Vision, Goals, Values and Principles of Partnership
Vision
Guided by a unified vision, the partners of the Africa Higher Education Health Collaborative strive to empower young people, equipping them with the skills to advance and sustain the growth of African health sectors and meet the diverse health needs of their respective countries.
As a Collaborative we commit to the following goals:
- Enhance capacity in Africa to train skilled workers for primary health care to meet growing demand, and to contribute to the extension of systems that employ and retain this primary care workforce.
- Optimize entrepreneurial ecosystems in and through universities in Africa to launch and scale health startups to create jobs and develop innovative solutions to systems challenges.
- Enable students and professionals in Africa to acquire advanced skills across a broad range of disciplines critical for sustainable health sector growth and transformation, from those disciplines not conventionally taught in universities to post-doctoral research and development.
- Create dignified and fulfilling jobs across health ecosystems through a dynamic, sustainable, long- term network of leading African universities, alumni, government agencies, not-for-profits, health care start-ups, and private sector partners.
As a Collaborative, we will strive to live by these values to guide our engagement in Africa:
- Respect: Respect the values of partners from different cultures
- Inclusivity: Ensure there’s inclusivity of partners’ voices in all planning, processes, policies, and programs
- Equity: Ensure an equity-lens across programs, policies, processes, and practices so that interests of all parties are served
- Reciprocity: Ongoing engagement with members of the Collaborative to ensure that programs and processes are of mutual benefit
- Ethics: Engage in ethical research practices, ethical recruitment and selection, and ethical procurement processes
- Dynamism: Commit to actively engaging in, reviewing, and revisiting the priorities, roles, and responsibilities to reflect evolving partner needs
- Stewardship: Ensure we are good stewards of the network resources with the goal of producing results that have positive impact to our communities
All members of the Collaborative share a commitment to partnership building, with the goals of identifying areas of fruitful collaboration and together co-creating programs to maximize impact in Africa. The essence of the Collaborative embodies the African Ubuntu philosophy (community, solidarity, and interconnectedness) and is inspired by the Harambee spirit of collaboration (Swahili: all pulling together). We will be guided by the following principles:
1 Africa-Centric
As a collaborative we will:
- Build capacity in Africa to benefit Africans, guided by Africans: Our health, our wealth, in Africa, for Africa
2 Employability
As a collaborative we will:
- Cultivate transformative leadership among students and other stakeholders
- Empower graduates in their transition to paid, meaningful, and stable employment or self-employment opportunities
- Engage with employers and stakeholders to understand their needs and priorities
3 Networks
As a collaborative we will:
- Anchor global networks in Africa and build on existing and developing networks in which each partner in the collaborative is already engaged
- Embrace bilateral, trilateral, and multilateral collaborations
4 Impact
As a collaborative we will:
- Design all programs to have a positive social impact
- Engage in formative evaluation for all our programs to explore impact
- Assess for negative impacts and mitigate risks through ongoing communication and sharing
- Adjust course based on learning
5 Scale
As a collaborative we will:
- Create opportunities that scale
- Aim to impact broader communities
6 Sustainability
As a collaborative we will:
- Build in sustainability by planning for and incorporating tools, resources, and pathways that foster capacity development and effective resource management
- Commit to long-term partnership development
7 Indigeneity
As a collaborative we will:
- Integrate African indigenous ways of knowing (knowledge systems), ways of being (identity), and cultural practices into the Collaborative’s activities
- Incorporate principles of justice, inclusion, belonging, and equity into curriculum program plans, content design, development, and delivery; research practices; and across all processes
This Partnership Agreement is made and entered into by and between the following parties:
The agreement sets out the shared vision, goals, guiding principles, values, and joint governance of the Collaborative to guide our collective work. This agreement is not legally binding.
