TOOLKIT NAVIGATING THE POLITICAL WORLD How to be Political in a Non-partisan Organization
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IFMSA Executive Board 2019-2020 President Nebojsa Nikolic (Serbia) Vice-President for Activities Saniya Sahasrabudhe (India) Vice-President for Members Paulina Birula (Poland) Vice-President for Finance Gabriela Cipriano (Peru) Vice-President for External Affairs Tarek Ezzine (Tunisia) Vice-President for Capacity Building Hayder Noori (Iraq) Vice-President for PR & Communication Saad Chaibi (Morocco) Layout Mustafa Hushyar (IFMSA-Kurdistan)
Publisher
The International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization representing associations of medical students worldwide. IFMSA was founded in 1951 and currently maintains 140 National Member Organizations from over 129 countries across six continents, representing a network of 1.3 million medical students. IFMSA envisions a world in which medical students unite for global health and are equipped with the knowledge, skills and values to take on health leadership roles locally and globally, so to shape a sustainable and healthy future. IFMSA is recognized as a nongovernmental organization within the United Nations’ system and the World Health Organization; and works in collaboration with the World Medical Association.
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Navigating the Political World
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Index
1. Acknowledgments
Pg. 4
2. Introduction
Pg. 5
3. Policy Documents
Pg. 6
a. Policy Usage and Implementation in IFMSA b. Policy-making and Implementation at a National Level
Pg. 8
4. The Political World
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a. Intro to the Political World i. What is the Political World? ii. What is a political stance? b. Navigating the Political World i. How do I do it? 1. Step 1: Be on the look for triggers 2. Step 2: Increase the impact of your Statement 3. Step 3: Build your Support Network 4. Step 4: Spread the word 5. Step 5: Assess your results
5. Conclusion
Pg. 12
6. Examples
Pg. 13
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Acknowledgements Lead Authors: José Ganicho, External Affairs Regional Assistant for Europe 2019/2020 (ra.ea.europe@ifmsa.org) Matteo Cavagnacchi, IFMSA Policy Assistant 2019/2020 (pa.ea@ifmsa.org)
Contributors: Rodrigo Sanchez Iturregui, External Affairs Regional Assistant for the Americas 2019/2020 Inês Francisco Viva, ANEM-Portugal NMO President Ali Amirkafi, IMSA-Iran NMO President Abbas Fadhil, IFMSA-Iraq NMO President
TO Reviewers: Paulina Birula, Vice President for Members 2019/2020 Tarek Ezzine, Vice President for External Affairs 2019/2020 Gita Mihelčič, Regional Director for Europe 2019/2020
This Toolkit takes its premises from the Open Space Discussion on the same topic facilitated by the Lead Authors during the IFMSA August Meeting 2019 in Taipei, Taiwan.
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Navigating the Political World
Introduction In the contemporary world, with the challenges we’re facing and the crisis that might be ahead of us, IFMSA and NMO have the duty to become more and more active on the political stage at all levels, from local to national, from regional to global. Thus, while we need to keep a non-partisan stance on these matters, we will also be forced to put our hands on topics that have a strong politically-driven background. This might seem scary and lie outside our role, but, if we want to stand by our policies and priorities and really help create the world we envision, there’s no other option than getting into it. It’s key that your organization establishes a set of priorities that can guide its work throughout the term and throughout the year taking into consideration your values, the public well-being and the political dynamics you’ll be facing. With a clear vision there is nothing that we cannot achieve. With this said, the perfect method of clearly stating your priorities is through policies. In this toolkit, we aim to tackle Policy-Making in IFMSA and at a National Level by giving an overall and easy walkthrough of this process. At the same time, we want to discuss a little bit of Policy Usage and Policy Impact Assessment and their role in our continuous advocacy efforts. Finally, we will introduce you to the complex world of politics, helping you navigate it easily by the end of the toolkit.
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Policy Documents Policy Usage and Implementation in IFMSA Policy Documents: “A policy document represents IFMSA’s beliefs regarding a particular issue, being composed by a statement and a policy paper. The belief is kept within IFMSA’s mission and objectives and bound by its Constitution and Bylaws. Policy documents are approved during the IFMSA General Assembly March Meeting and August Meeting and are valid for a period of three years and/or until their renewal.” You can access IFMSA Policy Documents in this link: https://ifmsa.org/policy-documents/.
