Policy and Advocacy Training – NiMSA Nigeria

Name of the activity: Policy and Advocacy Training

Country/NMO: NiMSA Nigeria

Program: Medical Education Systems

Contact information: contact mede[email protected] to get in touch with the Activity Coordinator

Type of the activity: Continuous Activity.

Category: Education

Focus area: Capacity building

Sustainable Development Goals addressed: GOAL 3: GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

General description:

The Policy and Advocacy Training was designed to educate and awaken medical students across Nigeria towards meaningful youth engagement in participating in health policy formulation and implementation.

Problem statement:

The majority of our members are ignorant of their roles in health policy both as the target of youth policies and as actors in implementation, despite NiMSA-SCOPI efforts in advocating for meaningful youth engagement in decision making at all levels. Unfortunately in Nigeria, decisions that affect our lives are made by the middle-aged and the elderly and as such, we should be well equipped as youths to make meaningful contributions in the decision making process of the health sector.

Target groups:

Medical students

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students, Healthcare Students

Objectives:

To achieve a 60% increase in the interests and knowledge of members on Policy and Advocacy and to empower members to advocate better policies and partner with stakeholders in decision making through training sessions by externals who have a background in the different standing committees topics within 3months.
To ensure that 60% of participants are equipped as future health professionals with the necessary skills in writing implementable policies and advocating for policy reform in the healthcare sector of Nigeria.
To ensure at least 70% of participants of the training know how to access regional opportunities for youths including but not limited to external meetings, internships at a regional and national level, research opportunities, national collaborative opportunities with NGOs and UN agencies at the end of the training.

Indicators of Success:

1. Participants should have above 70% knowledge on Health Policies and Advocacy strategies.
   2. Participants should be able to draft an implementable Policy Document.
   3. Participants should be able to pitch confidently their policy ideas to relevant stakeholders.
   4. Participants must be aware of external internships and hackathon Programs and how to access them.

Methodology:

The training spanned from April 30th to 13th April, 2022.
– It comprised of 11 masterclass lecture sessions, running for 11 weeks, one topic on Policy, advocacy or communication skill per week.
– Participants were given a project to draft a complete implementable Policy Document.
Leadership structure, we grouped all participants into a subgroup of 4 with each group having a leader. They subgroups were also grouped under the 9 standing committee’s in NiMSA- Nigeria. We then appointed Coordinators for each of the Standing Committee groups and then we had an Academy Coordinator, assistant Coordinator and registrar who was supervised by the NMO Standing Committee head.
– We contacted Internal and external experts to facilitate the online training sessions.
– Our leadership structure, SWG and other NMO leaders were our consultation team. we have documented and uploaded all materials used in the training on our Google drive for reference and sustainability of the academy.

Plans for evaluation:

-Through a pre and post evaluation form which we would send out before and after the training. This would be a major means of our evaluation to ascertain the level of knowledge of the participants before and after the training.
-Through coursework given intermittently within the training session.

External collaborations:

None yet