Universal Health Coverage · Climate Change and Health · SWG on Climate Change and Health · IFMSA Programs · Strategic Planning · Antimircobial Resistance - External Speaker · Local Activities show

7 Countries

Facilitators Skander Essafi IFMSA LPH

Thaina Ango MEDSAR-Rwanda

Mohammed Sanoussi AEM-Guinea

Amged Mgeed SCOPH Regional Assistant for Africa

Outcomes. In the Welcoming Session, participants got knowledge about IFMSA, SCOPH and we had a talk about one health session. In Social Determinants of Health, the attendees were able to understand the factors and social determinants that can affect our health we had very interesting exercise that expressed the concept of Social Determinants of Health.

In Strategic Planning, we explained what strategic planning is, what kind of planning there is how to establish SP. We also presented the SCOPH Strategic Plan 2017-20 and started giving input. In the Local Public Health Initiatives Show, each NMO showed us their local projects and initiatives. This spirit show gave the attendees new ideas from different perspectives.

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Standing Committee on Sexual and Reproductive Health incl. HIV/AIDS (SCORA) Participants

Topics discussed. · SCORA Africa Map (SCORA Updates from all the NMOs) · Revisiting Sexual Violence · Empowering Men to empower Women · Inclusive framework towards ending HIV · Integrated approach to ST · Small Working Groups · Mapping out Externals/Advocacy and policy writing/Building SRHR Interest · Gender and Leadership · Contraceptives + Contraceptives Fair · Peer Education Network

9 Countries

Facilitators Carlos Acosta IFMSA Standing Committee on Sexual and Reproductive Health incl. HIV/AIDS Director

Oluwatoyosi Afolabi SCORA Regional Assistant for Africa

Cephas Ke-on Avoka SCORA Co-Regional Assistant for Africa 201315

Clara Tetteh-Yeboah Assistant NORA FGMSA-Ghana

Rosa Divine LORA MEDSAR-Rwanda

Kelly Ouedraogo

Outcomes. · Participants who were new got to know about the mission, vision and focus areas of SCORA and how to get involve. · Participants were able to discuss and share with each other updates on their SCORA related Activities within their NMOs and this also created an opportunity to learn from each other. · The only NMO which was not SCORA active among the NMOs present decided to become active. · Participants were able to learn a lot and build their motivations and passions from the three Externals whom were able to share their knowledge to a large extent. · The Contraceptives fair helped with identification of contraceptives participants might not be familiar with. · The evaluation form given out to Participants to fill at the end of the sessions showed that they learnt a lot, their expectations were meet.

NORA AEM-Burkina Faso

Externals: Madame Brenda Soya Ambassador of the United States to Burkina Faso

Dr. Didier Bakouan Permanent Secretary National Agency against AIDS and Sexual Communicable Diseases

Dr. Sawadogo & Dr. Mare Maries Stopes International

Participants of SCORA Sessions at the African Regional Meeting 2017

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Standing Committee on Human Rights and Peace (SCORP) Participants

Topics discussed. · Welcome and Team building · Introduction to SCORP · Human Rights 101 · Right to Health · Children's Rights · Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights · Forced Displacement · Diversity and Discrimination

6 Countries

Facilitators Elizabeth Peters Program Coordinator on Gender Based Violence

Andrej Vujkovac IFMSA Vice-President for Capacity Building

Carlos Acosta IFMSA Standing Committee on Sexual and Reproductive Health incl. HIV/AIDS

Outcomes. Participants gave positive feedback, the language barrier was fairly well overcome - it was an overall enjoyable experience.

Participants of SCORP sessions at the African Regional Meeting 2017

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Capacity Building Sessions There were 5 training sessions conducted, all of them determined by a needs assessment done by the RD Africa. The session titles (and their respective responsible trainers) were: · Leadership (Edward Appiah-Kubi, former RD Africa) · Project management (Elizabeth Peters, Program Coordinator on Gender Based Violence) · External Representation (Skander Essafi, IFMSA Liaison Officer on Public Health issues) · Fundraising (Joakim Bergman, IFMSA Vice-President for Finance) · Team-building (Mumini Niaoné, former President AEM-Burkina Faso) The training sessions had approximately 60 participants in total and were conducted in the last day.

In general, all training sessions were very well received, with a couple of them (Fundraising, Project management) running over-time due to the interest of participants. The participants enjoyed the interactive approach to the sessions and the preparedness of the trainers.