●● External Meetings A policy document is a fundamental tool, representing and guiding IFMSA’s beliefs and stances. At an external level, IFMSA, through their Officials, uses these documents in external meetings, assuring that the statement they are making is according to the National Member Organizations’ views and beliefs. Without them, Officials could state things that are not exactly what medical students stand or fight for, but their personal views on a topic. In a way, a policy document is an instrument that allows NMO to be indirectly present at an external meeting.
●● Partnerships A policy document not only states a specific belief or opinion in one topic but also includes a call for action and addresses what IFMSA and its NMO think stakeholders and relevant externals should do on the matter. With this said, these documents work like a guide when it comes to establishing new partnerships because we clearly know what we want from externals and how we consider we should be working on to solve the problem addressed.
●● Internal Development Finally, a policy document is also an incentive and a call to action for NMO, addressing how NMO can work with IFMSA on tackling a particular topic. It can be campaigns, it can be activities, projects, whatever you can think of, but in the end, a policy document is a key tool in internal development that can help NMOs guide their own work.
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Policy-making and Implementation at a National Level Policy-Making is not something that only IFMSA does and some NMOs from all Regions are developing their own policies and advocacy initiatives. Each NMO has the right to develop their own national Policy Process and Andvocacy Strategies, according to their needs, goals and overall situation. In this paragraph, we would like to discuss different approaches to Policy Making and Implementation, with the goal of helping NMOs that are still in their first steps in this process.
Here are the 3 Main Pillars of Policy-Making: 1. Search: if you want to write a policy document or discuss a topic in high-level meetings, you will need to do extensive research on the topic. From the Background to the Call to Action, from the Policy Paper to the Bibliography, you will need to search for credible sources of information (such as WHO and UN); 2. Stakeholder-Mapping: a policy document is only useful if you know who to approach. Therefore, you will need to analyse who are the target stakeholders, their area of expertise and what they can do on the topic of your Policy. They are especially relevant when you are writing the Call for Action. 3. Strategy-Thinking: the final pillar is the key one. A Policy Document is a wellwritten paper, but the most important thing is what you do with it. Therefore, it’s important when drafting a policy document to have a clear strategy, a clear goal and a clear set of objectives you want to achieve with the policy.
Do you want to develop a Policy Document? These are what we identify as the the 5 Steps of Policy-Making: 1. Define your priorities (for example, Mental Health); 2. Research the topic and look for the key documents that address it and that can support the stance you are trying to build (for example, WHO Mental health Action Plan 2013-2020); 3. Map the relevant stakeholders you think should be approached (for example, Mental Health Europe); 4. Write your Policy Document. Take advantage of IFMSA’s Policy Documents and adapt to your national reality and your language. (for example, https://ifmsa.org/ wp-content/uploads/2019/09/AM19-Mental-Health.pdf) 5. After you finish your Policy Document you need to develop a good strategy to increase and assess the impact of your policy - check the next couple of pages to understand more about what to do with your policy document and how to increase its impact.
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The Political World Intro to the Political World We see politicians talking about policies on television and newspapers. Sometimes, we even discuss politics between friends and colleagues. However, what does it really mean? What does politics mean? What does it mean to be a non-partisan organization and having no political stances? These are the questions we want to explore in order for the readers to completely understand these different terms before getting into the journey through the political world.
What is the Political World? Definitions may vary according to the context of your advocacy work, on the political system of your country and the goal you are aiming at. As a general idea, we can describe it as the place where decisions are made and put into practice, from your own university (Professors, Dean, School Senat) to local authorities (Mayor, City Council), national institutions (Political Parties, Parliament, Ministries) and international bodies (UN, European Union, WHO). Each of these have different levels of power and can act on different issues you may want to tackle, like adding Global Health to your curriculum (University) or changing the law regulating your National Health System (Ministry of Health and/or National Parliament). It is important to be fully aware of what you can get out of each of the decision makers and what are the different approaches you can use to lobby with them. One key actor you should never forget to take into account is the general population. This can refer to the general students when you’re working on a local campaign or the whole of the citizens of your country! Make sure they are on your side, explain why your proposal might benefit them and empower everyone to become an active part of your advocacy process!
