NPO Manual

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NPO MANUAL The SCOPH Insights

Updated term 2019/2020


Imprint Lead Authors Blanca Paniello Castillo Mohammed Osman Catalina González Dagmawit Workagegneho José Paz Alaa Mohammed Narmin Guluzade Shanyal Zafar Contributors SCOPH IT 2019/2020 Layout Design Eiman Alfateh Idrees Albashir Mauricio J. Murillo Argueta Mustafa Hushya

Publisher International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) International Secretariat: c/o IMCC, Norre Allé 14, 2200 Kobenhavn N., Denmark Phone: +31 2 05668823 Email: gs@ifmsa.org Homepage: www.ifmsa.org Contact Us vpprc@ifmsa.org

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 136 National Member Organizations from 126 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.

This is an IFMSA Publication © 2020 - Only portions of this publication may be reproduced for non political and non profit purposes, provided mentioning the source. Disclaimer This publication contains the collective views of different contributors, the opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of IFMSA. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the IFMSA in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

Notice All reasonable precautions have been taken by the IFMSA to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material herein lies with the reader. Some of the photos and graphics used in this publication are the property of their respective authors. We have taken every consideration not to violate their rights.


Contents www.ifmsa.org

IFMSA and SCOPH

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SCOPH Structure

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SCOPH Format

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SCOPH Activation

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Tools for NPOs Team Management

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Activity Management and Programs

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How To Design a Session

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Mental Health and Burnout

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Advocacy and External Affairs

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SCOPH Capacity Building

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Public Health Exchange

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IFMSA and SCOPH CI

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How To Get Involved

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Introduction DEAR SCOPHEROES WORLDWIDE,

We welcome you to the 2020 edition of the NPO Manual! Being a national officer is more than just a job. Being a national officer means coordinating teams, organizing and managing initiatives to strengthen the committee nationally, to empower your community by leading with the example. It’s a journey full of adventures and new experiences. The position allows you to explore new grounds within your own self and unleash your potential. Life is about continuous learning and it’s always fine not to be aware of something. This Manual aims to offer you the essential knowledge that you need to pursue your tasks as well as equipping you with the necessary skills to run your own orange world. The Manual reflects the basic principles and you can always add your touches and bring your fingerprint. Moreover, this tool will also help you to understand how SCOPH works internationally and how to adopt certain initiatives at the national level. We hope you get the most out of this wonderful manual we have prepared for you all. Check it out as much as you want, change or adapt the content to your setting, and make SCOPH shine! If you need any help, always remember SCOPH International Team is for you.

With LoPH, The NPO Manual SWG,

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Introduction to NPO Manual SWG Coordinators

Mohammed Osman

Blanca Paniello Castillo

Catalina Gonzalez

MedSIN - Sudan SCOPH RA For Africa 19-20

AECS - Catalonia SCOPH DA 19-20

IFMSA - Chile SCOPH RA for Americas 19-20

Members

Dagmawit Workagegneho

José Paz

Alaa Mohammed

EMSA - Ethiopia

IFMSA - Peru

IFMSA - Jo

Narmin Guluzade

Shanyal Zafar

AzerMDS - Azerbaijan

IFMSA - Pakistan

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IFMSA VISION A world in which all medical students unite for global health and are equipped with the knowledge, skills and values to take on health leadership roles locally and globally.

MISSION IFMSA unites medical students worldwide to lead initiatives that impact positively the communities we serve. IFMSA represents the opinions and ideas of future health professionals in the field of global health, and works in collaboration with external partners. IFMSA builds capacity through training, project and exchange opportunities, while embracing cultural diversity so as to shape a sustainable and healthy future. In 1951, shortly after the end of the Second World War, medical students from 8 countries (Austria, Denmark, England, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland) gathered in Copenhagen to start an international non-political organisation for medical students. The purpose was to “study and promote the interests of medical students’ cooperation on a purely professional basis, and promote activities in the field of student health and studen relief’’. This aim led to creation of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA). Initially 3 committees were formed: the Standing Committee on Medical Exchange (SCOME), the Standing Committee on Professional Exchange (SCOPE), and the Standing Committee on Students’ Health (SCOSH). A bureau of information was set up in Geneva to establish contact between all members and international organizations. A year later, in 1952 the first General Assembly (GA) took place in London, where 30 participants were representing 10 countries. Through the 70 years the 8 founding countries have been joined by many more and IFMSA is now the world’s oldest and largest independent organization representing associations of medical students internationally.

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This year, 2020, IFMSA represents over 1.3 million students of 134 countries worldwide uniting together to improve Global Health. Over the years the IFMSA have been achieving its goals by respecting principles further defined with the present constitution stating: The Federation pursues its aims without political, religious, social, racial, national, sexual or any other discrimination. The Federation promotes humanitarian ideals among medical students and seeks to contribute to the creation of responsible future physicians. The Federation respects the autonomy of its members. Currently the work of IFMSA is divided into four main global health areas: Public Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Medical Education and Human Rights and Peace. Each year, we organize over 13,000 clinical and research exchanges programs for our students to explore innovations in medicine, healthcare systems and healthcare delivery in other settings. IFMSA brings people together to exchange, discuss and initiate projects to create a healthier world. It trains its members to give them the skills and resources needed to be health leaders. It advocates for the pressing issues that matter to us to shape the world we want. And it does deliver: our projects, our campaigns and our activities positively impact the physicians-to be, the communities they serve, as well as the health systems around the world in which they practice as a trainee and eventually a medical doctor.

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VISION

SCOPH

Medical Students attain the optimal skills and knowledge to contribute to their full potential towards the making of healthier communities in their capacity as medical students and as future healthcare providers.

MISSION The Standing Committee on Public Health promotes the development of medical students worldwide regarding Public Health issues through an international sharing knowledge network, projects management, communitybased learning, capacity building, advocacy, exchanges placements and access to external learning opportunities. The Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH) creates a platform for medical students from all over the world to learn, build skills, cooperate, explore and share ideas to address all issues related to Public Health, including Global Health issues, health policies, health promotion, and education activities. SCOPH is one of the three initial committees. Founders of the IFMSA formed the Standing Committee on Students’ Health (SCOSH) in 1952, driven by a strong will to take an active part in preventing diseases within their communities and making policies concerning health problems. During the following years, the wide variety of activities led to the change of SCOSH to the Standing Committee on Health (SCOH) in 1963. Finally, in 1983 the name of the Committee changed once more to the Standing Committee on Public Health. uring these seven decades, SCOPHeroes have implemented, maintained and improved a wide variety of community-based projects on a local, national and international level. All these activities aim to achieve SCOPH objectives, which are clearly defined with current SCOPH Regulations: Disease prevention within our society. Health promotion and education within our society. Raising awareness about global public health issues within medical students and our society. Advocating for health policies as the voice of worldwide medical students. Developing skills and knowledge of medical students as the future health professionals. Working as an international team and collaborating with external public health organizations to use the potential of over one million worldwide medical students. Collaborate with other fields as medical education, human rights, and reproductive health.

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As you can see in the scheme, SCOPH consists of 5 levels: SCOPH International Team: annually elected SCOPHeroes, who are responsible for international work of SCOPH, connection, coordination and support of all national committees. Includes SCOPH Director, the Liaison Officer for Public Health Issues (LPH), General and Development Assistants (GA & DA) SCOPH Regional Team: Regional Assistants (RAs) are part also of the International Team and responsible for regional work of SCOPH and a direct connection with the NPOs. National level: this is the SCOPH within National Member Organizations (NMOs), which represents countries in international events of IFMSA. Supervisors of SCOPH at the national level are the National Public Health Officers (one per NMO) and their assistants. Local level: this includes Local Committees of NMO , which have SCOPH in their structure. LCs do not communicate directly with IT, but function under the guidance of NMO and are represented by NMO beyond the country. Local Public Health Officer is the head of SCOPH at the local level. SCOPHeroes: This level includes all the members, who are part of SCOPH or interested in the Public Health field.

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What if you have another structure nationally or locally? Some NMOs do not have National Officers or an internal structure based on Standing Committees. In this case, it’s recommended to have one contact person in charge of the communication with SCOPH. In this way, the RAs will be able to keep track of the development of the NMO and will be able to help in regards to any matter belonging to “SCOPH topics”.

SCOPH INTERNATIONAL TEAM The main objective of SCOPH IT is to guide and support you throughout your IFMSA journey. As an NPO, you can contact them about any issue related to SCOPH. But to receive a useful answer regarding your question as fast as possible, you have to consider two basic steps: 1. Set out your question/request/problem clearly. 2. Address your question to the right IT member. So, who to approach with what? Below you see the main responsibility areas of each IT member: The Director on Public Health (SCOPHDirector): scophd@ifmsa.org Is responsible for the development of the Standing Committee through activities that are in line with the strategic plan, vision, and missions of the Standing Committee and IFMSA. Is responsible for maintaining contact between the Standing Committee members and the Team of Officials. If needed, develops and implements an annual evaluation procedure and needs assessment for SCOPH based on the Strategic Plan. Supervises and coordinates the work of the International Team. Works with the International Team to assist the National Member Organizations in establishing and maintaining the SCOPH within their organizations. Is responsible for setting the agenda and organizing SC sessions in both IFMSA General Assemblies. Oversee the work done by relevant SCOPH Small Working Groups.

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The Liaison Officer for Public Health Issues (LPH): lph@ifmsa.org Sustains and develops the relationship with existing partner organizations and seeks strategic new collaborations. Provides IFMSA members with information about the partner organizations. Facilitates and initiates contacts between IFMSA members and partner organizations when requested and needed. Develops short- and long-term strategies for collaboration with partner organizations. Works closely with the Regional Directors and the Regional Assistants in the communication with partner organizations on the regional levels. Encourages the NMOs to report on collaborations with organizations on a national level. Coordinates and disseminates policy documents to IFMSA related external partners. The LPH should notify the SCOPH-D before approaching NPOs and LPOs. The General Assistant (GA): ga.scoph@ifmsa.org Works with the SCOPH-D on administrative tasks and logistics. Assists the SCOPH-D and RAs in preparing Survival Kits, manuals, and other learning materials for the SCOPH. Assists the SCOPH-D in preparing and revising SCOPH Regulations. Increases visibility of the SCOPH and its Activities to ensure better promotion. Assists the SCOPH-D with the promotion of the SCOPH on all levels, such as ensuring constant usage of media channels for optimal communication, updates the SCOPH Public Database, etc. Coordinates the Public Health Exchanges (PHEx). The Development Assistant (DA): da.scoph@ifmsa.org Updates and revises current resources for the SCOPH working with the SCOPH- D and the relevant LO. Searches for NMOs that are not SCOPH active and assists them together with the RA to establish the SCOPH and continues to assist them throughout the term.

