East and Southern Africa regional training workshop on participatory methods for a people-centred health system “Strengthening community focused, primary health care oriented approaches to social accountability and action” Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC) Zimbabwe through the Community of Practitioners in Accountability and Social Action in Health (COPASAH) and the Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET) Call Closes On 3rd September 2013! This call invites applicants to participate and share experiences in a Regional Training Workshop for east and southern African countries on Participatory methods for strengthening community –focused, primary health care oriented approaches to social accountability and action being held on 7th – 11th October 2013 The call: TARSC, through COPASAH and EQUINET, are planning to hold a regional workshop on Participatory Approaches to Strengthening People Centred Health Systems in the east and southern African region, focusing on ways of improving public involvement, social action and accountability in health for local action and advocacy. The workshop will explore how to raise community voice in strengthening the resourcing and functioning of primary health care (PHC) systems through the use of participatory approaches to build community roles in accountability and action. It seeks to support work at national, district and local level with health systems and communities in health, with a major focus on the interactions at primary health care level. The training draws on the learning coming out of COPASAH – a global network of practitioners who share an interest and passion for the field of community monitoring for accountability in health - and EQUINET – a consortium network that aims to promote and realise shared values of equity and social justice in health in east and southern Africa. It will be facilitated by TARSC, Uganda National Health Consumers/Users Organisation (UNHCO) and the Lusaka District Community Health Management Team (LDCHMT). The training will use experience coming out of the pra4equity network in EQUINET, including a toolkit which outlines practical ways to build understanding of participatory reflection and action (PRA) methods and their use in strengthening people centred health systems. This workshop is thus targeted at civil society organisations, NGOs, community leaders, health workers, academics, researchers, and anyone else involved in work with communities and health workers in the east and southern African region. The skills workshop will work through practical examples of PRA approaches and different approaches to social accountability, and will provide time for application of these approaches and capacities to areas of work that participants are involved with at community level. There will be limited resources for select organisations to receive follow up mentoring and technical support in implementation of this work. There are limited places in the workshop. We invite interested organisations and individuals to submit an application to participate and to provide the full information shown below. We encourage organisations to submit two names per organisation, but please note that applications will be judged on an individual basis with no guarantee that both applicants will be accepted into the training. The workshop will be held 60kms outside Harare, Zimbabwe. Convenors will cover airfare, accommodation, meals and airport transfers. There may be a small fee that participants will need to pay (approx USD 150), to be confirmed in the coming months. Participants of existing COPASAH and EQUINET programmes are welcome to apply. Information requested from applications: Interested applicants should submit ¤ a 1-2 page ‘expression of interest’ that outlines o the research or training work that they and their institution are doing / are proposing to do that relates to exploring the role of community in ensuring a. health services at PHC level are functioning in terms of personnel, medicine, equipment, etc and/or b. sufficient and appropriate resources (financial, human, material) are available at PHC level; o what their own role in this work is; o where the work is being done; o whether it is funded; o what changes it is aiming at producing; and o why participatory reflection and action (PRA) methods will enhance the work. w a personal CV including community based research and training and any prior experience of, training in or use of PRA or social accountability methods, w brief information on the institution that they work in Note that applicants who are not already members of COPASAH are requested to complete their membership form on line as part of the application process. See http://www.copasah.net/copasah-membership.html Applicants should submit this information by no later than 3rd September to TARSC at info@tarsc.org and copy to barbs@tarsc.org. Accepted delegates will be notified by 17th September on the outcome of their submission, including details for the meeting.