Social Media Practicum Opportunity in Cape Town, South Africa for Summer 2017

March 8th, 2017 in Practicums/Internships

Are you expert in the use of social media, making web pages and writing news stories and updates? If you are, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) Pharmaceuticals program needs you this summer.

The Pharmaceuticals program at UWC presents short courses in July on Rational Use of Medicines and on Supply Chain Management as well as Online Distance Learning courses on the same topics for the MPH program. In addition, multiple research projects in the region are undertaken by Masters and PhD students. Finally faculty and staff from the School support a Center of Excellence in Rwanda develop a distance learning program in Health Supply Chain Management. For more information about the Pharmaceutical Public Health program go to https://www.uwc.ac.za/Faculties/CHS/soph/Pages/PHARMACEUTICAL-PUBLIC-HEALTH.aspx

In the past students, from BUSPH Global Health have spent their summer practicum helping with the short courses, visiting primary health care centers and participating in other Pharmaceutical Track activities. See http://www.bu.edu/sph/2016/07/18/learning-by-assistant-teaching-in-south-africa/

This year they need someone to help them develop their social media presence and to build contacts with past alumnae across sub-Saharan Africa. While being involved in the pharmaceutical certificate at BUSPH would be an advantage having expertise in social media is the most important qualification.

If you are interested please see or contact Professor Richard Laing (richardl@bu.edu) Tel 617 435 7860 who has just returned from South Africa. Financial support for travel and local accommodation may be available

Presentations and lunch from Former Global Health Pulitzer Student Fellows – March 15th

March 1st, 2017 in Funding, GH Announcements, GH Events, Practicums/Internships

Boston University and Pulitzer Center
GLOBAL HEALTH REPORTING FELLOWSHIP

Lunch and Presentation from Former Student Fellows
March 15th at 12:30pm
BU College of Communication Room 209

RSVP HERE

Come hear from the following former student fellows who will be presenting on their work from their fellowships:

Kateri Donahoe
Cutting Ties: Mali’s Struggle Between Tradition and Women’s Health

Rebecca Sananes
Cuba's Headstart on Finding a Cure for AIDS

Kate Petcosky-Kulkarni
Access and Understanding: Exploring the Challenges of Disability in India

Nikita Sampath 
Land Under Water: Living With the Effects of Climate Change in Bangladesh

Applications now open to apply to the 2017 Summer Student Fellowship!
(can be used as a practicum) 

Summer 2017

Since 2011, twenty Boston University students have participated in fully funded international reporting trips as part of the Program on Global Health Storytelling (formerly the Program on Crisis Response and Reporting). The Program on Global Health Storytelling is a collaboration among COM, SPH, the Center for Global Health and Development, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

COM and SPH students have traveled to Kenya, Cuba, Mali, Nepal, Zanzibar, Malawi, Myanmar, Haiti, Turkey, and Uganda reporting a wide range of public health and development issues including child brides, human trafficking, cholera, female genital cutting, migration, refugees, cash transfers, and the aftermath of earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal.

If you would like to be the next Pulitzer Fellow, applications are now open at http://sites.bu.edu/pghs/

Application Deadline: March 20th 2017

Monitoring and Evaluation Intern – Mothers Home Access Zambia Project

February 23rd, 2017 in Practicums/Internships

Summer Internship - 2017

Mothers Home Access Zambia (MAHMAZ)

Scope of Work – Monitoring and Evaluation Interns

To apply: Submit a resume and cover letter to Parker Chastain at psc347@bu.edu

Project:

The internship is with the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), Center for Global Health and Development (CGHD). The student will work with the team implementing the Maternity Homes Access in Zambia Project (MAHMAZ). This 3 year project is funded by Merck for Mothers, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the ELMA Foundation, and works in partnership University of Michigan, Africare, the Government of Zambia and the Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL) initiative.

The MAHMAZ project is complementing Government efforts in meeting SDG 5 as well as the SMGL project’s work in generating demand for health services, promoting access to care and improving the quality of maternal and newborn health services by addressing the “three delays” in Zambia which are:

1. Delays in deciding to seek care,
2. Delays in getting to care, and
3. Delays in receiving care upon arriving at the health facility.

The project is designed to address the distance challenge that far too many women face in accessing quality facility-based care. To make it easier for women to access assisted delivery, the project is building 10 maternity homes (referred to locally as Mothers Shelters). These comfortable, safe homes will provide a place where women can stay in the last weeks of pregnancy so they can deliver at a nearby facility capable of performing basic emergency obstetric and newborn care (BEmONC) with trained birth attendants. They also will be within reasonable transfer distance to facilities that can provide comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (CEmONC) in case it is needed. The homes will be equipped and managed in ways that we hope will increase community acceptance and engagement, and assure long term sustainability.