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Helps NMOs with SCOPH Workshop proposals, their approval, and evaluation and with issues in their NMO related to SCOPH. Coordinates evaluate and follow up all the SCOPH Capacity Building events and workshops (both physically and online). Coordinates help or assists in campaigns created both regionally and internationally. The Regional Assistants (RAs): Provide a link between their region and the SCOPH-D and relevant LO, as well as actively and regularly checking the status of the work within the field of SCOPH in each NMO in their region. Actively support NMOs within the region that are working within the field of the SCOPH. Report, investigate, and assist in solving any SCOPH related problems within the region. Encourage cooperation between NMOs in the region. Are responsible for coordinating, implementing, and evaluating the work on their Regional SCOPH Priorities relevant to their term. Assisting NMOs to present projects and activities, encourage their Activity enrolment in IFMSA Programs, and encourage their participation during the SCOPH Sessions during GAs and RMs. Actively search for NMOs wishing to carry out international activities and assist them with preparations, as well as provide information on procedures, deadlines, and organizational details. Are responsible for planning, facilitating, and following up on the Regional SCOPH Sessions in Regional Meetings and GAs. Are responsible for planning and organizing other regional SCOPH events. For more information about the IT tasks, you can read the SCOPH Regulations. Africa: ra.scoph.africa@ifmsa.org Americas: ra.scoph.americas@ifmsa.org Asia-Pacific: ra.scoph.asiapacific@ifmsa.org EMR: ra.scoph.emr@ifmsa.org Europe: ra.scoph.europe@ifmsa.org

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COMMUNICATION GUIDELINES: SCOPH Communication Channels are useful when you want to get constant details and updates about the work being done by SCOPH IT and NMOs: SCOPH General Server: HERE SCOPH Facebook Page: IFMSA-SCOPH HERE Besides that, each region has its own Facebook group where you can receive news about work specific to that region. You can contact your relevant RA if you want more information about this, also NPOs of each region have their own WhatsApp group, where you, as an NPO, can contact other NPOs and RA directly.

REGULATIONS & STRATEGY: Two important documents provide sustainability of SCOPH in general: SCOPH Regulations and SCOPH Strategy. According to the IFMSA constitution, to regulate their practical internal management, Standing Committees can have Regulations. These regulations include an explanation of the structure, mission, and vision of the committee and are decided by national representatives of NMOs during General Assemblies (March or August Meetings). You can read it HERE. SCOPH Strategy is a plan which guides SCOPHeroes to achieve the long-term objectives of the committee. This Strategy document can include general SCOPH objectives which are mentioned in regulation and/or target priority issues at the current period of time. You can access the latest SCOPH Strategy here.

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NPO National Public Health Officers (NPO) are in charge of coordinating and directing the work on Public Health at the national level in their organization. * They are responsible for the development of the Standing Committee on Public Health through activity management, advocacy, and capacity building. * They serve as a link between SCOPH International Team and the Local Public Health Officer (LPOs) and general SCOPH Members (SCOPHeroes), whom they support. Duties of an NPO (as per SCOPH Regulations Post-MM2020): 1. Ensure proper planning and submission of activities under programs related to the Vision, Mission, and strategic plan of SCOPH. 2. Coordinate all SCOPH activities on the National Level. 3. Coordinate the work of all Local Committees within an NMO. 4. Actively Attempt to enroll their national and local Activities into IFMSA Programs. 5. Keep the national and local SCOPH groups updated on any relevant information from the regional and/or international SCOPH server. 6. Assist, support and keep in contact with Local Officers of SCOPH. 7. Request regular reports from the Local Officers. 8. Encourage Local Officers to attend National SCOPH sessions. 9. Hold National SCOPH sessions in NGAs or other national events. 10. National Officers are advised to attend the Regional Meetings as well as IFMSA meetings in March and August respectively. At these meetings, they can network with other National Officers exchange ideas, and attain new knowledge and motivation to bring back home to the Local and National Committees. 11. Encourage SCOPH members within the NMO to attend International IFMSA SCOPH sessions or international events relating to SCOPH and make sure they are provided with any relevant materials and there is proper preparation.

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12.liaise with external bodies to garner support for SCOPH on a national level as well as coordinate with the relevant Liaison Officer to help if necessary. 13.Ensure proper handover of all relevant documents to the incoming National Officer after the term of office expires. These documents should at least include the latest SCOPH manual, the current plan of action (on-going projects), and contacts of the SCOPH International Team. 14.Reporting to the National Officer (or NMO-SCOPH Representative). The National Officer shall: Send regular reports to, and keep in contact with, the SCOPH Regional Assistant and SCOPH Director (through email, SCOPH Server, and SC Facebook page). The National Officer is expected to fill their Standing Committee section in the NMO Report or assist the National Officer responsible for the NMO Report in doing so. The National Officer is expected to fulfill all requirements for obtaining voting rights at the following NPO Plenary. Submit an overview of the activities of the SCOPH and other relevant activities of the administrative year to the SCOPH Regional Assistant not later than one month after handing over.

LPO Local Public Health Officer (LPO) is the link between the NPO and the general SCOPH members, locally. They are the ground workers of the standing committee. Since they are in direct communication with the NPO, they can help local members figure out what they need to do or change in their local activities to make them even better. Every locality is unique in its own needs and environment. What works best in one local committee might not necessarily be the same for the other and some might need additional support, as well.

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Duties of an LPO are as follows: 1. Encourage new IFMSA members to become a part of SCOPH. 2. Provide all the basic information about the SCOPH, its structure, Focus Areas, and Programs to new members. (In case of lack of information - get it from the NPO) 3. Define the priority and direction of work at the local level, taking into consideration the priority and direction of work on the national level. 4. Organize all SCOPH activities on the Local Level. 5. Monitor all SCOPH activities occurring at the Local Level (regardless of being an organizer 6. Actively Attempt to enroll local Activities into IFMSA Programs with help from NPO. 7. Keep the local committee updated on any relevant information from the NPO. 8. Submit reports for the local activities, on-demand NPO. 9. Recruit assistants (if required) and train them properly so they can support them during the term. 10. Organize local committee meetings to discuss plans of action. 11. Organize team-building exercises for new members. 12. Encourage new members to attend National SCOPH sessions. 13. Attend National SCOPH sessions arranged by the NPO. 14. Local Officers are advised to Attend the National General Assemblies (NGAs). At these meetings, they can network with other Local Officers and exchange ideas, and attain new knowledge and motivation to bring back home to the Local Committee. 15. Ensure proper handover of all relevant documents to the incoming Local Officer after the term of office expires. These documents should at least include the latest SCOPH manual, the current plan of action (on-going projects), and contacts of the SCOPH National Team.

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SCOPH FORMAT In SCOPH we achieve our goals through many types of activities, such as: Fieldwork: Health Education Community engagement Advocacy: Advocating for international/national/local public health policies. Forming Partnerships Capacity Building On-Field Activities: Health Education and Community Empowerment are two important keys towards health promotion and on-field activities. Health education is one important activity that is commonly undertaken to promote health. It is the communication of information that enables people to make decisions about how to follow those health-related activities at all stages of life which are conducive for proper health. The aim of health education is: Influence individual behavioral change and healthier lifestyle choices. Expose students to a variety of activities and experiences related to health education. Help individuals develop a sound understanding of their total development and enable them to attain positive self-images. Provide opportunities for students to make personal decisions related to their intellectual, physical, and emotional development. Increasing the knowledge and understanding of the risk factors, prevention, and management of diseases or any public health issue is one effective way to contribute towards the betterment of Public Health.

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Community-based approaches and empowerment through raising awareness and increasing public involvement are some of the most potent ways towards sustainability in action on Public Health. In SCOPH, NMO members and activity coordinators work towards health education on a diversity of regionally relevant Public Health Issues in their communities aiming to empower them in pursuit of the promotion of Public Health. Additionally, the International Team provides insightful toolkits, manuals, and databases to help equip students with further resources and skills to execute these activities. You can find examples of various public health projects in the IFMSA Activities Database. Advocacy: In health, healthy lifestyle choices and health behaviors are things we educate people upon, but there are some factors that we can not control thus we advocate for them. Advocacy in SCOPH refers to educating, organizing, and mobilizing for systems change in population health. Current and future threats to the health of the community are identified and public health advocates work to inform, create, and influence legislation and change the environment to create circumstances in which optimal health is possible. Public health advocacy occurs through media, legislative, and grassroots efforts. IFMSA on a whole and SCOPH specifically advocates for various health issues including Climate Change and Health, Antimicrobial Resistance, Universal Health Coverage, and Non-Communicable Diseases. Forming Partnerships in health in general and in advocacy is key to effectively ensuring that health is given a priority on the agenda and in policies. Capacity Building: Go to the section of SCOPH Capacity Building

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SCOPH ACTIVATION: SCOPH Activation refers to the establishment of the Standing Committee in those NMOs which do not have a solid structure at the national or local level. Apart from that, these guidelines can also be useful in case the Standing Committee is not active or needs a boost when it comes to involvement and active participation.