What is a political stance? As Rudolph Virkow put it, “Medicine is a social science and politics is nothing but medicine at a large scale”. This means that every action we take as students, future health professionals and citizens has some political meaning, whether we’re aware of it or not.
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Most of the priorities we as a Federation work on, from Medical Education to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, from Climate Change to Universal Health Coverage do not stand on a bipartisan left wing/right wing approach, but have a strong political background nonetheless. We advocate for some change to be made in our education, health systems or civil rights, and this is pure politics!
Navigating the Political World So, is the Policy Document the goal of the NMO’s political involvement? Not even close! Policy Documents are the starting point for your advocacy and campaigning activities on the issues you focused on. Once the policy is done and approved, it’s time to implement it and put things into action.
‘Cause a policy document approved and not implemented would make it just a waste of paper and work! As we already stated, Policies are just the starting point from where to start your lobbying strategy and maximizing the advocacy potential of your NMO. This way, you will be able to further expand your stakeholder and partners network, getting your positions known and shared by as many relevant members of the society as possible, from general students to patients and doctors associations, politicians and so on! At the end of it all, if you did all in your power, your activity will result in a positive impact and change in the society, which must remain, at the end of it, the sole goal we shall always have in mind.
How do I do it? Around the world, there are various different ways to promote some political stance at the highest levels of decision making. This depends on how strong is your potential, how open are your stakeholders to confrontation and inputs and how much the general population supports your cause. In general, there are some strategies that are applicable in most cases, while still not always applicable to all kinds of situations. Each NMO has the best possible overview of its national context and how to navigate it, these are just some tips to start moving your first steps in it:
Step 1: Be on the look for triggers Politics move fast. It’s your role as student leaders and advocates to always be ready to react. A new law proposal is submitted or approved, some changes in the health system are discussed in your country’s parliament, your dean wants to reform the school www.ifmsa.org
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curriculum. These are all triggers you should be paying attention to and, if they overlap with the position you mentioned in your Policy Documents, take a stance about it. It’s really important for you to read the news, listen to the radio and watch political debates to be aware of the main topics that are being discussed and that might interest you and your NMO!
Step 2: Increase the impact of your Statement So, the trigger has been pulled, you need to make your voice be heard. How do you do it? Policy Documents are, as you know already, a good starting point for structuring your position, but they are not enough. They are often quite long documents full of details and data that might distract the reader from the point you want to focus on. What you need to do, then, is to convey your message in a clear, short and engaging way.
1. Public Support: One of the things that can push your agenda is having the Public support your statement and your call to action. With this said, try to promote it as much as you can and try to have students involved in this process. 2. Press Release: You can do so via a press release to share with all the traditional media you can reach (newspapers, local and national TVs, radios…). 3. Social Media Management: As said in the previous point, try to promote your Policy Document via a Social Media Campaign using the platforms your NMO has more impact on (Instagram, Facebook®, Twitter…). Take the Policy Document and turn some of the Background and the Call for Action in Instagram Stories or Facebook® Posts that you and other students can also share. Always remember to adapt your statement to the media you are going to put it on. Let’s be honest, nobody reads a 4 pages wall text while scrolling Facebook® but you cannot, on the other hand, use lots of images and informal language in a newspaper. Always think about what you like reading and what gets your attention on social media! This way more students will know about your policy and what your organization stands for. This also builds on public support since everyone that shares your posts will spread your message!
Step 3: Build your Support Network After there is a trigger and you start developing your strategy to increase the impact of your statement, it’s important to build a strong network of stakeholders, the relevant parties, individuals organizations that have a special interest (or stake) in a given topic, project, plan, policy, program, or other action.