MAHMAZ will also be evaluating the maternity home models built by our project and our partners to determine a) whether the homes are effective in increasing facility delivery for vulnerable women and b) their potential for operational and financial sustainability. In support of the operational sustainability of the homes the project has implemented community based governance and management systems aimed at enhancing community ownership, support and accountability.

Areas of Focus for This Internship:

1. Monitoring and Evaluation
2. Local community engagement in health programs in developing countries
3. Sustainability of health programs in low-resource settings
4. Qualitative research methods

Internship Summary

The project seeks an intern to work at our offices in Zambia for 8 weeks between June and August 2017 to assist with qualitative data collection and synthesis for the governance and sustainability portions of our project.

1. The intern will interview project staff and governance committee members, and review project documents in order to draft a paper on what methods were used to develop the current governance structure of our mothers’ shelters. The intern will work closely with the M&E Coordinator and Field Site Managers, under the general oversight of the Project Director. The position may be based in Lusaka or Choma, with travel to Nyimba. Results will eventually become part of the Toolkit for Government on the scale up of MWHs in Zambia and may be used when disseminating project results.

Responsibilities:

1. Develop a draft methods paper and chapter for the Toolkit for the formation and implementation of the project Governance Structures

Work with the Field Site Managers and Construction Manager to document the steps that led to the formation of the mothers’ shelter governance committees, which oversee the functioning and sustainability of the mothers’ shelters.

Such steps included:

1. Formative research
2. Engagement of stakeholders

• Formation of Governance Committees and Management Units

1. Functioning of Governance Committees since formation

• Work with governance committee members at each site to document the implementation and functioning of the committees since formation, including their members, roles, frequency of meetings, purpose of meetings and any changes that have occurred
• Methods of data collection will include interviews with project staff and governance committee members, review of reports and documents created for the mothers’ shelters, and review of project and committee meeting minutes and other project documents

The intern will be expected to work with Project Staff and in collaboration with their University of Zambia MPH candidate counterpart to:

• Develop a project plan
• Develop research questions and a plan for data collection and synthesis
• Develop interview guides to be used during the interviewing of project staff and governance committee members
• Develop a system for documenting information obtained from the review of meeting minutes, reports, and project documents
• Synthesize all information through a methods paper, to be submitted to the M&E team

Interns will be provided assistance from the project team at all stages of the internship, from on boarding, to research plan and interview guide development, and synthesis of findings.

Other considerations:

• Interns will work individually and jointly to collect data and develop their respective papers
• Travel to rural health facilities is required
• This internship satisfies the practicum requirement for BUSPH

Qualifications:

• Current MPH student at Boston University
  • Preference will be given to applicants in the Monitoring and Evaluation certificate and the Global Health Certificate
• Prior experience in qualitative research methods (through employment or course-work)
• Self-starter, able to work with minimal supervision
• Ability to work in a cross-cultural setting
• Ability to live in a field setting with sometimes limited electricity

Project Management Internship – Mothers Home Access Zambia project

February 23rd, 2017 in Practicums/Internships

Summer Internship - 2017

Mothers Home Access Zambia (MAHMAZ)

Scope of Work – Project Management

To apply: Submit a resume and cover letter addressed to Parker Chastain at psc347@bu.edu

Project:

The internship is with the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), Center for Global Health and Development (CGHD). The student will work with the team implementing the Maternity Homes Access in Zambia Project (MAHMAZ). This $6.2 million, 3 year project is funded by Merck for Mothers, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the ELMA Foundation, and works in partnership University of Michigan, Africare, the Government of Zambia and the Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL) initiative.

The MAHMAZ project is complementing Government efforts in meeting MDG 5 as well as the SMGL project’s work in generating demand for health services, promoting access to care and improving the quality of maternal and newborn health services by addressing the “three delays” which are:

1. Delays in deciding to seek care,
2. Delays in getting to care, and
3. Delays in receiving care upon arriving at the health facility.

The project is designed to address the distance challenge that far too many women face in accessing quality facility-based care. To make it easier for women to access assisted delivery, the project is building 10 maternity homes (referred to locally as Mothers Shelters). These comfortable, safe homes will provide a place where women can stay in the last weeks of pregnancy so they can deliver at a nearby facility capable of performing basic emergency obstetric and newborn care (BEmONC) with trained birth attendants. They also will be within reasonable transfer distance to  facilities that can provide comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (CEmONC) in case it is needed. The homes will be equipped and managed in ways that we hope will increase community acceptance and engagement, and assure long term sustainability.