1.Get in contact with the IFMSA leadership: In case you are starting from scratch, two ways are possible to contact the IFMSA leadership: In case you don’t have a NPO or SCOPH representative, your NMO President can approach the Regional Director and this person will contact the SCOPH Regional Assistant (RA) and SCOPH Director, who will contact the SCOPH Development Assistant, the person in charge of NMO activation in the SCOPH IT. In case you have an NPO or SCOPH Representative, this person will need to contact the RA and the chain will proceed in the same way as previously mentioned

NMO President

NPO or SCOPH representative(if any)

Regional Director

SCOPH RA

SCOPH Director

SCOPH IT

SCOPH DA

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2. Work with the IFMSA leadership: Once the SCOPH IT is aware of the NMO needs and there's good contact between the two parties, the SCOPH DA will mediate with the RA and D the best way forward to start working. Then the RA and DA will work closely together with the relevant NMO, thus conforming to a working team. The SCOPH Director and Regional Director will be updated and posted about any advancement.

NPO or SCOPH representative(if any)

SCOPH RA

SCOPH DA

Working Team

SCOPH Director

Regional Director

How do I know if my NMO is considered “SCOPH Active” or not? According to the SCOPH Regulations, there are some requirements for your NMO to be considered SCOPH active. Therefore, the NMO will only be SCOPH active if it fulfills at least one of the following requirements: At least one SCOPH activity is noted in the NMO in the respective IFMSA term.

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If the NMO has a designated representative/correspondent for the field of public health that maintains active communication with the SCOPH IT. The already mentioned criteria are not exclusive, you can follow condition 1, condition 2, or both. Consequently, the team in charge of the activation of the Standing Committee will be guided to work towards the fulfillment of these requirements. Why do you need SCOPH in your NMO? Importance of having SCOPH nationally: Having SCOPH as a Standing Committee in your national structure is important, however, it can be a tough task. Here you'll find just some of the reasons to open the standing committee at the national level: Create capacity within the NMO to build leaders in public health areas. Be more aware and spread awareness about public health issues globally, nationally, and locally. Gain more critical knowledge on public health from the soft to the hard skills. Enhance your NMOs member's knowledge of different sub-areas. Advocate efficiently on public health priorities. Improve your capacity to build policies around public health issues. Strengthen your NMO capacity to create impactful projects based on your community's needs. Showcase and foster your experiences with other public health leaders and learn strategies from each other. Step by step: National or regional priorities? Choosing working priorities is a big responsibility because of what these new topics will mean to the Standing Committee and all the work that this will suppose. On the international level, SCOPH has regional priorities (for more information go to the page‌). However, defining national priorities within your NMO can be a significant advantage. In that way, you can create projects to make an impact in your country in a more focused and effective way.

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Therefore, we recommend to follow these guidelines when choosing your National priorities: Visit the websites of official organizations such as WHO, Ministry of Health, etc. Discuss with the LPOs which they consider to be the national priorities. Survey to define national priorities among your members. Report the results to your national assembly so that everyone is aware. What if you already have SCOPH in your NMO but you only need to REACTIVATE it? Here are some of the most common problems the NMOs have in this aspect and possible solutions to tackle them: The solutions for human resources problems: For more information about solutions go to this guidebook (HERE) Proper introduction of the standing committee and its mission, vision, and structure. Capacity Building and members recruitment online engagement; create an active reliable platform to stay connected with your members sharing the latest updates and opportunities. More overlapping with the local level; work more closely with the local officers as a core team of support with the main operations, keeping a healthy communication flow, involving them often with the national work by taking their inputs regularly. The solutions of lack of recognition from the externals: Stakeholder mapping and market research. Using the SCOPH national team to reach externals.Ultimate promotion of your achievements; through online communication, offline communication, and public relations spending email blasts regularly. Proper follow-up, make sure to stay connected to keep the relationships.

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How to get financial support for your activities: Stakeholder mapping, market research and prospect research. Professional pitching; SMART design of your activity, Specified Budget, Promotional document. Limit the expenses in your budgets, depending on human resources rather than logistics. Apply for easy grants, gifts and in-kind sponsorship.

TOOLS FOR NPOs A. Annual Working Plan: “A Goal without a plan is just a wish” Every NPO envisions their term in a certain way, with certain goals and dreams to be achieved. Many activities and events are planned and organized, but the quality is not the same. The question that everyone is wondering about is what makes an activity succeed? The answer is simply “Good Planning”. It’s definitely very important to have a clear vision and plan for whatever you intend to do, but it's even more important to have a holistic vision and plan for that. In other words, if you plan one activity in a good way you will definitely get good outcomes, but if you plan the whole term the one activity that you do will have a bigger impact because your whole plan will be well articulated and designed to have an accumulative impact! All that is mentioned above could be easily put together in a document that is frequently used by IFMSA, it’s called the Annual working plan. - What is the Annual working plan? It’s a document that outlines the plans of a certain organization/person for a specific period of time. It has different structures but the purpose is usually the same.

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- What is the importance of the Annual working plan? 1. Help in setting the major goals and objectives for the organization in a certain time. 2. Help arranging the raw ideas and developing them into concrete actions and activities. 3. Serve as a calendar that helps prevent any overlaps or clashes. 4. Give people the chance to understand how you function. 5. Provide a follow-up tool of the quality and the quantity of the work. - What is the general structure of the Annual working plan? There’s no standardized structure or content for the AWP. Everyone can design their own based on their needs and situation. It’s just important to be clear and detailed, helping people to translate their vision and goals into concrete actions and projects. - How to create an Annual working plan? If your NMO does not have a specific template you can create your own. Here you’ll find some useful templates. You can use these tips to create your an Annual working plan: Set your priorities and main goals for the term before doing anything else. That would be based on the situation of your country and organization and/or strategy if you have one (You can also consider developing a strategy if you don't have one). " Example: In IFMSA we usually have certain strategies that we work according to, as well as the global priorities and the regional priorities. It helps us sustain our work and make an accumulative impact. Conduct a situational analysis for your organization and identify the existing gaps, then brainstorm on the way to fill that gap, thus develop your goals, objectives and actions and add them to the ones from your strategy (if any). " Example: if it turns out that only a few people are knowledgeable about activity management, you should definitely aim for having people with more activity management skills and you can plan an activity management workshop to do so. After finalizing your goals, objectives and actions, try to put a timeline for that and be flexible as much as possible. Take a final look at the whole AWP and make sure that it’s feasible for you to achieve all that within the given timeframe and resources. If they are too much, then PRIORITIZE! Share with your team and members for feedback and inputs!

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B. How to write an emaIl: Emails are really important, they help us communicate without having to be glued to our screens all the time. They notify us about things and deals we don’t wanna miss. They allow us to stay updated on many important meetings and events and allow us to collaborate with each other. But there’s just one problem: most people receive too much of them! They can be used for both internal and external purposes but importantly to approach externals. Whether it’s for a partnership or a sponsor, it’s important to stick to certain guidelines when writing your emails to avoid them being moved into the Trash/Spam. 1.Go to the point: write with a purpose and do not deviate. Sometimes the purpose is not clear, take a step back and ask yourself, ‘why do I want to write this?’, ‘what do I expect from the recipients’.If you do not have an answer to any of these questions, simply don’t write the email. The structure of the email is affected by its purpose. Take your time. 2.Start with an appropriate greeting: Informal - Hi/Hello+ First name, Formal - Respected/Dear followed by Sir/Ma’am, Department - Dear Social Media Team. 3.Tell something about yourself: When telling recipients about yourself, state your name and provide additional data that would help the recipient to either recognize you or understand who you are. The Committee you’re working for, your position, your NMO, the place where you’ve met, the person who initiated the contact between the two. If you - all these can be used as supporting data. The important thing here is to keep it simple. No need to write too much - a sentence or two will do. Skip this step if the recipients already know you. 4.Explain the purpose: Be very precise (remember, less is more.) In most cases, the recipient doesn’t have much time to read your email. This may sound harsh, but that’s true. By writing a short, very specific email, you show the recipient that you value their time, which is very important when working in an organization.

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5.Empathy: put yourself in the recipient’s shoes, how would you feel about the email you’ve just sent? Take another good look at your email before sending it out, correct any mistakes and change the tone of the message if necessary. 6.Formatting: It’s important to learn this skill before sending professional emails. Here is a useful link/ 7.Signature: Sometimes, you’re not sure whether to include an introduction (step 3) or not. Sometimes, you know that you should include one but worry that it would take too much of the email’s space, distracting the recipient from the main point. In this case, it’s better to work on your signature, adding all the necessary data to it. Here is a template: [Your Name] National Public Health Officer (NPO) [Your NMO] WhatsApp: 00987654321 | Skype: live:abc | Alternate E-mail: abc@gmail.com LinkedIn Profile | Facebook Profile | Twitter Profile | Instagram Profile [Banner Photo] NMO Facebook Page | NMO Twitter Page | NMO Instagram Page For more info visit: https://ifmsa.org/ For LPO’s [Your Name] Local Public Health Officer (LPO) [Your NMO] : [Your LC] WhatsApp: 00987654321 | Skype: live:abc | Alternate E-mail: abc@gmail.com LinkedIn Profile | Facebook Profile | Twitter Profile | Instagram Profile [Banner Photo] NMO Facebook Page | NMO Twitter Page | NMO Instagram Page For more info visit:https://ifmsa.org/ Play the video to learn how to do this:

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C. HANDOVER: A handover report is a document that precisely updates an incoming person (NPO) on the current condition of their position — an excellent handing over allows your successor to effortlessly assume responsibilities of the specific task and provides the incoming person with a clear picture of a specific post thus ensuring a smooth and effective transition. Handover is a process, not a date, planning for it should be from the start. - Why is Handover important? The goal of handover is the accurate reliable communication of task-relevant information across shift changes or between teams thereby ensuring continuity of safe and effective work. In an organization with a rapid turnover like IFMSA, it is very essential to have proper handover to ensure sustainability. When NPO leaves a position, regardless of the circumstances, they should always carry out a proper handover process to ensure a smooth transition. Having an exciting handover will help the new NPO hit the ground running and know exactly what’s expected from them in the term. A good handover will help the new team member settle into their position more quickly and easily, and feel more comfortable and confident with the processes of the new or continuation of the tasks. In addition to this, when a term ends and the team disperse, there’s always a risk of knowledge and experience going with them. Handovers reduce that risk, by helping to transition the knowledge between existing team members and new bees. Obviously, the detail and length of the handover will vary, depending on the number of activities done, how long the position is being covered. It is recommended that the incoming NPO spends time with the previous NPO who is leaving. - What to Include in Your Handover Notes? The handover should be structured, and include all the NPO's dayto-day, weekly or monthly tasks. There should also be a written note, with specific instructions or projects, and useful contact numbers.

