Boissevain Jane, Richardson Jeanita W, Netshandama Vhonani, Dillingham Rebecca
University of Virginia, USA.
University of Venda, South Africa.
Widening Partic Lifelong Learn. 2013 Winter;15(4):26-45. doi: 10.5456/WPLL.15.4.26.
Internationally, efforts to improve health in under-resourced areas of the world frequently involve coalitions, often with at least one partner from the "outside," such as when NGOs or universities from Europe or the US work with institutions and communities in Africa or Asia. Little has been written about applying successful principles to multinational university collaborations as the unit of analysis and where challenges may be magnified by cultural differences and resource imbalances. The purpose of this article is to share the findings from an evaluation of the multi-year interdisciplinary public health Water and Health in Limpopo (WHIL) collaboration between the University of Venda (South Africa) and the University of Virginia (United States). We believe the learnings described easily transfer to collaborative educational endeavors because at their root they speak to the practices that enhance respectful engagement and partnership sustainability.
在国际上,改善世界资源匮乏地区健康状况的努力通常涉及联盟,联盟中往往至少有一个“外部”合作伙伴,比如欧洲或美国的非政府组织或大学与非洲或亚洲的机构及社区合作时。关于将成功原则应用于跨国大学合作(作为分析单位)以及文化差异和资源不平衡可能加剧挑战的情况,相关论述较少。本文旨在分享对南非文达大学和美国弗吉尼亚大学之间为期多年的跨学科公共卫生项目“林波波省的水与健康”(WHIL)合作评估的结果。我们认为所描述的经验教训很容易应用于合作教育项目,因为从根本上说,它们涉及促进相互尊重的参与和伙伴关系可持续性的实践。