Position:

This is a temporary summer internship involving various duties that will facilitate an experience that will be useful in preparing for one for the ever evolving environment of Global Project Management.

The intern will work closely with Project Director Kaluba Mataka (Lusaka, Zambia) and Project Administrator Parker Chastain (Boston, MA,  U.S.). The position may be based in Boston, Lusaka or Choma, to be decided closer to start date.

Responsibilities:

• Employ project management support strategies to facilitate operations of the MAHMAZ project
• Support in managing the team’s schedules and milestones; ensuring that weekly project statuses are received from team members
• Assist in Identifying and managing  the project scope, constraints, risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies and deadlines; documenting risk mitigation plans
• Document resourcing needs, availability and commitments for scheduled project activities
• Document and communicate how well the project management systems are operating and make recommendations for improvement
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• Current MPH student at Boston University in a Global Health or Project Management Certificate program
• Expressed interest in Global Project Management
• Clear communication skills both written and verbal messaging
• Flexibility in duties based on the ever evolving landscape of a fast paced global project
• Ability to work in a cross-cultural setting, with willingnes to live and work in foreign county

Project Assistant position focused on youth-focused sexual & reproductive health project

February 9th, 2017 in Practicums/Internships

YIELD Project

Scope of Work: Project Assistant

Background

Since the International Conference on Population and Development in 2004 there has been a global proliferation of efforts to engage young people around the sexual and reproductive health programs and services aimed to serve them. While the prevailing wisdom supports that such efforts are both good for young people and for broader health outcomes, existing evidence is patchy and inconclusive. Hence, the Packard Foundation has aligned with other US-based private foundations around a shared interest in youth (defined as females and males ages 10-24 years of age) participation (herein referred to as youth investment, empowerment and leadership development or, YIELD) and adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health and rights (AYSRHR). As part of a learning agenda, the foundations will support a review of existing evidence, experience and program/services examples as inputs to gain current perspectives on what works, where there are gaps and what future investments at this intersection might result in more positive individual, social and health outcomes for young people. The project is conceptualized in two phases: phase one primarily consists of information gathering, synthesis and reporting. And phase two, which will be more concretely defined during phase one, will focus on the dissemination of results and translation of the recommendations into actionable guidelines for future investment. A small, agile project team is being formed to lead a consultative process that will engage the range of stakeholders to document and make informed recommendations around how YIELD can positively impact AYSRHR. A Project Assistant with interest and experience in global youth movements and/or the participation of young people in AYSRHR is being sought as a key member of the project team.

The following Scope of Work outlines the primary activities and desired qualifications of the Project Assistant.

Activities: Phase One

·      • Support project team to refine and implement an engagement strategy with project Steering Committee (SC)

·      • Support project team in co-design and implementation of nested youth engagement experiment within the project

·      • Support project team to form and coordinate a project Advisory Group (AG)

·      • Support literature review

·      Identify and summarize key sources of information

·      Support synthesis and distillation of available literature

·      • Support intervention landscaping and development of program/services summary matrix

·      Identify and summarize relevant programs and services from local to global levels

·      Support project team to develop a summary matrix and/or other information capture platforms

·      • Support key informant interviews

·      Support project team to develop information collection tools (interview guides etc.)

·      Summarize and support analysis of findings (using Dedoose or other related analysis tools)

·      • Support project team to design and implement country and sub-national level guided discussion groups

·      Support development of information collection tools (discussion guides etc.)

·      Support organization and implementation of events

·      Summarize and support analysis of findings

·      • Support development of synthesis report outline

·      Support project team in drafting and integrating stakeholder feedback

·      • Support development of analysis report triangulating information from all sources

·      Support project team in the preparation of report drafts and formatting and presentation of project deliverables

·      • Support project team in development of a refined plan for phase two

·      • Support preparation for calls, meetings and other stakeholder engagement

·      Prepare and/or review agendas, presentations etc.

·      • Support project management

·      Support budget management, administrative record keeping, reporting etc.

·      • Other activities as required

Phase Two:

The specifics of phase two will be refined during phase one, but may include strategies for disseminating the phase one findings, encouraging broader stakeholder buy-in and translating the findings into a practical guidelines for future investments in YIELD for

AYSRHR.

The Project Assistant will be expected to help support the project team with the

implementation of phase two efforts as necessary.

