Call for Applications: Faculty Mobility Funding for Collaborative Projects with Tanzania and Benin

The International Global Health Office (IGHO) invites you to apply for funding to support faculty mobility between July 2024 and April 2025. This opportunity is open to faculty members to support collaborations with our esteemed partners in Tanzania (Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College, KCMUCo) and Benin (Université d’Abomey-Calavi (UAC), and Institut Régional de Santé Publique (IRSP)). The IGHO welcomes faculty mobility applications for seed funding to support the development of new collaborative projects and initiatives, and for applications that build on established connections. The mobility funding is available for both incoming and outgoing faculty, promoting a dynamic exchange of knowledge and expertise.

Focus Areas

The mobility funding is intended for both incoming and outgoing faculty mobility and should focus on one or more of the following preferred domains of action:

• Clinical education, research and capacity strengthening
• Public Health education, research and capacity strengthening
• Biomedical (basic science) education, research and capacity strengthening

Who Should Apply?

We welcome applications from faculty members who have a clear vision and:

• Aim to develop new collaborative projects and initiatives.
• Seek to build on established connections with our partners.
• Have a vision that aligns with the outcomes identified in our partnerships.
• Support the strategic vision of the Faculty of Medicine.
• Foster an inclusive environment for innovation and partnership within our academic community.

Overview of Partnerships:

Benin

Partner Organizations: Université d’Abomey-Calavi (UAC), Institut Régional de Santé Publique (IRSP)

Partnership Details: The Faculty of Medicine (FoM) has maintained longstanding ties with our partners in Benin for over 20 years. Our partnerships in Benin began with the Université d’Abomey-Calavi but soon expanded to include the Institut Régional de Santé Publique. The focus of these partnerships has been efforts in teaching, training, and research, and promoting la Francophonie in medicine. In the past two decades, the partnership priorities have evolved to include:

• Global health experiences: we offer group global health electives in Benin with our partner organizations where learners can participate in an elective focusing on the core global health principles of community engagement and social accountability
• Pedagogical and educational development for la Francophonie: the development of specific training and educational activities for Francophones, such as problem-based learning, simulated clinical sessions, online self-learning content, and more

Tanzania

Partner Organization: Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College (KCMUCo)

Partnership Details: The partnership between uOttawa’s Faculty of Medicine and KCMUCo was formed to improve healthcare access and health equity for local populations, especially women, in the Kilimanjaro Region, Northern Tanzania, through three interrelated pathways:

• Clinical Partnership Activities: to improve the ability of KCMC hospital to respond to the healthcare needs of the local population through enhanced clinical skills and leadership training and mentorship in clinical research and teaching
• Public Health Partnership Activities: to strengthen the ability of KCMUCo to address pressing public health challenges facing the local population through enhanced education of the future public health workforce and collaborative research on priority public health issues
• Student Mobility and Coordination Activities: to enhance the ability of faculty and learners at the University of Ottawa and KCMUCo to collaboratively act to reduce health inequities through bi-directional exchanges and joint coordination with a focus on shared benefits

Eligibility Criteria

The applicant must:

• Be a faculty member at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine, who is applying to fund outgoing mobility for themselves or incoming mobility for a counterpart
• Have an identified counterpart who is a faculty member at the partner institution
• Demonstrate an understanding and commitment to the ethical principles of global health, as set out in the Brocher Declaration
• Demonstrate a commitment to advancing the global health goals defined by the Faculty of Medicine in the 2020-2025 Strategic Plan
• Have the administrative ability to plan for the mobility in collaboration with the faculty member’s Department/School and IGHO (this includes supporting incoming faculty where the process could take between 6-12 months and being able to coordinate outgoing mobility processes where the process could take 3-6 months)
• Request approval for travel dates from their department upon acceptance of mobility funding (for clinical departments).
• Commit to providing a 1–2 page report on their activities in the format requested by the International and Global Health Office (IGHO)
• Commit to sharing their experiences at a departmental meeting upon their return and serve as ambassadors for faculty mobility and champions within their department

The mobility activity must:

1. Focus on clinical or public health-related activities, including teaching, curriculum development, research (includes basic science and applied), or capacity strengthening
2. Address challenges or contribute to global health advancements
3. Have clear, realistic, and achievable objectives given the mobility timeframe and available resources
4. Focus on activities that respond to priority needs identified by the counterpart
5. Address any ethical considerations
6. Be built on an education and capacity-building model
7. For mobility related to pre-established partnerships, they should align with the aims of the partnerships and the developed logic models

Initial visits must have a:

• Counterpart identified
• Clear vision of objectives while in-country
• Plan to continue established collaborations

Second visits must:

• Build on the objectives and activities undertaken during the initial visit
• Demonstrate departmental support through a letter of commitment or a financial contribution

Funding Details

Funding Amount:

• For outgoing mobility: $2000-$4000 depending on the destination, availability of partner housing, and duration of stay
• For incoming mobility: $5000

Note: the faculty and the IGHO invested in housing at the Doctor’s compound at KCMC (Moshi, Tanzania) for the coming 5 years where faculty members can now reside in an available house comprised of 4 bedrooms with single, double, and triple accommodation per room. The availability of the house will alleviate the costs related to accommodations in Tanzania, and a scheduling process will be shared with faculty members who will be visiting KCMC/KCMUCo in 2024-2025.

Funding will be reimbursed up to the set amounts indicated above. Each applicant will be responsible for managing all associated travel expenses as per the policies and procedures of the University. For uOttawa Faculty, this will involve using Workday to request reimbursements up to the stipulated amount. For incoming faculty, the uOttawa faculty applicant will be responsible for supporting their counterpart throughout the process and assuming financial responsibility for costs incurred until the mobility grant has been processed.

Upon approval of funding, IGHO will provide details on mobility planning, financial processes, and reporting.

Recipients will be responsible for reading, understanding, and adhering to uOttawa travel policies and regulations.

Eligible expenses include: Equivalent of economy class flight, Visas, Travel/health insurance while overseas, and local transportation and meals.

Details on this call for applications

Deadline to apply: July 8, 2024

Application process and review:

1. Application form completed by July 8, 2024
2. Initial review by the IGHO for alignment with objectives/framework
3. Content-specific assessment
4. Assessment by the Clinical Global Health Council for applications associated with clinical activities
5. Assessment by the Assistant Dean of Global Health (Dr. Manisha Kulkarni) for applications associated with public health and other non-clinical activities
6. Final assessment and determination by the IGHO
7. Response sent to applicants by July 17, 2024

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions to [email protected] regarding this call for applications and review process.