WONCA NEWS
F R O M T H E H E A D Q U A R T E R S
FROM THE HEADQUARTERS
THE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY AT WONCA Community is what makes up the beating heart of WONCA. From our Working Parties and Young Doctors’ Movements to the links between individuals, our members have successfully championed connection and collaboration. A deep sense of belonging has been fostered on a global scale, based around a common set of values including empathy, equity, and delivering high quality family medicine, and fulfilled through shared activities such as education and research. The general spirit of our members wanting to volunteer their time and effort to contribute to ‘big picture’ issues in family medicine is alive and well, and examples of this abound.
WHAT IS ALREADY HAPPENING IN OUR COMMUNITY? One of the key priorities for WONCA is a drive to increase diversity. This means going beyond simply paying lip service to the concept and is a crucial area for our development of the organisation. We are dedicated to exploring how we can ensure our membership not only accurately reflects the global community we represent, but also provides genuinely safe and inclusive spaces which recognise and celebrate different needs and perspectives across the board. Our Young Doctors have been creating spaces of support, guidance, and mentorship, bringing groups together through conferences, webinars, professional exchanges and more. While operating under the umbrella of WONCA, and with its assistance when required, these movements have acted with autonomy, great creativity, and ambition across all seven of our represented regions.
WONCA has more than 25 Working Parties & Special Interest Groups which have also been exploring new and innovative ways to engage with wider themes, from sharing best practice to offering advice to relevant institutions and policymakers, to embarking on specific projects. The Working Party on Mental Health has successfully obtained a grant for a project focused on enhancing the quality of care for major depressive disorders delivered by family doctors. The Working Party on Rural Practice has organised and run their own global conference. The Working Party on the Environment has embarked on a ‘train the trainers’ project around air pollution & climate health. This is to name but a few great examples of the exceptional work of our members.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD? With the drive for diversity as a North Star, we have many paths to continue exploring and new avenues to seek out. Opportunities can be created to make a meaningful impact whatever the passions, interests or ambitions of our members may be. All that has been achieved so far gives us more than enough reason to be excited for what’s to come. We want to encourage our Working Parties, Groups, Movements and Regions to be seeking new ways to include more members from diverse groups in meaningful ways. At every turn, we aim to consider any inadvertent barriers which may be in place in the organisation, from language, to policy, to when and where meetings or conferences take place, to which interests are being represented. Our vision is a truly inclusive environment.
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