Qualifications:

·      • Five or more years of experience working on issues related to youth and/or sexual and reproductive health and rights

·      • Advanced degree in public health, public policy, social sciences or related field

·      • Demonstrated experience in information gathering methodologies employed by project

·      • Strong information and data analysis and interpretation skills

·      • Demonstrated experience with qualitative and quantitative data analysis software, ideally with Dedoose

·      • Excellent presentation, writing and communication stills

·      • Mastery of MS Office, Google Drive and related software tools and applications

·      • Country-level hands-on technical experience preferred

·      • Fluency in English required, and proficiency in other project languages (Spanish,

·      French, Portuguese etc.) preferred

·      • Flexible nature and willingness to bring full energy and commitment to the delivery of highest quality project deliverables

·      • Sense of humor, optimism and joyful spirit

Expected LOE:

·      • 12-16 hours per week during from February – July 2017, and possibly beyond

·      • Regular availability for weekly project team check-in calls and other related calls, meetings and related coordination with project team and stakeholders

·      • Promptness and flexibility in responding to emails, participating in calls and other time-sensitive activities as necessary

Project Assistant reports to Project Lead and coordinates with broader project team.

Interested candidates should send a cover letter highlighting relevant skills and CV to

Jennifer Catino (catinojennifer@gmail.com) no later than February 17, 2017.

Global Health Fellows Program II Pharmacy Intern

February 2nd, 2017 in Practicums/Internships

IDinsight – Global Graduate Student Summer Internship (paid)

February 2nd, 2017 in Practicums/Internships

IDinsight 

Locations:
Lusaka, Zambia
Nairobi, Kenya
Vijayawada AP, India
Delhi, India 

We seek leaders who are passionate about making a difference, possess exceptional analytical skills, and thrive in an entrepreneurial, developing country setting. The ideal intern would be interested in joining IDinsight in a full-time role in the future and would take advantage of the internship to identify a potential long-term role in the organization. Successful interns are highly likely to be considered for roles on IDinsight’s leadership team upon graduation.

To maximize learning for the intern and contribution to IDinsight, the internship will be tailored to the specific interests and skills of the intern rather than committed to certain projects at this time. The internship will likely involve a semi-autonomous project within a larger client engagement, which the intern will be responsible for leading with minimal to moderate support from supervisors. Potential projects will be discussed during the interview process.

The intern will be based in one of IDinsight’s offices in India or sub-Saharan Africa for a period of 8-10 weeks. The exact project assigned to the intern will be the result of conversations between the intern and his/her IDinsight supervisor to ensure that it is carefully designed to meet the interests and skills of the intern and the need of the organization. Some examples of the types of projects may include (but are certainly not limited to) the following:  

• Develop IDinsight’s evaluation plan for an agricultural impact evaluation.  
• Create data collection tools for a water, sanitation, and health survey.  
• Analyze endline data for a quasi-experimental education study. 
• Present findings from an impact evaluation to IDinsight government clients.

The intern will receive significant support and mentorship from IDinsight leadership.

Application deadline: Feb 20, 2017

APPLY HERE: https://busph.joinhandshake.com/jobs/623264 

DURATION

Temporary / Seasonal

CONTACTS

Julia Tuttle 

JOB FUNCTIONS

Consulting, Data & Analytics

IDINSIGHT

IDinsight is an international development consulting organization that helps policymakers and managers make socially impactful decisions using rigorous evidence. We carefully tailor a wide range of analytical and quantitative tools to enable our clients to design better policies, rigorously test those ideas, and take informed action at scale to improve lives. Our services include experimental evaluation methodologies – including, but not limited to, randomized controlled trials – tailored to the priorities of international development decision-makers; monitoring and performance management systems to facilitate continuous data-driven improvement; policy design consulting and scale-up support. Our advisory teams are closely integrated into client organizations, and we strive to provide comprehensive support for clients who want to maximize their social impact through evidence-based policymaking. IDinsight’s vision is to improve millions of lives by transforming how the social sector innovates, learns and improves. Founded by graduates of Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School, IDinsight works across Asia and Africa and is rapidly expanding. Our clients include state governments in India, national Ministries across Africa, the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, international NGOs and innovative social businesses. We work across a range of sectors, including governance, health, education, energy, agriculture, and sanitation.

Goodbirth.net – Data Collecting Research Assistant

January 26th, 2017 in Jobs, Practicums/Internships

Project/Organization:

Goodbirth.net, a global network of birth centers, is doing a pilot descriptive survey of birth centers in low resource countries.

Position Summary:

Research assistant to assist in collecting data from birth centers identified globally via email, Zoom/Skype, and phone surveys. To begin surveys Feb 2017 and complete by June 2017.