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You’ll want to make sure your handover notes include all the information the new person will need for a smooth transition. If you're an NPO who is leaving a position, do your best to give a detailed handover to the new person. Depending on the circumstances of your departure, you may be feeling disengaged, checked out, burnt out, or just plain excited about moving on! But leaving your position on good terms, and ensuring a smooth transition for the next person will show your true professionalism. Think about the things you would need to know if you were coming in new to the job. Preparing your handover notes can actually be quite a nice little boost, as you look back at all the tasks and projects you’ve completed in the role! By taking the time to carry out a proper handover, you’ll be closing off this chapter with a clear conscience and clear mind. Here are some things you might want to include in your handover document : (Find an example HERE) Introduction to the position and outlines of key points of the role Description of main and Pending Tasks - Things to follow up on A description of your key day-to-day activities, tasks, and processes. Access to all relevant spreadsheets and files A clear outline of what is expected of your successor Project deadlines and status updates ( It is advisable to include brief notes regarding the urgency of the task.) A list of key contacts – LPOs, stakeholders, partners, Alumni Any ongoing issues affecting projects Details of all logins and passwords List of recommendations for the next term

D. Proposal Writing: A proposal is a written document that is prepared in an attempt to persuade the prospect to adopt the proposal's solution to a problem or need. It is a DOCUMENT that describes a project. It has an ordered outline to be clear in describing the project. It must be a document that can be used practically in the development of the project.

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The proposal outlines the plan of the NMO or LMO about the project, giving extensive information about the intention, for implementing it, the ways to manage it and the results to be delivered from it. -Why is it important? The goal of a proposal is to gain support for your plan by informing the appropriate people. Your ideas or suggestions are more likely to be approved if you can communicate them in a clear, concise, engaging manner. Knowing how to write a persuasive, captivating proposal is essential for success.

Planning Your Proposal Here are the basic steps you follow while preparing your proposal 1- Define your audience. You need to make sure that you think about your audience and what they might already know or not know about your topic before you begin writing. This will help you focus your ideas and present them in the most effective way. *Who will be reading your proposal? What level of familiarity with your topic will they have? What might you need to define or give extra background information about? What do you want your audience to get from your proposal? *What do you need to give your readers so they can make the decision you want them to make? 2- Define your issue It is clear to you what the issue is, but is that also clear to your reader? By setting your issue properly, you start convincing the reader that you are the right person to take care of it.

3-Define your solution This should be straightforward and easy to understand. Once you set the issue you're addressing, how would you like to solve it? Get it as narrow (and doable) as possible.

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Your proposal needs to define a problem and offer a solution that will convince uninterested, skeptical readers to support it. Consider thinking about your solution in terms of objectives. Your primary objective is the goal that you absolutely must achieve with your project. Secondary objectives are other goals that you hope your project achieves. 4- Make an outline This will not be part of the final proposal, but it will help you organize your thoughts. Make sure you know all of the relevant details before you start. Your outline should consist of your problem, your solution, how you'll solve it, why your solution is best, and a conclusion. If you're writing an executive proposal, you'll need to include things like a budget analysis and organizational details.

Contents of a Proposal Start with a firm introduction. Make your proposal as purposeful and useful as possible. Use some background information to get your readers in the zone. Then state the purpose of your proposal. If you have any stark facts that shed some light on why the issue needs to be addressed, it's a safe bet that's something you can start with. Whatever it is, make sure what you start with is a fact and not an opinion. State the problem. After the introduction, you'll get into the body, the meat of your work. Here's where you should state your problem. If your readers don't know much about the circumstance, fill them in. What is the problem? What is causing the problem? What effects does this problem have? Emphasize why your problem needs to be solved. Make sure to answer all questions and cover them with research and facts. Use credible sources liberally. Propose solutions. This is arguably the most important part of your proposal. The solutions section is where you get into how you will address the problem, why you will do it in this way, and what the outcomes will be.

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To make sure you've got a persuasive proposal, think about the following: Discuss the larger impact of your ideas. Ideas that seem of limited applicability aren't as likely to spark enthusiasm in readers as ideas that could have widespread effects. Addressing why you will do something is as important as stating what you will do. Your readers should leave your paper assured that you can solve the problem effectively. Literally, everything you write should either address the problem or how to solve it. Research your proposal extensively. The more examples and facts you can give your audience, the better -- it'll be much more convincing. Avoid your own opinions and rely on the hard research of others. If your proposal doesn't prove that your solution works, it's not an adequate solution. If your solution isn't feasible, nix it. Think about the results of your solution, too. Pre-test if possible and revise your solution if need be.

Include a schedule and budget. Your proposal represents an investment. To convince your readers that you're a good investment, provide as much detailed, concrete information about your timeline and budget as possible. Make sure your proposal makes sense financially. Wrap up with a conclusion. This should mirror your introduction, succinctly wrapping up your general message. If there are consequences to your proposal not being undertaken, address them. Summarize the benefits of your proposal and drive home that the benefits outweigh the costs. Leave your audience thinking ahead. And, as always, thank them for their consideration and time. If you have extra content that doesn't exactly fit into your proposal, you may want to add an appendix. If you have two or more appendices attached to your proposal, letter them A, B, etc. This can be used if you have datasheets, reprints of articles, or letters of endorsement, and the like.

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Edit your work Be meticulous in writing, editing, and designing the proposal. Revise as necessary to make it clear and concise, ask others to critique and edit it, and make sure the presentation is attractive and engaging as well as well organized and helpful. Have another set of eyes (or two) read over your work. They'll be able to highlight issues your mind has grown blind to. There may be issues that you haven't completely addressed or questions you've left open-ended. Use strong, direct language and avoid muddling your proposal with qualifiers and extra phrasing. For example, instead of using phrases like "I believe that...," or "this solution may aid...," say, "The proposed plan will significantly reduce the stigma around mental health..."

Proofread your work Editing focuses on getting the content as clear and concise as you can make it. Proofreading makes sure that your content is free of mistakes. Sample of Proposal Format Cover Page Table of Content (Optional, depending on the length of the proposal) Executive Summary Introduction Problem Assessment : Problem Analysis Beneficiary / Participant Profile Resources Available Program Design : Causal Hypothesis Program Strategy Program Objectives, with indicators, activities, and monitoring and evaluation plans for each objective. Project Management And Organization Budget Narrative detail Appendices

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E. Reports: After enrolment of activity, the most critical step is to showcase your efforts in the best way possible. It’s possible that your NMO already has a good reporting system. But it’s important to keep a record of those activities for yourself in the form of a Database. These reports will be used to promote the most successful activities of the NT/LPOs on your National SCOPH Social Media as well as getting recommendations from seniors and alumni for future projects. It's a great way to keep track of activities being conducted at the local level as well. You can handover a template to your LPOs for any activity that is conducted. It’s best to instruct them to write within 48 hours after the activity when the experience is still fresh! The template HERE although simple can be adapted in many ways to cater to your own individual needs. There is no one particular way to gather activity reports. Some of the NMOs use a very simple format like the table above, some have well-developed Google Forms as reporting systems, some trust their LPOs enough to make their own personalized booklets at the end of the activity. Although not compulsory, NPOs are encouraged to gather reports of all kinds of local-level activities (including LC meetings) and evaluate them, and give feedback. If the activity report is exemplary, it can be added to the Database and/or promoted on social media. In case of significant national activity or event (e.g a Sub-Regional Training), you might want to consider writing a full report in a Booklet format to keep as a reference for future office holders! Report Format - Executive Summary: This excerpt will likely end up being displayed as a caption/description on the webpages and all the social media account promoting the activity. You will write this as the last step of your activity report. People who want to read your full report will often use the summary to decide how much of the report they need to read, so make it count!

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Introduction: The context and specifics of your activity, here you will be writing about the event details including time, place, setting, methodology, speakers, beneficiaries and sponsorships, etc. You can start by typing out the basic information about your event before writing this part (It helps) Body: The longest section of your report and the most flexible one. Put your writing and presenting skills to the test! There are no hard and fast rules to writing this portion, add your own creativity to it. Provide background details to your event, the objectives, the attendees, impact analysis, and a discussion including recommendations for future events. Incorporate the data you gathered and support with graphics like pie-charts, bar-charts, tables, and pictorials, etc. Don’t forget to attach the Drive Link to all the photographs, videos, and relevant audios from the event itself. Lastly, appreciate the people involved in the process. It’s important to be impartial while writing this part of your report, if the activity failed in achieving some (or all) of its goals, give an analysis of the problems faced and a recommendation to future activity coordinators that will be going through your report as a reference. Conclusion: Bring together the various elements of the report clearly and concisely. Identify the next steps and any actions that your readers need to take. If you want to give/get recommendations or ask for a solution to a problem, now is the time to do so. Spend some time making the report accessible and enjoyable to read. Use formatting, visuals, and lists to break up long sections of (boring) text. Upload to Database and share with everyone. :) Pro tips : Tip 1: Decide your objective: Take some time to think about the purpose of your report. Do you need to describe the event, get/give recommendations, promote your success story or influence your readers/stakeholders? Whatever the reason, having a clear purpose from the outset ensures that you stay focused, which makes it easier to write your report.

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Tip 2: Understand your audience (the readers): Tailor your language, use of data, and supporting graphics to the audience. Writing a formal report to influence stakeholders is very different from writing for IFMSA members on social media! You may need to adapt to a more formal or informal tone to your executive summary. Adapting to your readers will build rapport and make the audience more receptive to your ideas. Tip 3: Gather the Facts and Data: Data will help you analyze the effectiveness of your activity in objective terms and help the future coordinators plan appropriately. Collect participant surveys, pre/post evaluation forms, and a financial report from the event. Remember to cite any outside sources such as articles, surveys, and reports from other LCs (or NMOs). Tip 4: Schedule your time : So that no more than 48 hours pass before you write and submit reports. The fresher the news, the more readers you’ll have! Tip 5: Include acknowledgments: Including your event sponsors, and particularly your college admin/patrons, organizing committee, and staff in making the activity a success. Tip 6: Focus on the report visuals : Use graphs, infographics, and photos, or shoot a video commemorate the most successful moments from the event.

