TECHNICAL PARTNERSHIPS

Center on Child Protection at the University of Indonesia

Columbia University, UNICEF, and the University of Indonesia established the Center on Child Protection at the University of Indonesia.   The Center contributes to the systematization and professionalizing of the child protection in Indonesia—playing an essential role in gathering information, research, analysis and evaluation of information collected by the government. A group of interdisciplinary, cross-institutional faculty build the capacities of government practitioners and academics through the Center on Child Protection to promote uniform, sustainable solutions to complex problems affecting children, their families, and communities.  The Center initiatea joint projects and exchanges with practitioners and academics from the Asia/Pacific region to foster knowledge exchanges and problem solving.   

The first collaborative research project is under way, mapping the existing child protection information management system on national, provincial, and district levels.  This initiative will result in recommendations to help the Government of Indonesia pioneer an innovative national child protection information management system.  The Center will complement and supplement this larger, national information management effort.

The Center pursues its goals through three inter-related sets of activities: Research to support program and policy development; Training to build the capacity of government officials, academics, and civil society practitioners; and Technical Support to local institutions.  Check out the Center's website for more information.

Faculty: Neil Boothby and Lindsay Stark

CPC Network

The Program on Forced Migration and Health, along with ChildFund, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Save the Children, UNICEF, the Women’s Refugee Commission, and several local partners have established the Child Protection in Crisis Network (CPC Network). The goal of the CPC Network is to strengthen and systematize child care and protection through the collaborative action of humanitarian organizations, local institutions, and academic partners. The CPC Network aims to inform practice and policy through the use of evidence-based findings. The CPC Network’s unique structure, which includes both Program Learning Groups at the local level and Global Technical Groups to assist and synthesize learning across locations, is designed to address the Network’s dual local and global mandate. Along with the Program Learning Groups and Global Technical Groups, the CPC Network consists of a Secretariat at Columbia University, a Board of Advisors, and member organizations. The Network was launched during the Child Protection Action Summit in November 2008 in Stockholm.  Please visit the CPC Network's website for more information, and download the CPC Synthesis Report , a comprehensive report of the work of the CPC initiative over the past three years.

Faculty: Neil Boothby

The CPC Network met in Bellagio, Italy in May 2010. The meeting afforded a unique opportunity for members and partners of the CPC Network to collectively determine the Network’s priorities for the next three years and agree on procedures, structures and modalities to promote collective learning within and between the Network’s global and country learning initiatives.  

Participants undertook collaborative group work, breakthrough panels, and discussed future plans with an eye towards strengthening networking and impact. 

The major outcomes of the conference were: consensus on the importance of establishing effective relationships and communications within the CPC Network; defining roles and priorities of CPC Network members, particularly global technical groups; capturing lessons learned from the field and effective dissemination of knowledge within the CPC Network and with external stakeholders; understanding the challenges and opportunities of building a global network; learning about ways to establish and develop successful local working groups.

An especially important connection was made between country level and global technical working groups, as well as across country level groups.  This connection will help drive the implementation of the network’s vision and purpose.

 The next step will be to synthesize learning and key decisions and recommendations made during the meeting and develop a strategy document to inform the next period work-plans of the various CPC Network groups (Program Learning Groups, Global Technical Groups, Advisory Group, and Secretariat).

Systems Improvement at District Hospitals and Regional Training of Emergency Care (sidHARTe)

Systems Improvement at District Hospitals and Regional Training of Emergency Care (sidHARTe) is a three-year pilot program in two rural districts in Ghana.  The long-term goal of sidHARTe is to improve emergency medical care throughout two regions of Ghana, starting at the district-level.  The program is being implemented through a partnership between the Ghana Health Service and a consortium of US-based physicians under the leadership of Rachel Moresky.  Funding is provided by a grant from the GE Foundation.

The sidHARTe program coordinates a continuous schedule of lectures, bedside training, and process improvement at two district hospitals, Kintampo and Mampong-Ashanti, as well as periodic regional and national trainings for representatives from other districts.  There are plans to incorporate outreach and pre-hospital care into the curriculum within a year.  The program also includes some direct clinical service delivery in Kintampo and Mampong in order to encourage exchange between the trainers and the local staff and to better inform the teaching component. 

The program strategically revolves around district hospitals because these often-overlooked facilities fill an important gap between community-based primary-care clinics and the larger, hard-to-reach tertiary hospitals in major cities.  Although district hospitals are limited in resources and technology compared to tertiary hospitals, they represent the main source of hospital care for most Ghanaians.  By working at the district-level, the hope is that sidHARTe will eventually be able to offer realistic tools and guidelines that contribute to scaling up emergency medical care for a broad section of the population. 

