This partnership project was funded by Health Education England (HEE) and administered by the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET). Our partnership developed a virtual volunteering model, alongside the traditional in-country programme.
The overall HEE/THET project goal states that:
‘Provide volunteer bursaries are designed for health partnerships with a history of implementing capacity development projects within Zambia, and that have identified a specific area for capacity development in a Zambian health delivery institution which could be supplemented through the placement of a long-term volunteer or volunteers from the UK’.
In 2018, THET conducted a Volunteer Placement Feasibility Study in Zambia which outlined the global health volunteering landscape in Zambia and formulated recommendations around placement design and delivery in the country. It identified facilities for possible placements. Based on the information collected from the study as well as the desire for overseas volunteers expressed by Zambian partners on the ground.
Project aims:
- To capacity build trauma, emergency, critical care and neonatal intensive care nursing teaching and learning.
- To facilitate knowledge exchange and transfer and support the development of a national and international virtual community of practice.
Country and company involved
Country: Zambia
This project was funded by Health Education England (HEE) and administered through the Tropical Health & Education Trust (THET).
Who completed the project?
UK Project Team:
- Chris Carter
- Prof Joy Notter
Strategic Partner: Lusaka College of Nursing and Ministry Health of Zambia
Final outcome
The project reached 863 healthcare workers in Zambia and Malawi through teaching sessions given by:
- 6 in-country volunteers
- Neonatal Nurse
- Critical Care Nurses
- Resuscitation Officers
- Emergency and Critical Care Nurses
- 14 virtual volunteers.
Bonus outputs included:
- 5 UK volunteers peer reviewing specialist practice nursing documentation.
- 3 quality improvement projects
- Assessment of clinical competence
- Clinical mentoring and coaching in practice
- Virtual volunteers requesting to become in-country volunteers.
Overall, the project has achieved much more than had been expected. It reached far more healthcare workers than was considered possible at the start of the project.
We would like to thank all those who helped to deliver this project, this includes the senior nursing management in the NHS and Birmingham City University who were willing to release staff. Finally, we would like to thank the Tropical Health & Education Trust and Health Education England for giving us the chance to deliver this project.