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Tip 7: Before submitting your report: Take a moment to search IFMSA webpages using the activity hashtags; This quick search will be more likely to produce other write-ups from other LCs/NMOs that you may wish to link to your own post. Tip 8: Tag your video/photo materials: All of this with your activity hashtags appropriately to expand your reach on social media!

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TEAM MANAGEMENT As a NPO, you have the amazing challenge of becoming a Team leader, between your NPOs, when working groups, inside your national teams, and so on. In this section, we will talk about Leadership, Team dynamics & tips so you can succeed in your mission of managing teams!

I. Leadership: Defining leadership is difficult since the examples that come to our minds are very different from each other (politicians, executives, teachers, and so on) because it can have different meanings according to our beliefs, cultures, and own experiences. However, we want to show you the main idea of what leadership looks like in IFMSA in general, and what we suggest to you. A leader is someone who guides and motivates others towards a goal or direction, through a certain vision, and they usually do this using their management and communication skills. It is incredibly important for you to know yourself, personally & how you behave as a leader, because this will help you develop better in your role; recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, and working around them, is the best tool you can have as a leader. In this journey, the idea is for you to empower others, create more and stronger leaderships in the way while inspiring people, and finally accomplish positive goals for the world. “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers” - Ralph Nader

II. Team Dynamics We know managing teams is the main task here but, how are you going to manage a team if you don’t understand how they work? We believe these basics will be really useful for you.

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Solar System Model: There are many models for teams, but in SCOPH we like to teach the Solar System Model because it is a great example of how we aim our teams to work! Imagine the sun is your goal, the brightest thing in the system, for what you are looking for; In this model, all the planets are the Team Members, orbiting around this goal (and because of this goal), and the one closest to the sun, is the leader (aka YOU) because the leader is the one who has the clearest vision and works the most towards the goal, guiding everyone else. This is ideal! however you need to understand that just like in a real solar system, we can have other things happening: Satellites around certain planets (team members focusing on others and not on the goal), planets losing their orbit (losing the focus for the goal), planets too far from the sun (not working enough or losing motivation) and so on! Keeping this model in mind and applying the same analogy for the teams you are already part of may be useful to understand how the team structures and works.

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Tuckman’s Stages of a Team: A team is not static, it changes in time, is totally dynamic, so models based just in positions cannot explain everything that happens in them. Tuckman’s Stages of Team Formation are one of the approaches that exist around this topic, and we think it could be useful for you. According to this theory, we have 5 stages of team development: Forming: or “honeymoon phase” Creation of the team, everyone gets along, because they don’t really know each other, but they are happy to be part of something new. Here we have a high dependence on the leader. Storming: Once the team starts to know each other, differences start to appear, and the group has “conflicts”. This phase is normal and necessary. Some teams have very difficult storming phases and others don’t even notice it. The idea is to solve this through communication and keeping the goal in mind. Norming: After storming, everyone understands and knows each others’ differences so the team can start normalizing their work towards the goal. Performing: This is when a team achieves their best performance (not all teams have this stage) in working for the goal. Adjourning/Mourning: This is when the team reaches the goal, and you can either adjourn (ending of the team with positive learning for the future, even sometimes teams remain and chase another goal) or mourn (separation of the team)

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III. Tips for National Team (NT) Management: Effective leaders know how to motivate their teams to produce stellar work, even on a tight deadline. Develop your leadership skills using these 25 tips and bring your team members together to build a stronger, more cohesive group! 1- Choose the Right People. Finding the right team members for your team can be difficult, but it’s crucial. Before interviewing prepare a set of standardized questions that will help you navigate through the different positions of the NT. Pick people that fall nicely in most of the job descriptions. Working with a small well-capacitated team is always better than a big under-capacitated team. 2- Establish a Team Mission. National General Assemblies (and SRTs in some countries) are pretty standardized annual events that will allow your team to work every year, try to vouch for other projects that you can achieve during your term. These can be areas that have never been addressed before e.g National Working Groups, Public Health Exchanges, SCOPH CB Weeks, and Public Health Leadership Training (PHLTs).

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3- Split Large Projects into Pieces. Have you ever looked at a project and wanted to run for the hills because of how complicated and difficult it appeared? You may want to look at the smaller picture. A great tip for managing your time on a large project is to break down the large milestones and deadlines into smaller side tasks and objectives. Then time-lining them. 4- Avoid distractions. Avoid time-wasting activities like excessive meetings, personal social media use, and other distractions. Instead, keep your team’s priorities in check with timelines and work schedules regarding any project that you’re working on. 5- Do Not Multitask Beyond your intelligence level, multitasking also inhibits performance with a 40% drop in productivity. If you take a moment to think about this statistic, you’ll discover that you can accomplish twice as much in a work-week when you only work on one thing at a time. 6- Delegate Work When You Can You can choose to outsource your work when you are overly busy. If you are given an assignment with a deadline you won’t be able to reach on your own, then share the load with your team and tackle it together. 7- Learn to Say “No” More Often Have you ever seen the movie “Yes Man” starring Jim Carrey? The moral of the story is to avoid saying yes all the time. If you often find yourself overworked or bogged down by too many responsibilities, you may need to start saying “no” when someone asks you to help with something. Teach your NT the same and look out for ‘yes men’ and ‘yes women’ in the team! 8. Be Fair Balance the needs of the group with individual workloads and schedules. If workloads are unfairly distributed, resentment builds, and your NT will lose respect for your authority.

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9. Don’t Ignore Struggling Members You might end up with a few under-capacitated individuals, It would be wise to have a few NT Capacity building sessions at the start of your term to make up for any deficit. Similarly, some of the team members might have some real-life problems that they’re dealing with. Don’t hesitate to help them out or delegate some of their tasks to another team member. Mental Health Matters! 10. Performance Reviews Accountability is essential to maintaining an effective work environment. You can make portfolios for your NT on Google Drive and make them ‘open to view’ if you like. You can compromise on shortcomings but never on achievements! Make sure all that person's contributions are recorded. (Pro-Tip: Include a Teamwork Contribution Section in Performance Reviews, as well, to increase teamwork.) 11. Provide Feedback As part of your performance reviews, offer honest feedback and constructive praise. Also, give them a chance to provide you with feedback on your leadership tactics to ensure you are doing all that is necessary as a manager. Feedback is always a gift! 12. Add Positives to Any Negatives Discouraging your NT members through constant criticism serves only to tear them down. Applaud even small accomplishments and cushion criticisms by noting any moments of excellence to motivate improvement. 13. Do Your Part and More Team management isn’t about pointing a finger and simply giving instructions for others to do all the work. Your team members will have more respect for you as they see your ‘exerted’ efforts, which will push them to work harder as well.

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14. Resolve conflicts privately Unfortunately, teams can disagree on things from time to time resolving an important aspect of your job. Avoid large group problems by first addressing any internal conflicts privately with the concerned people. 15. Prevent Disagreements Set up a strategy for dealing with disagreements before they arise. Map out a solid plan for how disagreements will be handled internally. For example, if your team disagrees with a plan of action, have a voting system in place to create a fair process. 16. Do not Assume Team Problems Will Magically Vanish Notice and address the big issues as soon as they arise. Teams should expect to discuss small conflicts and resolve their issues amongst themselves, but when there is a larger team problem, you need to be prepared to step in and aid the team in working out a solution. 17. Be Approachable You need to make a WhatsApp/Telegram group and be as friendly as you can throughout the term with your NT members so that your team knows that they can open up to you regarding an official or unofficial matter that could be hindering their performance, this will only increase the team’s efficiency. 18. Ensure Clear Communication Whether utilizing direct or indirect communication, confirm that everyone is on the same page and does not have any questions. Try to use email (indirect communication) only when necessary, as tone and message frequently become muddled when not directly discussed e.g. on a WhatsApp Group. 19. Show your Enthusiasm! All good managers know that a good mood is contagious to those around them. There will be times when the work is overbearing or particularly difficult. Find ways to maintain a positive attitude within your group, use emojis, gifs, and stickers to show how excited you are for the project.

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20. Promote Sharing Find ways to keep your teammates happy, add each other on social media. Promote a positive work environment by sharing personal stories, videos, songs, and more with each other in NT groups, try to involve your team in something trendy or fun from time to time. 21. Build the team relationship outside the work environment Have a real-life hangout! These types of events help your team to see each other in real-life scenarios, making it easier for them to communicate and work with one another in the future. 22. Cheer on Your Team Be your group’s biggest cheerleader daily. Your NT should feel appreciated for all of the hard work they do, and it is your job to ensure they have that sense of accomplishment with short pep talks or encouragement sessions to boost team morale via WhatsApp or Skype. 23. Celebrate Achievements Together Schedule a team party to commemorate a finished project. Showing you appreciate your team’s hard work and the effort put into a project adds an incentive to finish projects on time. 24. Understand you’re Not Perfect Last but not the least, one of the most difficult things for many people to accept is the fact that they’re not perfect. They think that because they are taking every precaution and planning for every possible scenario, there’s no chance of anything going wrong. Unfortunately, anyone with this mindset will run into a serious reality check at one point or another. We hope it’s not you. 25. Useful Apps: WhatsApp: Direct Communication E-Mail/Gmail/Yahoo: Indirect Communication Skype/Zoom/Google Meet: Online Meetings (Make sure to check the maximum number of participants each platform allows). Slack/Trello: Project Management and tracking progress Doodle: Scheduling meetings

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IFMSA PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITY ENROLLMENT What Are IFMSA Programs? In simple terms, IFMSA Programs are streams of activities, meaning, “big topics”, meaningful for us as medical students and for our work as federation, for example, Mental Health, or Communicable Diseases. The idea of having them is to connect, organize and know in detail the work from National Member Organizations (NMOs) at an international level. IFMSA Programs allows IFMSA internationally to understand and measure the impact that is being done nationally, regionally and globally in each topic, and then, that data helps to advocate and at the same time replicate the work in other parts of the world. It is a huge net of ideas, motivation, and impact sharing! Want to read more about programs? Click here How are they structured? In general, each IFMSA Program has a Program Coordinator (PC), who coordinates everything relevant to their program, mainly program enrollment and data analysis of existing and enrolled activities, while also communicating dynamically with other parts of the federation (everyone!) like Capacity Building, Vice President for Activities (VPA), Standing Committee Directors, and so on, when needed, for example, for sessions, activities, webinars, promotion of the programs, and many others. You can always contact the Program Coordinator (PC) of a program you are interested in, if you have questions, for example reaching out by email. Enrolling an Activity Enrollment is the process in which you affiliate or subscribe your own national/local activity to a certain IFMSA Program, allowing the federation to measure the impact you are generating in that certain area.

