The World Health Organization’s Survey Scholar learning initiative is aimed at epidemiologists and statisticians interested in leading or supporting vaccination coverage surveys. Learn more…
In 2017, 324 people applied and 214 (66%) were admitted to the programme. Between 28 August and 22 December 2017, course participants completed challenging assignments and developed peer-reviewed projects in three digital modules covering survey design, protocols, and data analysis.
On 24 January 2018, the 2017 World Health Organization vaccination coverage survey Scholars and their course team held Commencement Exercises.
125 participants out of 199 (63%) earned a certificate for at least one of the three Survey Scholar Modules.
Over 460 people, including colleagues and family members of Survey Scholars, attended this event broadcast on Facebook Live.
You may view the recording by clicking on the video below.
Pre-hospital emergency workers have different job roles, practices, and challenges. But the risk of violence is one thing almost all practitioners has in common, even in peaceful settings.
Despite the potentially serious impact of violence, shared experience, resources and training available has been (and remains) limited.
In October 2016, over 700 pre-hospital emergency workers from 70 countries signed up for the first #Ambulance! exercise to “share experience and document situations of violence”. This initiative was led by Norwegian Red Cross in partnership with the Geneva Learning Foundation and in collaboration with the ICRC and IFRC, as part of the Health Care in Danger project’s Community of Action for Pre-Hospital Emergency Care.
This exercise leveraged the Scholar Approach, developed by the Geneva Learning Foundation. In 2013, IFRC had been the first humanitarian organization to pilot this approach to produce 105 case studies documenting learning in emergency operations.
In three four-week exercises in October 2016, June 2017, and September 2017, participants documented and peer-reviewed 270 incidents of violence face by front-line, community-based health workers.
By June 2017, ambulance leaders had taken over facilitation and coordination of these exercises, volunteering to support colleagues from all over the world.
A few things we have done together since October 2016
Three #Ambulance! leaders addressed this gathering of practitioners, sharing what they learned from these exercises and why they strengthened their commitment to make access to health care and its provision safer and better protected.
Dr Hanna Kaade: Address at the #Ambulance! Commencement Exercises
Dr Cristina Guerrero: Address at the #Ambulance! Commencement Exercises
Michael Bradfield: Address at the #Ambulance! Commencement Exercises
Participants were invited to share their feedback on the third #Ambulance! exercise.
Feedback on the third #Ambulance! Exercise (September 2017)
You may also be interested in this presentation about the first year of the #Ambulance! project by Reda Sadki, at the second global meeting of the Health Care in Danger (HCiD) project in Geneva, Switzerland (17–18 May 2017).
Pre-hospital emergency workers have different job roles, practices, and challenges. But the risk of violence is one thing almost all practitioners has in common, even in peaceful settings.
Despite the potentially serious impact of violence, shared experience, resources and training available has been (and remains) limited.
In October 2016, over 700 pre-hospital emergency workers from 70 countries signed up for the first #Ambulance! exercise to “share experience and document situations of violence”. This initiative was led by Norwegian Red Cross in partnership with the Geneva Learning Foundation and in collaboration with the ICRC and IFRC, as part of the Health Care in Danger project’s Community of Action for Pre-Hospital Emergency Care.
This exercise leveraged the Scholar Approach, developed by the Geneva Learning Foundation. In 2013, IFRC had been the first humanitarian organization to pilot this approach to produce 105 case studies documenting learning in emergency operations.
In three four-week exercises in October 2016, June 2017, and September 2017, participants documented and peer-reviewed 270 incidents of violence face by front-line, community-based health workers.
By June 2017, ambulance leaders had taken over facilitation and coordination of these exercises, volunteering to support colleagues from all over the world.
Frederik Siem of the Norwegian Red Cross gave the Commencement Address on this occasion.
Reda Sadki shared a few results and outcomes of the Second #Ambulance! Exercise.
#A! Team Leader Dr Hanna Kaade convened the Arabic-speaking exercise participants, recognizing the commitment of a large number of ambulance staff and volunteers based in countries facing conflict and crises.