Salary: $15 an hour. Anticipate 30-40 hrs over total project (survey approx 50 birth centers, 30 min a survey and 1 hour conference call/wk)

Qualifications /criteria:

• Global Health graduate student, data collection experience a plus
• Interest or experience with maternal healthcare
• Good computer skills, will be using Excel and MS Word
• Ability to work independently, and stay on schedule
• Capable of working effectively with a team
• Foreign language skills a bonus- French, Spanish, Creole, Hindi, Arabic

Key duties and responsibilities:

• Work under the direction of the PI/project leaders:
• To provide assistance in the conducting of research activities including planning, optimizing and conducting surveys of birth centers identified globally.
• Coordinate and perform a variety of independent and team activities involved in collection, analysis and documentation of birth center surveys.
• Present information collection and give feedback regarding the collection process
• Confer with PI with feedback and process evaluation, optimizing research project workflow during and after completion of project.

Support provided:

• Weekly conference calls
• Training re: midwifery and out of hospital birth care and survey criteria, and process.
• Liberal access to PI and project leaders.
• Welcome to participate in birth center conference in Port au Prince, Haiti March 6 2017

Submit CV /statement of interest/qualifications to:

Jennifer Stevens CNM MS, DrPH Candidate- rebeka@bu.edu

Practicum Opportunity at the School of Public Health University of Western Cape South Africa

January 26th, 2017 in Practicums/Internships

Background

Since 2014, faculty and MPH students have regularly visited the University of Western Cape (UWC) for varying periods. The most frequent visitor has been Prof Richard Laing who works with Dr Hazel Bradley on Pharmaceutical Public Health issues. Two MPH students, Chris Noble in 2015 and Selam Hailu in 2016  did their practicums in the summer at UWC. The Dean, Sandro Gallea and Prof Don Thea visited in late 2015 and Prof Andrew Stokes and Prof David Rosenbloom will be visiting in February 2017.

Practicum Description

During a three month period from May to August the BU MPH student would participate in a range of activities including some or all of the following:

• Participate and assist in the two short pharmaceutical public health related courses which occur during the 2017 Winter School. These would be on Promoting Rational Medicine Use (3-7 July) and Supply Chain Management (10 to 14 July).
  • This would include matching the hard copy course materials with the soft copy version of the course materials.
  • Facilitate group works in Medicines Supply Chain Management and Rational Medicines Use winter classes.
  • Provide input for the Medicines Supply Management Course, e.g doing simulations in class to help students who have no experience in the work of medicines supply chain  to get a feel of the work on the ground.
  • Manage the evaluation process for the courses
  • Develop a course report for each of the courses
• Work together with Mr. Wolde Amde and others at UWC on updating the school's website related to pharmaceutical public health and maybe adding other relevant sections to make it more informative and timely.
• Work with Mr Wolde Amde on incorporating Pharmaceutical Public Health related materials into the existing social media sites
• Create a pharmaceutical public health short and long course alumni contact list that could be incorporated in the school's website
• Visit health facilities and pharmacies in Cape Town
• Visit chronic dispensing unit (CDU) if possible to arrange
• Attend SOPH Public Lectures and regular SOPH Journal Club during practicum
• Possibly work with UWC students undertaking research related to pharmaceutical public health topics. This might include assisting with proposal development, literature reviews, data collection, data cleaning etc. This activity would depend on the stage at which students are in doing their research work.

Apply to

Dr Hazel Bradley BPharm, MPH, PhD, Senior Lecturer, School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, South Africa at hbradley@uwc.ac.za . Early applications are encouraged as some students may need to apply for visas.

Additional Information

For additional information contact Prof Richard Laing at richardl@bu.edu or Selam Hailu at selamh@bu.edu

See Winter School web site at https://www.uwc.ac.za/Faculties/CHS/soph/Pages/Winter-School.aspx

Pharmaceutical Public Health at UWC at https://www.uwc.ac.za/Faculties/CHS/soph/Pages/PHARMACEUTICAL-PUBLIC-HEALTH.aspx

Zambia Field Practicum in Public Health – GH775 offered in Summer 2017

January 12th, 2017 in Practicums/Internships

The Department of Global Health is delighted to announce that it will offer GH775 African Field Practicum in Public Health this Summer, from May 26-July 2, in Zambia. This course was offered previously as the Field Practicum in Tanzania (2016) and for nine years prior in Kenya (2007-2015).

• The course meets the MPH Practicum requirement.
• It is 4 credits.
• Meets requirements for three Certificates:
  • Design & Conduct of Public Health Research;
  • Monitoring & Evaluation
  • Global Health.
• Can also be taken as elective credit
• Requires a separate application process, APPLY HERE
• Provides a Santander Award towards travel expenses.
• Enrollment will be capped at 20 students.

Students can learn more during upcoming information session

• Wednesday, February 8th, 1:00-2:00pm CT-305

MORE PROGRAM INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND HERE