The 1st ESTHER Ireland Partnerships Forum took place on Tuesday 8th November, at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, on Kildare Street in Dublin. The Partnerships Forum is an annual collaborative networking and learning event which showcases international health partnerships being conducted by Irish organisations and institutions.
Please click here to view the agenda from the event. The event was split into several distinct sessions, covering different aspects of International Health Partnerships work. Please click the video below for an overview of the Partnerships Forum, and content from each of the day’s three sessions can be viewed in the sub-sections below. You can also click here to watch all of the videos as a playlist.
Opening Session
This was the opening session that aimed to frame the importance of institutional health partnerships as a development approach. It featured comments by President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Frank Murray; Irish Aid’s Head of Development, Patrick Empey; as well as the keynote address by THET’s Head of Partnerships, Andrew Jones. Please click on the images below to watch video recordings of the speakers.
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| David Weakliam (HSE; Chair, ESTHER Ireland) |
Patrick Empey (Head of Development, Irish Aid) |
Frank Murray (President, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland) |
Andrew Jones (Head of Partnerships, THET) [Download presentation] |
Session I: Different ways and models of working in partnership
There is no one model for a successful health partnership and very often creativity and flexibility are required in finding a model that works for all partners. This session was designed to present a number of different types of partnerships that highlight the diversity and showcase some of the models currently operating among ESTHER Ireland partners and grantees.
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| Tony Ryan (Cork University Maternity Hospital) [Download presentation] | Eric O’Flynn (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) [Download presentation] | Diarmuid O’Donovan (National University of Ireland Galway) [Download presentation] | Elenia Macamo Amado (Ministry of Health, Government of Mozambique) [Download presentation] | Joe Gallagher (Palms GP Surgery) [Download presentation] |
Session II: Partnership needs and innovation
Defining the health and institution needs and being innovative in responding to those needs are a key feature of health partnerships. In addition, reciprocity is among the key principles of high quality partnerships and is one of the eight principles outlined in the ESTHER Charter for Quality of Partnerships. This session was designed to present examples of how the needs of partnerships have been identified from the perspective of the Southern and Northern partner, and how the partnership has been innovative in addressing those needs and also achieving reciprocal benefits for the Irish partner.
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Ayat Abu Agla (Centre for Global Health, Trinity College Dublin) [Download presentation] |
Meabh Ni Bhuinneain (Mayo General Hospital) |
Anne Dee (Department of Public Health, HSE Mid-West) [Download presentation] |
Fiona Murphy (Department of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Limerick) [Download presentation] |
Caoimhe Finn (Beaumont Hospital) [Download presentation] |
Session III: Challenges & Opportunities
The context in which health partnerships take place is often wrought with challenges that range from large systemic issues such as weak health systems to other challenges such as lack of funding, turnover in key personnel and communication. Health partnerships as such are complex and require stamina, creativity, flexibility and tenacity. This session was designed to hear from current ESTHER partners and grantees about some of the challenges they face and the solutions they have found. Please note that this session did not feature presentation slides. Following this session, David Weakliam, Andrew Jones, and Luciano Ruggia gave comments to close the 1st ESTHER Partnerships Forum.
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Rosarii Griffin (Centre for Teaching and Learning, University College Cork) |
Niamh McEnerney & Anna Brown (LauraLynn Children’s Hospice Foundation) |
Niall Conroy (Centre for Emergency Science, University College Dublin) |
Eoghan McKernan (INFANT Centre, Cork University Maternity Hospital) |
Carol O’Dea (Edenpark Surgery) |
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Cliona O’Sullivan (School of Physiotherapy, University College Dublin) |
Edel Healy (School of Health & Science, Dundalk Institute of Technology) |
Closing comments by David Weakliam (HSE, ESTHER Ireland), Andrew Jones (THET), and Luciano Ruggia (ESTHER Switzerland) |
Image gallery
Please click on the thumbnail images below to view the full-size pictures.
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