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To do it, you have to follow 2 simple steps: 1) Fill the Enrollment Form: It is a form that will ask for all the information regarding your project, activity, workshop, or initiative that is being enrolled. It will ask things like Objectives, Focus Areas, Type of Activity, and so on. 2) Candidature Form: It is a short document that includes the name of the Activity coordinator & your NMO, you need to send it to the PC signed and stamped by your NMO. You can find the documents and further information here. If you have questions about how to fill it properly, we suggest you contact the PC in charge of the program you want to enroll your activity in, or your Regional Assistant, for orientation. We encourage you to enroll in your activities and show the world what your NMO is doing, especially in SCOPH.

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DESIGNING SESSIONS SCOPH Sessions are the committee meetings where SCOPHeroes from all over the world or SCOPHeroes of your NMO come together and focus on the committee and public health topics, such as introduction to SCOPH, plans of the committee, topics related to Regional priorities (e.g. Mental health-related sessions). These sessions are mostly organized during General Assemblies, Regional Meetings, SCOPH weekends, and National General Assemblies. SCOPH Sessions are important in both the international and national work of SCOPH. If you are NPO, you should definitely organize SCOPH sessions on your National Assembly, while thoroughly organized sessions can: Help you to introduce your committee and projects. Encourage people to work within SCOPH. Help you build a strong team Play crucial role during member recruitment Become a platform for discussion of important public health topics To create SCOPH Session from scratch you must achieve two goals:

1/ Create a sessions’ agenda 2/ Create outlines for the sessions In this section, we will describe the steps of creating agenda and one of the frequently-used session designing models- NAOMIE.

How to design an agenda: An agenda is a list of meeting activities in the order in which they are to be taken up, beginning with the call to order and ending with adjournment. An effective session agenda sets clear expectations for what needs to occur before and during the session. It helps team members prepare, allocates time wisely, quickly gets everyone on the same topic, and identifies when the discussion is complete.

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Here are some tips for designing an effective agenda for the session you aspire to facilitate:

Set up your Team: You can start by opening a call for your members who are interested to join the work, members who are energetic and willing to dedicate their time to it. Carefully form your team based on their prior experiences in their LC's and their motivation. Start by brainstorming on issues to be covered : Seek input from team members, This is the time where you can raise as many ideas as possible. This is an open space to discuss your NMOs Priority, your local and national health issues, your members' interest, regional and global health concerns. Open a needs assessment for your members and collect inputs : After you have brainstormed with your team you can open a call to further enrich and make your agenda inclusive of your member's interest. If you want your members to be engaged in the sessions, make sure the agenda includes items that reflect their needs. Ask members to suggest agenda items along with a reason why each item needs to be addressed in a team setting. After collecting input, discuss the points gathered from members with your team and prioritize the topics and assign each based on their prior experiences to further work on it. Find trusted resources to be used as a reference. After deciding on who will work on the prioritized agendas, give time for each sub-team to prepare a slide, set the final goals, objectives, Description, methodology of delivery, materials needed, and expected time of the session. Review and Comment on the progress: After each sub-team has worked their parts, give time to review each other's works and give constructive feedback. Create a program summary / Session Outline.

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How to design sessions’ outlines After having the agenda of our event, it’s time to design the outlines of our sessions. It’s very important to design the session before a good time to ensure the quality and make sure that all the considerations were taken into account. There are many models for session design and all of them are good, none of them is better than the other but in the end, it depends on the person themselves. The following model is called NAOMIE and we use it a lot in IFMSA. NAOMIE model covers all the aspects and questions that need to be answered when designing a session:

Needs : Why are you contemplating doing this session? What are the parts that members need to learn? Would that be interesting for them considering their level of knowledge? It’s very essential to have clear answers to the questions above or otherwise you will be wasting your time. The main purpose of sessions and capacity building is to increase the knowledge and skills of the participants and to empower them. If they already know the content of the session you are planning to deliver the whole process would be useless. The needs assessment can be done through a survey or a call for inputs. Example: Mental health is one of your national priorities, therefore you want to conduct a session about it to increase the knowledge of the participants. You should ask yourself about the important points that people do not know although it’s important. Aims: What is the end goal? What will be the overall learning point of delivering this session? State clearly the change that you are hoping to achieve by the end of the session. Aims are more general than goals. Example: Using the example above, by the end of the session we want participants to learn about the general concept of Mental Health and the most common causes of Mental health issues. Objectives: What specific changes will happen? What definitive learning points will you deliver? What key things will young people learn?

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While writing your objectives, you should ask yourself about the specific points that need to be covered to achieve your big aim and fulfill the needs of your participants. Having clear objectives helps you implement, monitor, and evaluate your session. Example: For participants to learn the general concept of Mental Health they should get introduced to the definition of Mental Health and how Mental Health is related to our wellbeing.

Methods : How do you plan to achieve your objectives? How much time would you take? How would you make the session interactive and informative? What are the resources available for that? Answer the questions above and envision the session. Make sure to base your question on the elements above and write down everything then analyze it more and more. Example: We can use PowerPoint presentations to deliver the contents if it’s the best method. If we want to collect inputs from the participants we can always use small working groups. Implementation: What materials do you need to prepare? Do you need to raise money or book a venue? How are participants involved in the planning? Would you send them some resources and/or a survival kit? Prepare all the steps related to the actual implementation of the session. Make sure that the environment is suitable and that the participants are ready and well equipped with needed resources. Example: Write down the resources you will need to implement the session: Projector, Flipcharts, A4 papers...etc Evaluation: How will you measure the success of the work (i.e. - have you met the outcomes)? How will you consider recommendations for change? Delivering the session is not the last step, it’s very crucial to evaluate your work and learn from your mistakes. However, it’s very important to set an effective evaluation method before even the session starts. After the session, don’t forget to share the materials and resources with your participants. Example: Pre and post-assessment forms, wooclap, post-its, etc. The impact created should always be measured and here is an important step you can evaluate the progress made by participants. Assess the knowledge of your participants by sharing the same evaluation form before and after the delivery of the session.

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Mental Health and SCOPHeroes Theoretically, leading NMO/LC’s SCOPH community, organizing events, and advocating for better Public Health may look perfect and easy. But we have to remember that in reality there can be different obstacles on your way, which can affect your mental health and positive experience. If you are a new and enthusiastic NPO/LPO or SCOPHero with great ambitions, plans and ideas then there is one thing you should care about in the first place: your mental health, while strong mental health is a guarantee of remarkable experience! In this section, you will learn about possible mental health problems during your term as an NPO/LPO and tools and advice for overcoming them. So, which scenarios may happen during your work within SCOPH? To put it briefly, the most common problems are: Stress: leader responsibilities, time management issues, any problem during event planning can lead to stress. If not resolved, stress can seriously decrease your productivity. Burnout: Excessive ambition for a job and enthusiasm may result in work overload, which is the main reason for burnout. Demotivation: Stress and burnout together with lack of interest among members, team management and communication issues and unexpected conditions (such as, COVID-19 pandemic back in 2019) can highly damage your motivation, which results in loss of interest and appearance of negative experience during the term. As you see many scenarios within SCOPH and IFMSA contribute to the worsening of our mental health, however, it is necessary to implement tools to lessen the impact. Below we will show you some tools that you can use:

MENTAL HEALTH WATCH It consists of sending a mental health survey every 2 months to the LPOs. Remember to mention that the answers are confidential and that they will only be seen by a maximum of 2 people. The LPO's will must be respected whether or not they want to participate. It will help LPOs monitor the level of stress they are experiencing.

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Finally, we suggest that you include at least these 2 questions in the survey: 1. How would you score your level of stress for the past 2 months? 2. Do you feel like you need Mental Health support?

MENTAL HEALTH BUDDY SYSTEM It’s a system that seeks to build a support network between LPOs. It consists in that the LPO "Y" is the Mental Health Buddy of another LPO "X" and in turn, the LPO "y" is monitored by another LPO "Z"; the mission is that a large network is formed and everyone's mental health can be checked. We recommend changing the system from time to time so that it becomes sustainable and everyone knows it. If your NMO can count on the support of mental health professionals (psychologists and psychiatrists), take advantage of this opportunity to help people in need. Remember, it is also fine if you do not have access to these resources, if that is your case, we suggest you look at the available information and tools online to support yourself and your team. Similarly, it is important to train LPOs in Mental Health issues so that they know the warning signs and can always be alert! And you as NPO? What can you do to decrease stress & take care of your mental health? Take scheduled breaks on your tasks. Communicate with your team if you are feeling overwhelmed; everyone goes through similar situations, communication is key to build empathy and healthy teams. Use calendars to place your tasks and be flexible with deadlines, your wellbeing is more important than a date! Do exercise, practice yoga, or meditation. Save space during the day to do things outside medical school and IFMSA that make you happy, like hobbies, music, self-care time, and so on. Create spaces with your team where you can talk about things outside IFMSA. Getting to know each other is the first step to taking care of each other. Distribute tasks evenly among your team members, delegate! Pay attention to team building to avoid conflicts within a team & to create a friendly and nice environment for everyone. When needed, do not hesitate to contact IT or more experienced SCOPHeroes, we are all here to help you, you will never be alone in this journey, please reach out! And remember: to help and take care of others, you must take care of yourself first. You will not be able to help your team if you are feeling bad. Be your priority!

