Between 19-24 September, Nuffic organized a monitoring mission to Ethiopia and we were privileged our Orange Knowledge Programme-Insitutional Collaboration Project (OKP-ICP) ‘Midwife students as advocates to empower female graduates and adolescents by promoting SRHR and gender equality to support access and retention in the education system using blended e-learning’ was selected to be visited.
Lead partner, the Ethiopian Midwives Association (EMwA), welcomed the Nuffic Regional Representatives – Eastern Africa, Armand Gaikema and Akalu Sima, at the EMwA office in Addis Ababa. By bringing together various stakeholders involved in the program’s implementation – including delegates from the government, implementing universities, and midwifery students who succesfully completed the SRHR[e]Education blended learning training – we reflected on the program results and lessons learned. The Health[e]Foundation team – including two Dutch university students who were involved in the research collaboration and exchange with Ethiopia as part of the OKP program – participated online.
We reflected on the inspiring and succesful collaboration between EMwA and Health[e]Foundation, characterized by EMwA’s lead role in the OKP program. Local leadership allowed for an adaptive and flexible approach based on locally-driven needs and solutions, which were especially of importance in a fast-changing and challenging implementation environment in times of COVID-19 and humanitarian conflict.
The Nuffic Representatives appreciated the committment from EMwA and Health[e]Foundation, praised our equal partnership and complimented the succesful accomplishments.
“We are happy with the accomplishments of the project. Commitment and hard work from EMwA and Health-E-foundation are at the back of the success. Your collaboration and achievements are exemplary.”
Akalu Sima, Regional Representative – Eastern Africa
We look forward to continuing the successful collaboration with EMwA and will be sharing key lessons learned during the workshop as part of the “Nuffic 70 years – meet the world” congress on 1 December!
