Global Partnerships for Education and Care

Building on the success of our other ILDS and IFD global programmes, such as GLODERM, we are launching our new initiative - the GPEC Programme - where we will be taking applications, open to all dermatology departments, for the first cohort to be involved in the programme. There will be an annual new intake of applications/pairings moving forwards.

GPEC will not be driving the training element of the programme. Successful applications/partnerships will be required to align on mutual goals that they plan to work towards throughout the programme, focused on enhancing training and education within each department - we really want to ensure the programme is led within your own partnership, and that partners work together to learn from one another through the core activities as a minimum. However additional activities such as research projects etc. could be agreed upon. Partnerships will be expected to drive their activities and programme actions between one another, with the GPEC team acting to support where needed.

Our application form will ask for standard details surrounding your institution, and any details of existing partnerships with other institutes that you may have in place. We will also ask you to confirm any existing associations with ILDS member organisations and/or dermatology patient organisations.

Please consider your department’s areas of expertise in global health dermatology, and areas where you wish to receive expert training, as part of the programme.

We will require you to upload a signed letter of authorisation (on an official letterhead) from your Head of Department / President of your institute to confirm that your department wish to take part in this programme.

If your institute has a dermatology department, we will require you to submit figures for us to see the scale and local impact of your department:

• How many medical staff members are in your dermatology department? Please list their current qualification level with numbers
• How many administrative staff members are in your dermatology department?
• How many dermatology patients does the department treat a year, on average?

Additionally, other key questions included in the application form that will require a longer response are:

• Does your department/institution participate in any global health dermatology activities in other countries? Please provide a brief description.
• What are the top three dermatology conditions seen in the department/institution?
• What are the main challenges that the department faces with providing dermatological care?
• What are the main challenges that your patients face in receiving dermatological care?
• Does the department/institution have any particular local needs/issues that you wish to address as part of the GPEC Programme?
• Please briefly outline how the GPEC Programme will align with your own department/institution's strategic goals, local and national health policies
• Why does your department/institution want to form a partnership (or be involved within the programme as an existing partnership)?
• What value can you bring to the GPEC Programme?

If your department/institute are applying as an individual seeking a partner within the programme, then you will be prompted to list up to 3 eligible departments/institutions that you would like to potentially partner with as part of the GPEC Programme. Please include any rationale on why you wish to be partnered with them and include any relevant contact information, if known.

We strongly encourage applications to be completed as an existing partnership, or having worked closely with another international department previously who could be considered as a potential partner within the programme. This ensures an initial foundation between organisations is present and the GPEC Programme can act to strengthen this previous/existing working relationship together.

One of the questions in the application form will allow you to input up to 3x eligible departments/institutions that you would be interested in partnering with as part of the programme. We will also ask you to consider your department areas of expertise in global health dermatology, and areas where you wish to receive expert training, as part of the programme. The ILDS team will review all applications and look to match suitable departments together, who have also applied for the programme, based on mutual goals/strengths/learnings requested.

New partnerships between departments will be based on those who apply to the programme – there is no existing list of institutes available to ‘choose’ from.

Initially, the programme will be allowing for $20,000 split between the number of departments (so $20,000 between 3 institutions) – however, we will be reviewing all applications, and should there be opportunity to provide additional funding between larger groups then we will consider this option, once final pairings/groups are confirmed. We encourage pairs (of 2 departments) for the programme, to support 1:1 learning exchange and build a close working relationship with one another.

You will be required to confirm plans for your $10,000 grant at the start of the programme. We encourage these funds to be used on travel expenses to your partner’s institute, equipment, and other training support to enhance education within your department. We will be requesting financial updates throughout the programme to confirm activities completed and how much of the grant has been utilised.

The programme is to support the training and knowledge sharing of your dermatology department as a whole entity, through mutual learning with another international institute/department. There is no limit to the number of staff within your department, we will only require a project lead and secondary contact to manage the programme on behalf of your department.

These contacts will be responsible for managing the core activities within the programme, including running a virtual training session for your partnered institute and GPEC attendees (topic agreed with your partnered institute, aligned with training needs/mutual goals for the programme), attending your partner's training session to support your department training needs, arranging in-person visit(s) with your partnered institute (where possible), and completing required reporting for the programme. The project leads will be responsible for ensuring that training received is cascaded down within your department.

You will have core activities to complete within the 2-year programme including running a virtual training session for your partnered institute and GPEC attendees, attending your partner's training session to support your department training needs, arranging in-person visit(s) with your partnered institute (where possible), and completing required reporting/check-ins for the programme.

You will be required to submit reporting on activities completed/funds utilised every 6 months, submit an initial baseline analysis at programme initiation and attend/contribute to a success-sharing event at the end of Year 2 of the programme. There will also be a GPEC web platform to access digital resources and network with other international departments within the GPEC community.

Regular correspondence via virtual meetings and email communication with your partnered department would be expected to strengthen your partnership and work towards your mutual goals within the programme.