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A. Approach New Stakeholders: If you followed IFMSA’s structure when it comes to Policy Documents, you can see that it has a clear strategy for approaching stakeholders (Governments, Hospitals, Healthcare providers, Universities, or any other). After you have your own set of stakeholders and actions you think they should be developing on the matter, you can contact them. In case they don’t know your organization, start by presenting your organization, its vision and some of its initiatives. B. Contact your Partners: It’s also important to continuously work on your organizations’ relationship with its partners. Therefore, when you develop a new policy document try to contact them, explaining your views and build on their support. The perfect scenario is them supporting or endorsing your Policy Document!
Step 4: Spread the word Your press release is on the news, your instastories shared. So what happens next? Do you just sit and wait? Of course not! As we stated before, it is important to be sure your message gets across with decision makers and the general population. The key word here is: make noise, make your voice be heard! The problem of advocacy is that sometimes the results take time and your advocacy efforts may need to be a little persistent. It’s important for you to not let your fight fade away, so keep up with new and interesting ways of promoting your position. Here are some examples: A. Ask for a meeting with relevant authorities to present your proposals; B. Organize a conference opened to the general population involving stakeholders that may support your cause (doctors, professors, journalists); C. Be creative and organize a flash mob or a public demonstration to raise the attention of the media.
Step 5: Assess your results Did your campaign work? Was your proposal implemented? Did you get to reach the stakeholders you had in mind? What did work? What didn’t? What can you improve? What can you learn? These are the questions you must ask yourself after going through any activity! There is always room for doing a better job the next time, so take your time to assess the impact of your initiatives, evaluate all the process, see what are the actions that seem to be good in your area of interest and analyze those that do not to find a way to make avoid the same mistakes.
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Conclusion Policy-making is one of the backbones of IFMSA and NMO’ advocacy strategies. Having an active role in the discussions and debates in political matters is fundamental to increase the impact of our efforts. For the past few years, some NMOs have experienced navigating through the world of politics being a non-partisan and having a neutral role so we truly believe IFMSA should develop tools for its NMO and Officials, sharing best experiences and practices and improving this ongoing process at the international and national level.
With this toolkit, we tried to show some strategies that can help NMOs tackle highly political topics from a non-partisan stance and at the same, in order for you to have a clear picture on how to implement them, we added some examples from NMOs as an annex. We are aware that each country and each NMO has its own differences, when it comes to regime, governments and overall political environment. Nonetheless, we believe this toolkit could be a way forward and can truly help NMOs tackle these complex issues.
Keep in mind that when advocating for something sometimes the results take time and your advocacy efforts may need to be a little persistent. It’s important for you to not let your fight fade away, so keep up with new and interesting ways of promoting your policy document and your advocacy efforts!
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Annex: Advocacy Examples When drafting this toolkit, we were aware of the complexity and sometimes difficulty to see these strategies in practical and concrete actions. Therefore, we wanted to highlight some examples that can help you draft your own strategies at a national level.
●● Example 1: European Parliament Elections Initiative ●● Example 2: Advocating for Health Workforce Planning (ANEM-Portugal) ●● Example 3: Climate Action Advocacy (IFMSA-Peru) ●● Example 4: Antimicrobial Resistance (IFMSA-Iraq) ●● Example 5: Adoption of National Students’ Associations Bylaws in the Ministry of Health (IMSA-Iran)
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Example 1: European Parliament Elections Initiative 5 Steps of Policy-Making Define your priorities ●● After a discussion during Regional Session in MM19, an online consultation with NMOs and a further discussion during EuRegMe19, the European Region agreed on including in the Call to Action: o European Regional Priorities for the term 2018/2019; i.
Antimicrobial Resistance;
ii.
Mental Health;
iii.
Vaccination;
o IFMSA Global Priorities for the term 2018/2019; i.
Non-Communicable Diseases;
ii.
Environment, Climate Change and Health;
iii.
Refugees’ and Migrants’ Health and Rights;
o IFMSA Global Priorities: Overarching Concepts for the term 2018/2019; i.
Global Health Education;
ii.
Universal Health Coverage;
iii.
Meaningful Youth Participation;
Research the topic and look for the key documents that address it ●● IFMSA Global Priorities with regional relevance; ●● IFMSA Regional Priorities and Policy Documents; Map your relevant stakeholders to approach ●● International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations ●● Voters, General Public and Medical Students; ●● European Parliament; ●● Candidate Members of the European Parliament; Write your Policy Document ●● European Parliament Elections; ●● Media releases; After you finish your Policy Document you need to develop a good strategy to increase and assess the impact of your policy - check the next couple of pages to understand
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more about what to do with your policy document and how to increase its impact.