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Advocacy & External Affairs Advocacy is the process of influencing decision-makers, stakeholders, and relevant audiences to make changes and implement actions that contribute to achieving your aims and beliefs. Advocacy is an evidence-based practice that should target and fulfill communities' needs and solve different issues. Advocacy involves many actions such as campaigning, lobbying, and social mobilization. The best approach can be chosen based on the target audience and the issue at hand. Advocacy Tools We have many advocacy tools which we can use to advocate for our public health issues, such as:

1. Education: Workshops, teach-ins, consciousness-raising groups, speeches, posters, and newspapers fall into the category of education. Workshops or teach-ins help to build skills among advocates. A workshop or teach-in is a good way to bring together different groups; workshops also highlight community needs. 2. Legal Advocacy: Law has been a favorite strategy of nearly every social change movement in the world. It is an indispensable tool for advocates. Legal advocacy includes lawsuits, legal memoranda, legal rights booklets for lay citizens, civil rights statements, legal representation in fair hearings and other negotiations, and legal advice. 3. Media and Communications: In addition to newsletters and town meetings, organizers must use a variety of communication networks and media. Among them are booklets, pamphlets, seminars, workshops, slide shows, movies, resource guides, press conferences, television debates, radio shows, exposes, phone campaigns, advertisements, public announcements, and posters. Communications are the heart of any advocacy effort. To change policies and practices, one must first change attitudes. Communications help to educate the community. They serve as the symbol that advocacy is alive and will influence the future.

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4. Negotiations: In every type of organizing effort, there will be times when confrontation is not needed when negotiations such as fair hearings, individual negotiations, and contract bargaining can achieve the same concessions. Negotiation should always be the first step in a series of actions if only to find out where the policymakers stand. 5. Demonstrations: Demonstrations publicize issues and, perhaps more importantly, serve as an easy, successful, short-term action that often has the added effect of creating a sense of group purpose and accomplishment. 6. Policymaking: Policies are documents that showcase the official stance of an organization on a particular topic. Policies offer potential solutions and recommendations for the relevant stakeholders and it’s a powerful tool as people believe in the written document the most.IFMSA has many IFMSA policies that represent the views of the members. (Find IFMSA policy documents at https://ifmsa.org/policydocuments/) NMOs and Liaison Officers can propose policies in the General Assemblies to be adopted following a certain process. If you wish to know more about the process of policy adoption in IFMSA, please visit the IFMSA website https://ifmsa.org/policy-andadvocacy/how-to-propose-a-policy/

Stakeholder mapping What is stakeholder mapping? Stakeholder mapping is the visual process of laying out all the stakeholders of a project, or idea on one map. The main benefit of a stakeholder map is to get a visual representation of all the people who can influence your project and how they are connected. We have 2 types of stakeholders:

1) Internal stakeholders Internal stakeholders are people on your team who are participating in building or delivering a project. Their level of engagement may vary but they all influence because they are a part of your organization.

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2) External stakeholders External stakeholders are those who will be impacted by your project, though they don’t directly participate in working on it. How to prioritize your project stakeholders? Depending on the complexity of the project, you can have just a couple of stakeholders for a small project or dozens of them if the project brings a big change to your organization. When you are dealing with a lot of internal and external stakeholders, it is very important to prioritize them. One of the best ways to do that is to use a matrix to analyze the power that stakeholders have over your project and their level of interest in it.

As the matrix shows, all stakeholders can fall into four categories: High power, highly interested people (Manage Closely)The goal is to satisfy them, they are the PROMOTERS. High power, less interested people (Keep Satisfied)The goal is to work with them not that much since they will get bored of your message. They are the LATENTS. Low power, highly interested people (Keep Informed)The goal is to ensure no major issues are arising in your relationship since they are helpful for you. They are your DEFENDERS. Low power, less interested people (Monitor)Usually, there’s no excessive communication with them but they might change so you must keep an eye on them. They are the APATHETICS.

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Four steps to building a stakeholder map Here is how you build a stakeholder map:

1. Brainstorming Start by identifying all the potential stakeholders — people, groups, or organizations affected by your project, those who have influence over it, or have an interest or concern in its success. Write down their names on a whiteboard or in a shared virtual space. 2. Categorization Now it’s time to group the results of your brainstorming. Are there any stakeholders that can be put into one category? How can you name this category? Are there any types of stakeholders you forgot about? 3. Prioritization To create a communication plan, you have to prioritize key stakeholders and make sure you start talking to them early in the project. There are different ways you can prioritize the stakeholders. You can use the matrix we shared above, or you can ask your team to vote so you can see how the group defines the main players. 4. Stakeholder communications Once your priorities are defined, it’s important to come up with a plan for engaging all the major stakeholders. There is no single recipe that can fit all possible situations, but here are some best practices that can help you create transparency and accountability for your project: You should have a lot of face-to-face communication with highpower, highly interested people. Building trust with them first is critical for your project. Communicating early and often is also important, because people will need time to think before making a decision. Give each stakeholder the right amount of information depending on their interest. Some people need just an executive summary, while others will want to dive deeper.

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IFMSA Advocacy and External Representation: As the largest student-run organization, IFMSA has a great reputation and power to influence the stakeholders and the decision-makers. The team of Liaison officers coordinated by the VPE delivers the voice of 1.3 million medical students in the different conferences and high-level meetings guided by the Global Priorities and the policy statements. Furthermore, some partners give IFMSA the chance to send a whole delegation to attend their conferences. That allows us as members to live new experiences and observe how the global community works and shapes global health. IFMSA delegations in the different meetings take an active role in advocating for the betterment of the global community and the implementation of policies through delivering statements, negotiating with actors, and initiating new collaborations. The major external meetings that IFMSA attends are the UN high-level political meeting, the World Health Assembly, and the Conference of Parties (COP). For more information about our External Representation. Please visit the IFMSA website: HERE

Partnerships (MoUs vs. ToR) Why do we need a Partnership agreement? Have a proper framework and structure of collaboration so you can always know what context you are working on. Create strategic alliances with concrete objectives. Enhance efficiency and effectiveness of program/activity implementation by reaching common grounds. Strengthen visibility and impact of our action and presence, globally, regionally, and at countries level. Reinforce the implementation and monitoring of its normative frameworks. Enhance its capacity to reach all segments of societies which should be beneficiaries of its action. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) This is a bilateral agreement based on a common goal from both organizations. It’s a long-term partnership (around 3 years) and it’s the result of mutual interest.

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Terms of References (ToR) It’s not a binding document and it just states the basic rules that should be followed in the project plan that both parties have agreed with. The goal is to achieve a concrete project and it lasts a short period of time (around a year). Some organizations SCOPH has an MoU or ToR with World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) Global Climate and Health Alliance (GHCA) World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) WHO GCM on NCDs Alcohol Policy Youth Network (APYN) IOGT Young Professionals Chronic Disease Network (YP-CDN) The Union NCD Alliance NCD Child NCD Free YOUNGO Link of IFMSA Partners: https://ifmsa.org/our-partners/

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SCOPH CB In the IFMSA, we envision a federation where all of its members have the necessary skills needed to achieve the federation’s common vision in global health and youth empowerment. Therefore, our underlying values are Peer Education, Growth and Knowledge.Consequently, the Capacity Building pillar aims to achieve this goal by delivering workshops, trainings and other opportunities that contribute to the development of its members. In SCOPH, we work hard to achieve this with the highest quality possible. Do you want to see how?

SCOPH Workshops

Public Health Leadership Training (PHLT) : The PHLT is the workshop per excellence of the standing committee. A PHLT is meant to provide the necessary skills to strengthen the confidence and ability of the participants to have an impact in their community, committing them in this mission. The PHLT has three main pillars (Leadership, Activity Management and Public Health) and it enhances the theoretical and practical knowledge of healthcare students in order to encourage and help them improve their community actions. The Public Health Pillar has a particular theme such as AMR, Climate Change or SDGs. From Advocacy to Policy-making workshop (AtoP): The goal of this workshop is to give the participants the proper tools in order to have advocacy skills, to use them to present our policy documents to stakeholders, as part of a strategic plan. It has three main pillars (Advocacy, Policy-writing and Public Health) and the target group for this workshop are healthcare students from different cultural, religious, socioeconomic and national backgrounds who are interested in external representation and global health.

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How to approach partners/ externals Why do we need externals? 1. Certain organizations might share common grounds with your organization and the opportunity for collaboration becomes a great chance to unite for achieving the same goal. 2. The increasingly interdependent world requires cohesion in every action so the impact can be higher and stronger. Advancing NMO’s goals and policy would need an interdisciplinary approach with the help of other partners and organizations. 3. Strengthening NMO's position in the network of actors in national health and youth will resonate with your recognition as an organization. 4. It will help you to improve NMO's activities by reaching out to other target groups. 5. Fundraising for the NMO to have more resources. Type of externals: Government (national, local) WHO and UN agencies Country Office Non-Governmental Organizations Student/Youth Organizations Universities Research Institutions Private/donor organizations Media Others

How to deal with externals? Identification: Make a list of all the potential organizations, institutions, and stakeholders that could play a role in your goal. List all of them no matter you think they are relevant or approachable. You never know what comes out of a simple email or conversation! Prioritization: Once you have all the potential stakeholders, do the stakeholder mapping. Analyze: Know your audience well. The best ways of communication are common focus areas. Why are they special for you? Why would they be interested in you? What can they provide you? If you need more information about externals and how to approach them, please consult the IFMSA LPH at lph@ifmsa.org.

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Mental Health Essentials for Future Healthcare Professionals (MHE): Through this workshop, we wish to erase stigma and raise awareness and understanding that people with mental health disorders live as full citizens with equal access to opportunities and appropriate services, while at the same time being experts in their lives. The target audience of this workshop is healthcare students with a beginner-intermediate level in regards to Mental Health. PHLT-T: This online workshop allows us to train new PHLT trainers. The PHLT-T has the same content and pillars as the physical PHLT but the main difference that differentiate these two workshops are that the PHLT-T is an online course which trains participants to know how to deliver the sessions in the most impactful way. Therefore, it’s also focused on the facilitation view of the content. AMOC: The Activity Management Online Course (AMOC) is an online workshop which aims to train new activity management advisors with basic and advanced knowledge on activity management.