Commencement Exercises for Arabic speakers in the Second #Ambulance! Exercise
You may also be interested in this presentation about the first year of the #Ambulance! project by Reda Sadki, at the second global meeting of the Health Care in Danger (HCiD) project in Geneva, Switzerland (17–18 May 2017).
This page presents the initial outputs of the Geneva Learning Foundation’s workshop at the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) on 12 June 2017.
Last update: 17 June 2017. This post will be updated with new content in the coming days.
Dr Patricia Charlton, an educator, researcher, and Trustee of the Geneva Learning Foundation, together with Catherine Russ of the Partnership Brokering Association (PBA), a humanitarian learning and development specialist, moderated a lively discussion. Nine panelists, focused on burning questions and challenges related to the digital transformation of learning, education, and training (LET) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
226 participants were registered for the event, with over 80 of them attending the WSIS Forum in person.
The panel had a deliberate focus:
On the entire lifespan of education, including adult continuing education and professional development (where most SDG Target 4 discussions so far have been focused on basic childhood education)
On how to achieve SDG Target 4.7, (“by 2030 ensure all learners acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development”)
On exploring “burning questions” where there is no consensus (yet) or that involve tackling complex problems for which there is no one solution… to determine if there is a basis for further dialogue and collaboration.
Unedited video recording of the workshop (viewing time: 1 hour 46 minutes)
Neil Blakeman, FutureLearn
Neil is Chief Business Officer at FutureLearn, the first UK-based social learning platform, offering massive open online courses (MOOCs) from leading international institutions to learners in more than 190 countries. He joined FutureLearn in September 2015 to oversee partner recruitment and development, and content and course development. Neil’s team is also responsible for creating and managing relationships with both business and government. Neil has 25 years of commercial and public sector experience in the UK, China, Central Europe and emerging markets. He has worked as a management consultant specialising in partnering, international trade and investment, with a focus on the China-UK education sector. Until late 2006, Neil was based in Beijing as the UK Government’s Director of Trade and Investment for China, supporting British businesses entering the Chinese market.
On SDG Target 4.7: “As an organisation, our purpose is to help everyone to fulfil their potential in a changing world, by transforming access to education”
“I’d like to discuss the ways in which we can contribute to target 4.7 by looking at accessibility, specifically how online platforms can reach those in the most remote corners of the globe, who may not have considered a pathway into education before. Scalability is also an important factor; how we are reaching large audiences with vast demographic backgrounds. Finally, I’d like to discuss the ways in which we can utilise partnerships to deliver world class content around important global issues.”
Pierre Dillenbourg, EPFL
A former teacher in elementary school, Pierre Dillenbourg graduated in educational science (University of Mons, Belgium). He started his research on learning technologies in 1984. He obtained a PhD in computer science from the University of Lancaster (UK), in the domain of artificial intelligence applications for education. He has been assistant professor at the University of Geneva. He joined EPFL in 2002. He is currently full professor in learning technologies in the School of Computer & Communication Sciences, where he is the head of the CHILI Lab: “Computer-Human Interaction for Learning & Instruction ». He is also the academic director of Center for Digital Education, which implements the MOOC strategy of EPFL. EPFL recently passed over 1.5 million MOOC registrations. He wrote a book entitled “Orchestration Graphs” that proposes a formal language for instructional design (EPFL Press). With EPFL colleagues, he recently launched the Swiss EdTech Collider, an incubator with 30+ start-ups in learning technologies.
Bodo Hoenen, Dev4X
Bodo Hoenen is a social entrepreneur who works on grand challenges, with a keen interest in open innovation, education and empowering children to change the world. He is the founder of Dev4X which is working on the Global Changemakers project that is empowering young people everywhere to tackle the Global Goals. They are leveraging the world’s largest network of social entrepreneurs and innovative schools to be the seed in this public platform which is aiming to open-source social innovation.
On SDG Target 4.7: “Empower changemakers of all ages to take part in designing, developing and implementing sustainable solutions to the global goals”
“I’d like to discuss open sharing of ideas, data, approaches… Unlike the closed, siloed culture that exists today within social innovation. A culture of radical openness can be fostered within children, the youth and those aspiring changemakers that are set to make significant impact on the world in the next 15 years. We can foster the innate curiosity, creativity, and passion of young people and empower them to tackle the world’s grand challenges as an open collective.”