Step 1: Be on the look for triggers ●● An election to the European Parliament was held between 23 and 26 May 2019. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million people from 28 member states; Step 2: Increase the impact of your Statement ●● Through the IFMSA Social Media Platforms, mainly through Facebook®, an infographic was shared to make it easier for people to be aware of the topics we were tackling and representing in the name of European medical students; ●● Through the contacts of ANEM-Portugal and SISM-Italy, the document was on national news media outlets; Step 3: Build your Support Network ●● The Regional Director contacted the European Youth Forum, in order to share the document and increase its reach; ●● Furthermore, NMOs were encouraged to contact their national candidates and to share these documents, further promoting the european medical students’ priorities;
Step 4: Spread the word ●● ANEM-Portugal and SISM-Italy contacted National News Media Outlets and newspapers and managed to have several articles published regarding this initiative; ●● ANEM-Portugal gave an interview regarding this document and the european medical students’ priorities and the future they envisioned after the European Parliament Elections; Step 5: Assess your results ●● Connected hundreds of students’ priorities in one single document and promoted collaboration between the NMOs of the European Region; ●● Took advantage of this highly political moment to discuss our priorities with the future decision-makers that will decide the future of the European Region; ●● Appeared in several News Media Outlets and National Newspapers;
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Example 2: Advocating for Health Workforce Planning 5 Steps of Policy-Making Define your priorities ●● Every year, to access a medical speciality, recently graduated medical students have to undergo a National Exam. According to their results, the students choose the speciality; ●● In recent years, due to the lack of spots, a growing number of medical students has not been able to access speciality and finish their training; ●● The Government has failed to tackle this issue and left hundreds of students in an unknown status. Even though they have a medical degree, they still lack a speciality. Therefore, these recently graduated medical students have a very limited scope of action they can do in the National Health System; ●● ANEM-Portugal has advocated for a Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting, from pre-graduate training and medical schools entrance to post-graduate training and access to speciality, taking in consideration the prospective needs of the population and the consequent human resources demands; Research the topic and look for the key documents that address it ●● OECS Report Health at Glance; ●● ANEM’s National Research; ●● National Statistics Data; Map your relevant stakeholders to approach ●● Minister of Sciences, Technology and Higher Education; ●● National Doctors Order; ●● Medical Schools; Write your Policy Document ●● National Global Priorities Policy Document; After you finish your Policy Document you need to develop a good strategy to increase and assess the impact of your policy - check the next couple of pages to understand more about what to do with your policy document and how to increase its impact. Step 1: Be on the look for triggers ●● In recent years, due to the lack of spots, a growing number of medical students have not been able to access speciality and finish their training.
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●● Due to the lack of effective measures by the government, we considered that it would be important to take more public and firm action, using the day of the National Exam as a platform to launch this motto; Step 2: Increase the impact of your Statement ●● Through ANEM-Portugal Social Media Platforms, it was shared a letter with every student, addressed to the Minister of Health, with a concrete proposal for the Government to take action regarding Health Workforce Planning and Forecasting, taking in consideration our National Policy Documents; ●● At the end of the National Exam, members from the Board of ANEM-Portugal and form Local Committees were present at the different locations the exam was taking place throughout the country, with hundreds of copies of the letters for the students to sign; ●● The goal was to deliver the hundreds of letters to the Ministry of Health and grab media attention in order to pressure the Government to take action; Step 3: Build your Support Network ●● We contacted News Media Outlets in order to have their support to spread our message; ●● This initiative was coordinated by ANEM’s EB with the support from every Local Committee, so in this case, our LC were our partners. Furthermore, one key partner was in fact, medical students; ●● We also contacted the Ministry of Health, giving them insight about our initiative and stating that we would be delivering hundreds of letters from medical students to the Ministry; Step 4: Spread the word ●● Several of the News Media Outlets were present when members of ANEM- Portugal and Local Committees’ Board delivered the letters to the Ministry of Health and we were able to give interviews to major networks; Step 5: Assess your results ●● Delivered more than 3000 signed letters from medical students around the country to the Ministry of Health; ●● Appeared in several News Media Outlets and National Newspapers; ●● Were received by the Secretary of Health, representative of the Ministry of Health; ●● Scheduled two meetings with the Ministry of Health after this initiative. ●● Got the attention and support of the public regarding the importance of our proposal to the sustainability of our National Health Service and to the future of hundreds of medical students. www.ifmsa.org