In addition to integrating with other Ghana Health Service programs, sidHARTe has formed collaborations with the Ministry of Health’s educational institutions, the University of Ghana School of Public Health, and other Columbia University programs.

Faculty: Rachel Moresky

Reproductive Health Response in Conflict (RHRC) Consortium

The Reproductive Health Response in Conflict (RHRC) Consortium is dedicated to the promotion of reproductive health among all persons affected by armed conflict. The RHCH Consortium promotes sustained access to comprehensive, high-quality reproductive health services and advocates for policies that support reproductive health. The RHRC Consortium is comprised of seven agencies: American Refugee Committee, CARE, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, International Rescue Committee, JSI Research and Training Institute, Marie Stopes International and Women's Refugee Commission. Therese McGinn, Judy Austin and Grace Kodindo are Columbia's Representatives to the Consortium.

Faculty: Therese McGinn

Guidance on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

A significant gap in emergency response has been the absence of agreed upon guidance regarding how to address mental health and psychosocial needs in emergencies. Guidance is needed to enable effective coordination, quality programming, and avoidance of harm caused by the use of approaches that are inappropriate to the culture or situation. To fill this gap, the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) created a global Task Force on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings that was co-chaired by WHO (Mark van Ommeren) and InterAction (Columbia University professor Mike Wessells). Using a highly consultative, participatory process, the Task Force created the first consensus guidelines for the field. The guidelines emphasize social interventions, effective first response amidst crisis, and integration of mental health and psychosocial supports into multiple sectors of humanitarian assistance. At present, the work of implementing the guidelines is overseen by the IASC Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings.

Health Research Capacity Strengthening in Kenya and Malawi

The capacity for implementing high-quality research was acknowledged in the 2005 Commission for Africa report as a key step in promoting sustained development in Africa. This applies to the health sector as much as any other area: research capacity potentially not only supports the development of effective and efficient health services, but also promotes an economically important area of science and technology. The UK Department for International Development, the Wellcome Trust and the International Development Research Centre, Canada are jointly implementing a major $35 million health research capacity strengthening (HRCS) initiative in Kenya and Malawi. The initiative aims to foster: enhanced institutional capacity for high-quality multi-disciplinary health related research studies; national health policies and programmes being formulated utilising research findings; scientific knowledge being more effectively shared across international organisations and knowledge networks; and improved regulation and coordination of the national research environment. Alastair Ager serves on the Steering Group of this initiative.

Faculty: Alastair Ager

International Center for Training in Emergency Medicine, Trauma and Disaster Preparedness. Ahmedabad, India

The Program on Forced Migration and Health in collaboration with AmeriCares Foundation, Physicians and Government of Gujarat, and the Division of Emergency Medicine at CUMC has developed a Training Center for Emergency Medicine, Trauma and Disaster Preparedness in Gujarat, India. This three-year program involved two phases. The first phase was a tertiary based emergency, trauma and disaster medicine Train the Trainers (ToT) Program. Physicians trained Medical Officers, nurses and MDs working in Casualty Departments (Emergency Departments) in the state of Gujarat. The second phase employed a cadre of trained local physicians to teach comprehensive emergency care to district level medical officers and health care providers in more rural settings in the earthquake affected regions of Gujarat. This included training other personnel involved in emergency medicine and trauma care such as casualty officers, nurses, pre-hospital care (EMS) workers, and first-responders. Through strengthening the clinical acumen of emergency healthcare providers at various levels and contributing a continuous source of emergency, trauma management and disaster preparedness trainers, the program aimed to improve the delivery of emergency medical care in the disaster affected areas of Gujarat.

The Ahmedabad project "International Center for Training in Emergency Medicine, Trauma and Disaster Preparedness" has now been completed.  The project culminated in training over 1,000 health care providers in Emergency Medicine and conducted certificate courses in trauma: National Trauma Management Course (NTMC), Basic Life Support (BLS), and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).  Over 50 instructors of BLS/ACLS have committed to continue teaching providers.  The program concluded with a city wide disaster drill in Ahmedabad that was replicated in Mumbai and in Sri Lanka.  Our partners have requested that we assist in the creation of a public Emergency Medicine Residency Program.

Faculty: Rachel Moresky

International Emergency Medicine Fellowship Program

Bringing together the cumulative resources of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the international emergency medicine fellowship (IEMF) was established in 2006. A two-year program, the fellowship trains emergency physicians in international emergency medicine through public health education and in-field experience abroad in international health and disaster mitigation and management. The fellowship prepares leaders in international health by developing academic, clinical, and administrative skills in international medicine and awards a Masters of Public Health degree under the Program of Forced Migration and Health. The fellows work in a variety of settings including disaster response, humanitarian assistance, and systems development in low and middle-income countries.

Faculty: Rachel Moresky