Sophie Huber Kodbaye, University of Geneva
Sophie Huber Kodbaye is Director of the Centre for Continuing and Distance Education at the University of Geneva, a position she joined in 2015, after being the Deputy Director of the Executive Education Department at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and Director of the Executive Master in International Negotiation and Policy Making with more than 12 years of experience in designing and delivering training programmes for professionals in international affairs. Since joining the University of Geneva, Sophie focused on the digitalisation of continuing education, looking at opportunities and challenges created and working to address some of them, notably in relation to e-learning literacy.
On SDG Target 4.7: “The Centre for Continuing and Distance Education was a lead actor behind the Geneva Trialogue on Knowledge and the SDGs [in 2016].”
Burning question: “I would like to address the issues of skills / new skills needed to really benefit from digitalized education.”
Michaela Laemmler, Global Head of openSAP University
On SDG Target 4.7: “openSAP is SAP’s Open Online Courses platform to educate and improve people’s live around the globe according to sustainable goals. My Team and I are delivering these MOOCs open to anyone interested in the world free-of-charge (in the name of our Company SAP SE).”
Burning question: “I’d like to talk about how openSAP contributes to the sustainable development goals – As an Enterprise to develop sustainable products but also to share knowledge to educate the current and future workforce.”
Diana Laurillard, RELIEF Centre Project
Professor of Learning with Digital Technologies, UCL Knowledge Lab, Institute of Education. Developing the Learning Designer tools for teachers. Running a professional development MOOC on Blended Learning Essentials for teachers in Vocational Education via FutureLearn. Running a project on the Transformational Potential of MOOCs in the Centre for Global HE at UCL-IOE, and a project on Future Education in the RELIEF Centre (Refugees, Education, Learning, IT, and Entrepreneurship for the Future). Collaborating with the Advanced Innovation Centre for the Future of Education, Beijing Normal University, on the Building teacher community knowledge of blended learning project to engage teachers in developing blended learning for new pedagogies. Formerly Head of the e-Learning Strategy Unit at the government Department for Education and Skills; Pro-Vice Chancellor for learning technologies and teaching at the Open University. Currently on the Board of the Learning Foundation, and Education Advisory Board for Climate KIC (Knowledge and Innovation Community). Most recent book is Teaching as a Design Science, Routledge, 2012.
On SDG Target 4.7: “We are developing an innovative and integrated approach to sustainable prosperity for ‘hosts’ and ‘refugees’ in Lebanon based on social and economic inclusiveness, with concrete and locally specific learning and knowledge transfer outcomes at the core. We wish to use digital technologies to build new knowledge sharing platforms for innovative forms of collaboration between Universities and communities, both for research and for capacity development and knowledge transfer.”
GaellMainguy, Center for interdisciplinary research (CRI)
Gaëll Mainguy is Director of Development and International Relations at CRI (Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires), a groundbreaking interdisciplinary research institute based in Paris. CRI develops innovative approaches to learning through science, which is stimulating a generation of young innovators to tackle SDGs in hands-on ways, both in the lab and on the Web. In March 2017, CRI handed over a report on how to design an R&D system for a Learning Society to Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the French Minister of Education, Higher Education and Research. Gaëll has a pronounced taste for breaking silos. He developed projects successively in neuroscience, open and participatory science, sustainability (in particular, he contributed a report for UNEP on metrics for sustainability) and education for non-profit, public and private organizations. Gaëll is a pupil of Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris) and has a PhD in Neurobiology.
On SDG Target 4.7: “We ambition to educate students by involving them in open research projects that tackle the SDGs in relevant disciplines (essentially on the issues of health, nutrition and the environment at CRI). How can we engage students to tackle SDGs?”
Aape Pohjavirta, founder and chief evangelist of Funzi
Aape Pohjavirta is the chief evangelist and founder of Funzi, a mobile learning service ecosystem for the emerging markets, and an entrepreneurship coach and lecturer in Startup Sauna, Aalto University, DTBi and other institutions.