One Health Workshop: This workshop has been collaboratively designed by the IFMSA & IVSA (International Veterinary Students’ Associations) to deliver knowledge and skills on the One Health Approach to relevant global public health emergencies. In line with the SCOPH Strategy that upholds Interprofessional Collaboration, this workshop aims to bring together medical students, veterinary medicine students and environmental health students; and create the culture of a multidisciplinary approach to healthcare in youth. In addition to technical One Health knowledge, this workshop will offer soft skills that foster collaboration including leadership, management, systems thinking and policy and advocacy skills. The technical and soft skills gained will empower participants to advocate for a more holistic approach to public health emergencies including infectious disease outbreaks, climate change and food insecurity.

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Other CB initiatives NPO Weekend: The NPO Weekend is a capacity-building opportunity for the European SCOPHeroes to share ideas, best practices in their NMOs, and input on what the region needs when it comes to SCOPH. Apart from sessions and training on the regional priorities within the standing committee, this meeting aims to build a framework for SCOPH Europe for every term so that collaborations and campaigns can be held in the most impactful way. For more information, please contact the SCOPH RA for Europe: ra.scoph.europe@ifmsa.org SCOPH Week: SCOPH Week is an international summer school on Public Health Issues created in 2019/20 by the Standing Committee on Public Health (SCOPH) of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA). It is held annually, hosted by an Organizing Committee of a National Member Organization (NMO) of IFMSA. SCOPH Week is also considered a Sub-Regional Training (SRT), which means that it can be organized to improve the work of IFMSA in a region, and must follow current Guidelines for SRTs of IFMSA (visit ifmsa.org/sub-regional-trainings for more information). The mission of SCOPH Week is to build the capacity of healthcare students in the field of Public Health Issues at the international level. Link of adopted regulations: HERE SCOPH Africa Summer School (SASS): SCOPH Africa Summer School is IFMSA Africa’s biggest international summer school on Public Health Issues. The SCOPHeroes came together to learn new skills, meet new people, and share incredible and unforgettable memories with fellow SCOPHeroes. SCOPH Africa Summer School is also considered a Sub-Regional Training (SRT), which means that it can be organized to improve the work of IFMSA in a region, and must follow current Guidelines for SRTs of IFMSA (visit ifmsa.org/sub-regional-trainings for more information). This means you also have to follow the SRT regulations and should send an SRT proposal after approval. SCOPHeroes, get ready! For more information, please contact the SCOPH RA for Africa: ra.scoph.africa@ifmsa.org

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SCOPH Capacity Building Calendar:Â This tool was created during the term 19/20 and it will let you know the new SCOPH-related events that will be happening around the IFMSA regions! In this way, members will be able to check the next SCOPH Workshops that are going to take place around the world and APPLY! If you want to have access to this wonderful resource, you just need to check this link and add the calendar to your account! Link of SCOPH CB Calendar: HERE Regulations: According to SCOPH Regulations, all SCOPH Capacity Building Workshops have to be in line with the IFMSA Capacity Building IOGs and its relevant Annexes (including, but not limited to the IFMSA SRT procedures). Link to SCOPH Regulations: HERE You will find the general information about the Standing Committee on Public Health and how it is managed and ruled. Link to SCOPH Workshop Regulations: HERE These are the guidelines we follow when it comes to SCOPH Capacity Building. If you want to see the requirements, agendas, and other relevant information to host any workshop, check it out! Link to CB IOGs Folder: HERE This is the main document that the whole federations use regarding capacity building. Here you will find other general information and requirements such as SRT procedures and other logistics.

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Public Health Exchanges Intercultural learning is one of the cornerstones of our federation, and similar public health is our reason to exist as SCOPH, so, when two incredible passions meet, great things happen! Public Health Exchanges are a collaboration between SCOPH and SCOPE (Standing Committee on Professional Exchange) that aims to empower and educate medical students in the field of Public Health, because, what’s better than real-life practice in other parts of the world to actually learn & get motivated? They are a unique opportunity for members to experience what public health problems face other countries and how they handle them, or for your NMO to give the chance to other medical students to come to your country and live what public health means to you. Concretely, they are exchanges in the Public Health sector and/or Primary Healthcare services, hosted by public health institutions, like Government Health Departments, NGOs, Medical institutes, and so on. They can last from 4-8 weeks, while the rest of the details of the exchange function similarly to SCOPE's regular exchanges. You and your members can be part of a PH Exchange by applying within the SCOPE system in your own NMO, and at the same time, as an NPO you can develop and open a PH Exchange project in your NMO, by working with interested Local Committees & your SCOPE National team! (remember this is collaborative work).

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How do I set up PH Exchanges in my NMO? The process can be long, but as a summary, you need to: Find a suitable institution to host the exchange (This can be done by LPO/NPO/PH Exchange Coordinator) Identify a tutor available in the institution selected & sign an agreement between the hosting institute and the hosting Local Committee (LC). Introduce PH Exchange Internship Form to the tutor. Get the tutor to fill and sign the internship form, then send it for approval to SCOPH before the deadline stated in the regulations. Once approved, adopt the PH Exchange in your LC, while it gets added to the Public Database. Promote the PH Exchange contract & the implementation of the exchange itself (SCOPE & SCOPH)

For the detailed process, further steps, and information about PH Exchanges, click here. Relevant documents we strongly recommend you check before starting the process: PH Exchanges Regulations Internship Form Remember you should always talk to the SCOPE Team in your NMO before starting to plan a possible PH Exchange implementation because this initiative also depends on their work directly & which is a requirement for your NMO to be SCOPE Active. If you have questions despite the backup material provided, or if you are facing any problem with the current or past implementation of PH Exchanges in your NMO, you can contact the SCOPH General Assistant (GA): ga.scoph@ifmsa.org We encourage you to develop this initiative in your country and contribute to this net of public health sharing, education & empowerment!

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IFMSA & SCOPH CI: Every organization must have a clear image to show, so the general public and our members can easily understand who we are and what is our purpose. In IFMSA there is an entire branch of our international team that works in our public image, among other things, led by our VPPRC (Vice-President for Public Relations & Communication). We have established “Corporate Identity Guidelines” to help our members better understand this topic and also set boundaries for the use of our official image. You can find the complete document here. Maybe, as NPO/LPO, you won’t read the complete guidelines (or you are not interested), however, there are certain things you must know: The use of the official IFMSA logo is restricted to certain situations (international SCOPH related campaigns, SRTs, activities enrolled in IFMSA programs) and to CI Guidelines. This also means that in many cases you will need to get approval directly from VPPRC to use it (explained below). The official SCOPH international logo is not restricted for NMOs, so you are free to use it if you want, however, if it is a national activity and you have a national SCOPH logo, we suggest you prioritize the use of your own logo, and also, if you are not sure if you are using the logo correctly, check the CI Guidelines & remember you can always contact your Regional Assistant (RA). Why? Because the correct use of SCOPH CI avoids confusion or future problems in your activities or publications, meaning that the use of the official SCOPH logo should be done carefully (e.g. members thinking your activity is international due to the logo when it is national).

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If you use the official SCOPH logo, you must follow the IFMSA CI Guidelines, which includes guides for colors and font, not only correct logo usage. If you are not sure which rules apply to your publication, ask yourself: Is this a national publication? If yes, we suggest you use your national guidelines (if they don’t exist, of course, you can take ideas from the IFMSA CI). If not, ask your RA for the next steps, and try your best to follow the CI guidelines.

When should/can I use IFMSA international logo?· For international campaigns (E.g. A regional campaign you are participating with your RA, an official IFMSA SWG you are part of, and so on)· For publications involving an activity that is already enrolled in IFMSA programs (if wanted). For an international IFMSA instance where you are in charge of creating the publications (E.g. sessions’ team, SRT promotion …)

How do I get a publication with the official IFMSA logo approved? (once I know I need or can use it):· We encourage you to contact your RA directly so the correct steps for approval can be taken if needed. Usually, emails asking for approval and input must be sent directly to VPPRC, so we suggest you approach with enough time (at least one week before needed).

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HOW TO GET INVOLVED? IFMSA generally and SCOPH specifically is more than a source of knowledge and skills, it gives you the chance to explore new grounds and discover new potentials within your own self. SCOPH empowers you to learn how other people think and function, you widen your horizon and acquire a global mindset. Luckily, many ways are there to get involved in this extraordinary orange world, both online and in person. The following are the main opportunities that SCOPH offers:

SCOPH sessions in GAs and RMs: Each Standing Committee has its own session in the General Assemblies that are usually held twice in the year, as well as in each regional meeting. You can always represent your NMO and be part of this either as an attendee or part of the team of facilitators. SCOPH workshops: SCOPH offers a collection of workshops that aim to develop your skills and knowledge on certain public health topics. SCOPH workshops are PHLT, AtoP, MHE, and One Health Workshop. SCOPH online workshops: Since the in-person events are not only accessible for members, SCOPH developed a few workshops to be held online such as the AMOC and the PHLT-T. SCOPH related Sub-regional training: Some regions have some events related to SCOPH only such as the SCOPH Africa summer school, the European NPO weekend, Balkan weekend, and the SCOPH week.

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IFMSA delegations to public health-related external meetings: One of the opportunities that a very few numbers of NGOs can offer is the chance to represent 1.3 medical students and deliver their voice in a high-ranking event such as the UNFCCC conferences. That might look like a very far dream, but actually, IFMSA makes miracles for everyone, experienced or not. Small working groups (SWG): The terminology might be new to you but even if you're new, don’t miss the chance of being part of a group of motivated SCOPHeroes who are gathered to work on a specific task such as creating a Manual, updating regulations, writing a policy document,...etc. If you have relevant experience to the topic of the SWG you will have a bigger chance of getting selected but even if you don’t, SCOPH welcomes everyone.

How to be part of these opportunities? There is usually a call for members that define who gets selected based on certain criteria depending on the opportunity itself. In other words, your application speaks on your behalf. If you would like to know more about the best way to write an application, please read this Manual (Link).

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