We are delighted to announce the creation by WONCA of a new Special Interest group to focus on helping us to be more effective advocates for family medicine - in our own settings and with external stakeholders.
Family doctors across the world are hard-working clinicians busy at the frontline. Policy, and the systems issues that surround them, are sometimes far from their minds. The Special Interest Group (SIG) on Policy Advocacy aims to build capacity for policy advocacy by family doctors at global, regional, national and local level.
Within WONCA, there is a wealth of experience. The objectives of the SIG are to:
1. Share experiences and insights on policy advocacy
2. Develop skills in policy advocacy for family medicine and primary health care
3. Share key knowledge and good practice more widely
4. Create a repository of resources to support policy advocacy
5. Support expertise for effective networking with stakeholders
6. Set up specific ‘learning sets’ for mentoring and support to those beginning to take up active advocacy roles.
SIG Policy Advocacy Webpage
In the first phase, we are very keen to link with those already active in leading WONCA - senior members of WONCA Regional Executives, Working Parties / Special Interest Groups, Young Doctor Movements and Member Organizations. The SIG is of course open to anyone in WONCA, but we really hope that each group listed here will find named link/s to help us shape the SIG’s agenda and make it useful. Those who get involved will hopefully learn a lot too!
A key activity is going to be an e-Workshop every few months. We are planning the first one with two e-workshops on the same day at different time zones. We hope to swop future e-workshops between these time zones to cater to the diversity of WONCA.
Please ask your named link/s to register for the WONCA Special Interest Group (SIG) on Policy Advocacy at its first interactive e-Workshop on “Basics in Policy Advocacy for Family Medicine” on Thurs 8th September 08h00-10h00 GMT (Check your local time
HERE) and 15h00-17h00 GMT (Check your local time
HERE).
08h00 – 10h00 GMT
Registration Link
15h00 – 17h00 GMT
Registration Link
Our SIG co-chairs and founder members will form the first panel.
• Prof. Shabir Moosa (Africa region): Background in Policy Analysis
• Prof Amanda Howe (Europe region): Experience in Global Policy Advocacy for Family Medicine
• Prof. Mohamed Husni Jamal (Asia Pacific region): Experience in Regional Policy Advocacy for Family Medicine
After the panel discussion of 40 minutes, we will break up into small groups for 40 minutes to discuss the following question/s. We hope the collective expertise in WONCA will provide for a stimulating discussion:
1. What are our experiences of success and challenges in policy advocacy?
2. How would we benefit best from the SIG?
We will close the meeting with feedback and summarise key issues in 40min. The panel and feedback will have French/Spanish translations.
Hoping to see you on 8th September!
Co-convenors
Prof. Shabir Moosa, Member at Large, WONCA
Prof. Amanda Howe, Past President, WONCA