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Example 3: Climate Action Advocacy 5 Steps of Policy-Making Define your priorities ●● Climate Crisis is an urgent matter for the impact it can have on health, economy, society and the environment ●● Health workers and students have the responsibility to advocate at any possible level for the betterment of strategies tackling the issue; ●● Governments and International Institutions need to assess and approach this crisis in a fast and sustainable way to avoid the worst consequences scientists have been warning us about; ●● IFMSA-Peru decided to develop advocacy initiatives with the government in order to put forward some concrete actions, also in collaboration with other NGOs working in this field; Research the topic and look for the key documents that address it ●● IFMSA Policy Document on Climate Change and Health; ●● UN Climate Change Conference COP 21 Report;
Map your relevant stakeholders to approach: ●● International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA); ●● Minister of Health; ●● Minister of Environment; ●● National and International NGOs; Write your Policy Document ●● Joint letter was sent to the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Health;
Step 1: Be on the look for triggers ●● The UN Climate Change Conference COP 25 (2 – 13 December 2019) took place under the Presidency of the Government of Chile but was held in Madrid with logistical support from the Government of Spain; ●● IFMSA Delegates were involved in the advocacy process and got in touch with relevant officials from NGOs in the Americas and Institutions with whom they started cooperating for further initiatives in the near future;
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Step 2: Increase the impact of your Statement ●● IFMSA-Peru participated in various forums and conferences where Climate Crisis was the focal point of discussion, promoting their statements on the matter and advocacy and campaigning plans; Step 3: Build your Support Network ●● The Joint Letter was sent to the Ministry of Environment; ●● The Ministry of Health was also contacted and IFMSA-Peru is currently working with them; Step 4: Spread the word ●● As we write this document, IFMSA-Peru has started developing some initiatives to promote the topic amongst its members that will be implemented as soon as they are fully completed Step 5: Assess your results ●● A partnership with the Ministry of Health was established to tackle the issue of Climate Change in Peru.
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Example 4: Antimicrobial Resistance 5 Steps of Policy-Making Define your priorities ●● Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is becoming a new imminent threat to the human population; ●● All over Iraq, the gradual increase in the resistance of microbes to antimicrobials is expected to cause more life-threatening scenarios at levels higher than in the present time. In Iraq, lifesaving antimicrobials can’t always be acquired in some parts of healthcare centers in distant areas or emergency sites which indicates a big defect in the distribution process; ●● The popular regimes used in national healthcare centers start with a broadspectrum of drugs to fight infections and people are not aware of the severe consequences of this procedure.; ●● IFMSA-Iraq wanted to ensure that the voice of all medical students and youth is heard by strongly empowering their stance towards this life-threatening issue;. Research the topic and look for the key documents that address it ●● MSF articles and data; ●● IFMSA policy document on AMR; ●● WHO articles and action plans; ●● European commission fact sheets; Map the relevant stakeholders you think should be approached ●● Iraqi Government; ●● WHO office-Iraq; ●● International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA); ●● Medical faculties and other teaching settings; ●● IFMSA-Iraq Local Committees and Medical Students; ●● Pharmaceutical Departments; ●● Food & Agriculture sector; Write your policy document ●● IFMSA-Iraq Policy document on AMR;
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Step 1: Be on the look for triggers ●● As a relatively new NMO, one of the goals was to tackle policy making, as it is one of the most important ways to address certain issues through the voice of youth and medical students.; ●● Based on research for national priorities, it was found that one of the most important issues in the community is the misuse of antimicrobials which is posing an imminent threat to our community’s health and wellbeing; Step 2: Increase the impact of your statement ●● Through the adoption of the first policy document in IFMSA-Iraq in the 4th NGA KIRKUK, all Standing Committee members and officers were encouraged to start policy making and plan implementation strategies based on the policies’ call to action points; ●● Using different social media platforms, a national AMR strategy manual was shared based on this policy document info and call to action points to provide all medical students from different LC the tools to fight AMR in their respective city and work as one force against this threat; Step 3: Build your support network ●● IFMSA-Iraq VPE contacted all of the concerned Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) that work in the medical field to advocate for this policy document and for them to adopt and work on the statements mentioned in the document; ●● As an NMO, a close partnership was established with the Local Committees (LC) and as a result all LC members participated in the development of the Policy Document, which Involved the in the implementation of the document as well; Step 4: Spread the word ●● We contacted different community medicine departments from different Medical Faculties for input and the possible ways of implementation in these faculties; Step 5: Assess your results ●● We united the voice of more than 250 medical students and health care experts in one document; ●● As a policy-making initiative, all standing committees started to develop their own policies in their field of work; ●● We drew the attention of all of our members to this silent killer; ●● We started the initiative of advocating for health policies with all concerned stakeholders.
