Aligning host community preferences with organizer practices

February 9, 2017 | Christopher Dainton

Given the money and logistics involved in planning a short-term medical mission, it’s no surprise that organizations often allow their own priorities to monopolize their aid projects. But any benefits to volunteers should always take a back seat to the needs of the communities they aim to help.

A recent publication by Rozier, Lasker, and Compton looks at the disconnect between the priorities of medical missions and the priorities of host communities. They qualitatively analysed over 500 interviews with various stakeholders.

The article concludes that host communities want volunteers to stay 3 weeks or longer (rather than the 1-2 week trip that is now typical), and that they value collaborative relationships that involve capacity building and teaching more than direct patient care. Hosts also want skilled, humble volunteers who are adequately prepared for the culture, language, and work conditions.

Timmy group picture

In response to their findings, the Catholic Health Association proposes a set of guiding principles for work in international health. Since our website uses Jesse Maki’s original six domains for best practices on medical missions, we’ve organized Rozier’s guiding principles under these same headings.

Education

Participatory research and needs assessment: working at the invitation of a host community partner and ensuring a recent needs assessment has been conducted in the community.

Sustainability

Asset assessment, continuity and collaboration: working with a host community partner to ensure local resources are known and used as far as possible.

Preparedness

Community consultation, planning and preparation: organizers and host community staff must together determine clear goals, perhaps creating a Memorandum of Understanding.

Screening, selection and preparation of Volunteers: selecting only those volunteers who will advance the goals of the trip and providing them a thorough orientation that includes cultural competence and capacity building

Impact and safety

Quality and implementation: ensuring the highest standards of care are followed and collaborating to build capacity with local organizations.

Monitoring and evaluation: setting aside some of the limited resources for assessment of real impact on the health of the community and making this information available to all, starting with the baseline from the original needs assessment.

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