On SDG Target 4.7: “Be one of the transformation & change agents from grassroots to global policy creation and for-profit to humanitarian.”
Field experience: “My startup is running an SDG course for politicians in Finland in collaboration with the UN Association, with an aim to scale it to global during 2017.”
Reda Sadki, president, The Geneva Learning Foundation
Reda is an educational innovator and social entrepreneur. After two decades in the United Nations and at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), he founded Learning Strategies International (LSi.io) in 2014 and the Geneva Learning Foundation in 2016.
On SDG Target 4.7: “The Geneva Learning Foundation is launching its first Call for Proposals to support community-based capacity building initiatives. For the cost of a Geneva-based workshop for 25 people, we can build an open, scalable initiative in which participants produce their own locally-relevant knowledge but do so in a shared, global network.”
H2L2 (Humanitarian Health Lessons Learned) is a knowledge community to connect health workers, volunteers, and affected families in order to improve humanitarian health preparedness and response, building on a pilot run by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in 2013. We propose to launch the initiative with an inaugural exercise open to all those involved or affected by the Ebola crisis in 2014-2015. The purpose of the exercise will be to explore if and how lessons learned from the Ebola response have been applied to new crises.
View the initial H2L2 concept presentation (2 November 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoPzt8gW3ns
Who is developing H2L2?
The Geneva Learning Foundation, a new organization with the mission of fostering learning innovation, is working with the University of Illinois. The initiative is supported by an advisory group that includes other universities, humanitarian health practitioners, policy experts, and other stakeholders.
Why do we need H2L2?
The unprecedented complexity and scale of the current Ebola outbreak demonstrated that existing capacities of organizations with technical, normative culture, methods and approaches are not necessarily scalable or adaptable to novel or larger challenges. Large and complex public health emergencies are different each time. Each new event poses specific problems. Hence, traditional approaches to standardize “best practice” are unlikely to succeed. H2L2 aims to ensure that learning is continually captured and embedded in systems, practices, and structures so that it can be shared and regularly used to intentionally improve human resources and coordination.
What is different about H2L2?
H2L2 aims to open access to shared learning from humanitarian health crises, increasing the volume (scalable to accommodate hundreds or thousands of participants), diversity (any organization, country, role in the epidemic), and efficiency (faster knowledge production without sacrificing quality). Furthermore, knowledge sharing and peer review ensure that participants are learning from each other as they work, so that the lessons identified and reflect on have an immediate impact across the network of those taking part (and, by extension, their work contexts and organizations).
Why start with lessons learned from the Ebola crisis?
Lessons learned are already a major topic (2,690 articles found by Google Scholar for the search terms “Ebola” and “lessons learned”, with 70% of them published in 2015). Yet, many if not most of these processes have relied on small, closed feedback loops, inside expert circles or established organisational hierarchies. This has limited the ability of such reviews to achieve double-loop learning in which governing values as well as actions are questioned. Furthermore, affected communities have seldom been included – and mainstreaming community engagement is unlikely to be achieved as long as we lack mechanisms to do so effectively.
How does H2L2 align to the reform of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme?
H2L2 can provide a platform to both scale up and open knowledge production, sharing, and learning, to support the development of country-specific plans aligned to global strategy, build response team coordination and trust (preparedness), provide an always-on network of capabilities and experience (crisis response), and engage post-crisis actors through reflective exercise on what worked and why. H2L2 technology can enable and support efforts toward an organisational culture of improved coordination, leadership, and preparedness in and between organizations, governments, and local communities.
Is it value for money (V4M)?
The Year 1 budget covers the full cost of developing H2L2, running the inaugural exercise on lessons learned from the Ebola crisis, and includes a research component to measure impact. Furthermore, there is no upper limit on the number of participants. This may be compared to low-volume, high-cost training or single-time, limited audience lessons learned events.
Geneva Learning Foundation
5 April 2016 (Updated 24 May 2016)
Learn more
To learn more about H2L2, you may read this five-part blog series.