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Example 5: Adoption of National Students’ Associations Bylaws in the Ministry of Health 5 Steps of Policy-Making Define your priorities ●● National Students’ Associations have been formed in Iran for many years and one of the best ways to strengthen their structure was registering them in the Ministry of Health; ●● These Associations were not registered in the Ministry of Health before and there wasn’t a structure or a framework for them so we had to establish a new one; ●● IMSA-Iran which has been founded years ago as a national association, was the main advocate during this time; Research the topic and look for the key documents that address it ●● IMSA-Iran C&B; ●● IFMSA C&B; ●● Bylaws of Associations in the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology; Map the relevant stakeholders you think should be approached ●● Students’ Associations; ●● Ministry of Health; ●● Medical Schools around the country; Write your policy document ●● National Bylaws for Students’ Associations were drafted;
Step 1: Be on the look for triggers ●● During the past years, there was a need to promote the recognition of all National Associations in order to strengthen their structure and also increase the impact of their works; ●● IMSA-Iran as one of the oldest national students based associations wanted to fortify its bonds with the Ministry in order to better communicate with other Ministries, to continue its international activities and to became the leader of this movement; Step 2: Increase the impact of your statement ●● This initiative and the National Bylaws proposal was shared with different Associations in order to get their endorsement;
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Navigating the Political World
Step 3: Build your support network ●● Different deputies of the Ministry were contacted and a lobbying strategy was developed in order to increase the impact of the Initiative; ●● All Student Associations which were founded in Medical Universities were contacted to get their feedback and support; ●● The support of the Local Committees was received in order to continue the advocacy on the local level and through different medical universities; Step 4: Spread the word ●● As soon as the bylaws were adopted by the Ministry, all of the Associations started publishing the approval and also broadcasting the news about it; ●● In different Medical Universities, Student Associations and Organizations began to support this and some started to form their own National Association; Step 5: Assess your results ●● 7 National Associations from different faculties - medical, pharmaceutical and medical allied sciences - were registered; ●● First National Assembly of all associations that were registered in the Ministry or in Medical Universities under the supervision of Ministry was held; ●● National associations were officially recognized by all Medical Universities around the country.