There were two main challenges that we faced: · Firstly, the timing was far from optimal, as the sessions started at 6pm on the last day of the Regional Meeting and lasted at least until 8pm. Additionally, we started a bit late because of the delayed transportation from the parliament. · Secondly, there was only one slot for training sessions as one had to be removed due to logistic difficulties (and delays in the agenda).

Suggestions for the future are to prioritise soft skills training session in this region, as most of the participants are new and they expressed a big need for the sessions.

Theme Event | Climate Change “Climate Change and Health”, as the theme of the ARM this year, highlighted the need of all the health care providers in the region and the health systems to stretch their attention on climate change and make it one of the priorities. We consider that this topic in the African region was overshadowed by other conditions like vector-borne diseases, food security and air pollution. During the theme event, our external speakers highlighted and recommended that Africa should incorporate Climate among the health priorities. Furthermore, members of the ARM developed a declaration that shaped their commitment towards climate and health in the future. This “Ouagadougou Declaration” was handed over to the President of the Parliament (click here).

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Activities Presentation Activity Presentation has been a culture at IFMSA Meetings. All the NMOs are given a chance to take part to show case what they are doing in their countries. There were three Activities presented, because the presenter of the fourth selected Activity could not attend due to acamedic duties. The three presented Activities were: · Half Marathon by AEM-Burkina Faso · Hepatitis B Screening and Vacination by SLeMSA SierraLeone · Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Project by MSAKEKenya.

All Activities were judged by the African Regional Team, who selected the WASH projects as the winner. The Regional Team would like to congratulate all presenters and ask them to keep on doing the good work in their NMOs.

3 Activities presented

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1 Place: WASH Project MSKA-Kenya

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IFMSA Strategic Plan 2017/20 One of the priorities of this term is to develop the new IFMSA Strategy, document that will guide the efforts of the Federation’s leadership from 2017 to 2020. As a student-led organization, one of the main challenges of IFMSA is a high turnover rate of active members and as a result. Having therefore a strategy that stretches over three years ensures a certain rate of development in a certain direction for the whole organization, as a strategic plan represents the ideas and ideals of more than individuals.

As we are about to draft a new strategy for the Federation, in line with IFMSA vision and mission, it is essential to consult our members, as well as different stakeholders, in this process. The first consultation session took then place in the African Regional Meeting, with over 80 participants.

After explaining what a strategy is all about, and its importance for our Federation, we exposed the five priorities that we will be working on to develop this document. We particularly put an emphasis on four priorities, as these were the ones we will be consulting them on: Prioritization, finances, representation and participation, and outside-in.

Participants were then invited to join the priority of their interest, each group being coordinated by two IFMSA officials. We then conducted an affinity diagram, where the participants had the possibility to brainstorm first on the topic and coming up with ideas that they were writing on post-its that we put on the wall later on. The participants were then invited to move the post-its as they wish, in silence, as to categorize them. At a final stage, they had to agree on labels for each category, labels that we took out as the main input of our consultation.

The consultation session was very successful and very outcome-oriented. We are excited to bring these input up in the discussion and in the draft of our strategy.

Participants of the IFMSA Strategy Session at the African Regional Meeting 2017

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The Regional Meeting in numbers Logistics Evaluation Logistics Evaluaiton 60

50

40

30

20

10

0 Information shared prior

Transportation

Registration Process

Visa Facilitation Very Dissatisfied

Accomodation Dissatisfied

Venue Neutral

Satisfied

Boarding

Social Program

Very Satisfied

Not applicable

Sponsors

Opening Ceremony Closing Ceremony

Comments: · Participants noted that transportation logistics should be improved, either by using bigger buses or by adding cars, or that the venue should be chosen closer to the accommodation. · Some participants noted that there were many changes to the initially published agenda in the survival kit. · Some delegates were asking for a more frequent translation into French.

Agenda Evaluation

Agenda Evaluation 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 General Agenda Layout Very Dissatisfied

Dissatisfied

Time Management Neutral

Satisfied

Very Satisfied

Comments: · Participants noted the little time to rest, as social programs were ending very late. · Trainings were pushed very far back in the agenda, which affected their quality. · In general participants asked for better time management, in regards to transportation. · One participant asked for an extension of the event to four working days.