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Afghanistan (RMSA
Dominica)
Kuwait (KuMSA)
Republic of Tatarstan
Afghanistan)
Dominican Republic (ODEM)
Kyrgyz Republic (AMSA-KG)
(TaMSA)
Albania (ACMS Albania)
Ecuador (AEMPPI)
Latvia (LaMSA)
Rwanda (MEDSAR)
Algerwia (Le Souk)
Egypt (IFMSA-Egypt)
Lebanon (LeMSIC)
Senegal (FNESS)
Argentina (IFMSA-Argentina)
El Salvador (IFMSA-El
Lithuania (LiMSA)
Serbia (IFMSA-Serbia)
Armenia (AMSP)
Salvador)
Luxembourg (ALEM)
Sierra Leone (SLEMSA)
Aruba (IFMSA-Aruba)
Estonia (EstMSA)
Malawi (MSA)
Singapore (SiMSA)
Australia (AMSA)
Ethiopia (EMSA)
Malaysia (SMMAMS)
Slovakia (SloMSA)
Austria (AMSA)
Finland (FiMSIC)
Mali (APS)
Slovenia (SloMSIC)
Azerbaijan (AzerMDS)
France (ANEMF)
Malta (MMSA)
South Africa (IFMSA-SA)
Bangladesh (BMSS)
Gambia (GaMSA)
Mauritania (AFMM)
Spain (IFMSA-Spain)
Belgium (BeMSA)
Georgia (GMSA)
Mexico (AMMEF-Mexico)
Sudan (MedSIN)
Bolivia (IFMSA-Bolivia)
Germany (bvmd)
Montenegro (MoMSIC)
Sweden (IFMSA-Sweden)
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Ghana (FGMSA)
Morocco (IFMSA-Morocco)
Switzerland (swimsa)
(BoHeMSA)
Greece (HelMSIC)
Namibia (AMSNA)
Syrian Arab Republic (SMSA)
Bosnia & Herzegovina –
Grenada (IFMSA-Grenada)
Nepal (NMSS)
Taiwan - China (FMS)
Republic of Srpska (SaMSIC)
Guatemala (IFMSA-
The Netherlands
Tajikistan (TJMSA)
Brazil (DENEM)
Guatemala)
(IFMSA NL)
Thailand (IFMSA-Thailand)
Brazil (IFMSA-Brazil)
Guinea (AEM)
Niger (AESS)
Tanzania (TaMSA)
Bulgaria (AMSB)
Haiti (AHEM)
Nigeria (NiMSA)
Togo (AEMP)
Burkina Faso (AEM)
Honduras (IFMSA-Honduras)
Northern Cyprus, Cyprus
Trinidad and Tobago
Burundi (ABEM)
Hungary (HuMSIRC)
(MSANC)
(TTMSA)
Cameroon (CAMSA)
Iceland (IMSA)
Norway (NMSA)
Tunisia (Associa-Med)
Canada (CFMS)
India (MSAI)
Oman (MedSCo)
Turkey (TurkMSIC)
Canada – Québec
Indonesia
Palestine (PMSA)
Turkey – Northern Cyprus
(IFMSA-Québec)
(CIMSA Indonesia)
Pakistan (IFMSA-Pakistan)
(MSANC)
Catalonia - Spain (AECS)
Iran (IMSA)
Panama (IFMSA-Panama)
Uganda (FUMSA)
Chile (IFMSA-Chile)
Iraq (IFMSA-Iraq)
Paraguay (IFMSA-Paraguay)
Ukraine (UMSA)
China (IFMSA-China)
Iraq – Kurdistan (IFMSA-
Peru (IFMSA-Peru)
United Arab Emirates
China – Hong Kong
Kurdistan)
Peru (APEMH)
(EMSS)
(AMSAHK)
Ireland (AMSI)
Philippines (AMSA-
Colombia (ASCEMCOL)
Israel (FIMS)
Philippines)
Costa Rica (ACEM)
Italy (SISM)
Poland (IFMSA-Poland)
Croatia (CroMSIC)
Ivory Coast (NOHSS)
Portugal (ANEM)
Cyprus (CyMSA)
Jamaica (JAMSA)
Qatar (QMSA)
Czech Republic
Japan (IFMSA-Japan)
Republic of Moldova (ASRM)
(IFMSA-CZ)
Jordan (IFMSA-Jo)
Republic of North
Democratic Republic of the
Kazakhstan (KazMSA)
Macedonia (MMSA)
Congo (MSA-DRC)
Kenya (MSAKE)
Romania (FASMR)
Denmark (IMCC)
Korea (KMSA)
Russian Federation (HCCM)
Dominica (IFMSA
Kosovo - Serbia (KOMS)
Russian Federation –
Commonwealth of
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United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (SfGH) United States of America (AMSA-USA) Uruguay (IFMSA-Uruguay) Uzbekistan (Phenomenon) Venezuela (FEVESOCEM) Yemen (NAMS) Zambia (ZaMSA) Zimbabwe (ZIMSA)
medical students worldwide Navigating the Political World