Annual Meeting: Roadmap to Results

Roadmap to Results: Charting the Path to the Hardest to Reach

(Pour la version française, veuillez suivre ce lien)

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With significant progress having been achieved, at this year's Annual Meeting we will look back at the last five years to identify what worked and why. It will also be a time to look ahead. We know that reaching the most vulnerable and the hardest to reach is imperative if we are to continue to make progress. The meeting will highlight Partner successes and challenges, spotlighting voices from the Global South. Finally, we will explore how the Canadian Network can best support our Partners in their efforts to improve the health of women, newborns and children.

The Annual Meeting precedes the 22nd Canadian Conference on Global Health also taking place in Montreal from 5-7 November, 2015, and the Canadian Association of Midwives Annual Meeting. As such the event offers unparalleled networking opportunities, with the broadest Canadian MNCH and global health community of any event.

We hope you can join us!

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Program

MORNING SESSIONS

8:30 - 10:00

Room: Maisonneuve A

Annual General Meeting and Ratification of Incorporation

Leaders from each Partner organization meet to review the 2014-2015 activities, financial report, and vote on decisions for the Network’s future (see agenda here).

Who: Heads of Agencies (CEOs, Presidents, Executive Directors or equivalent of Partner organisations)

9:00 - 10:00

Room: Cartier

Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Proposal Feedback: Learnings from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development provides insights into the Partnerships for Strengthening Maternal, Newborn and Child Health proposal process.

Lilian Chatterjee - Director General, Social Development Partnerships, Partnerships for Development Innovation Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

Who: Program and Technical Professionals (Open to all)

9:00 - 10:00

Room: Maisonneuve D

Listen Before We Speak: Exploring Research Results for Engaging the Canadian Public

New research findings are revealed, shining a spotlight on Canadians’ current understanding of - and attitudes towards - maternal and child health. We explore the key demographics that have been identified as the right audiences for engaging in a rich, Canadian conversation about MNCH. We welcome input from Communications experts to shape our collective outreach over the next five years.

Paula Roberts - CEO, HALO Brand Leadership

Who: Communications and Marketing Professionals (Open to all)

BREAK

10:00 – 10:30 am

Refreshments and Networking

WELCOME

10:30 am

A Word from the Government of Canada

Representative TBC, Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

INTRODUCTIONS

10:45 am

Turning Point: Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future

David Morley - President and CEO, UNICEF Canada and Chair, Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

Helen Scott - Executive Director, Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

PLENARY SESSION

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Fueling Up: How do we work together in the next phase to deliver on our promises?

Canadian leaders from the newly-launched Accountability Initiative deliver their best thinking in rapid fire presentations, followed by a panel discussion.

Presenters:

• DFATD Representative, TBC
  
• Diego Bassani – Epidemiologist and Scientist, Centre for Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Assistant Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
• Neff Walker – John Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health
  

Moderator:

Helen Scott - Executive Director, Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

LUNCH BREAK

12:00 – 1:00 pm

Lunch and Networking

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

1:00 – 2:30 pm

Off the Beaten Path: Lessons from the field in targeting the hardest to reach

In a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs, global economic inequality and the growing threat of climate change, reaching the most vulnerable becomes all the more urgent and complex. By spotlighting voices from the Global South, we can learn from their expertise and experience as we continue to dismantle barriers to accessing health services for the hardest to reach. We also hear about the challenges and nuances of communicating the realities of implementing programs with our Canadian public. Colleagues from the Global South share insights on the following topics:

I. Fragile contexts and conflict-affected states

Delve into the complex challenges of MNCH program implementation when working in fragile contexts and conflict-affected states, and humanitarian settings. Discussion explores questions of access and emergency health care, as well as how to bridge the sustainability gap between quick impact solutions and longer-term systems building.

Speakers:

• Michel Dubois – Programs Manager, Oxfam Québec and Office Manager, United Nations Development Program (Great Lakes Region, Central Africa)
  
• Hélène Langlois Nurse, Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (Democratic Republic of Congo / Canada)
• Salim Sohani – Senior Health Advisor, International Operations, Canadian Red Cross (Canada)
  
• Maya Halwani – Regional Representative, Middle-East and North Africa Region, Canadian Red Cross (Syria)
  

Moderator: Stephen Cornish – Executive Director, Médecins sans Frontières

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II. Remote and geographically-isolated communities

Discuss innovative ways of bringing health systems to communities and individuals who live in hard-to-reach or geographically-isolated areas. Explore the use of such resources as e-health, mobile clinics and community-based health workers. Discussion explores how to meet the needs of the community while balancing the financial and structural limitations of global, regional and local health infrastructures.

Speakers:

• Martine Bernier – PRISMA Director, Center for International Cooperation in Health and Development (Haiti / Canada)
• Ericka Moerkerken – Development Office and Project Manager, Center for International Cooperation in Health and Development (Canada)
  
• Ramesh Babu–Program Director, Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (India)
  
• Lisa MacDonald –Project Manager, HealthBridge (Canada)
  

Moderator: Neil McCarthy – Director of External Relations, Medicines for Malaria Venture

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III. Confronting socio-cultural barriers to change

Examine the importance of working beyond policy engagement, and of building relationships of trust in the communities in which we work to break down socio-cultural barriers to change. The panel explores engaging with varying groups of influence within communities to shift the decision-making processes, and negotiating local norms towards improved health for women and children.

Speakers:

• Fatima Mohbat Ali – CEO, Aga Khan Health Services (Central Asia)
• Ariel Nasr –Filmmaker and Photojournalist (Afghanistan)
  
• Joachim Osur –Technical Director, Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health, Amref Health Africa (Kenya)
  
• Kevin O’Neill –Director of Programmes, Amref Health Africa (Canada)

Moderator: Evelyne Guindon – CEO, Cuso International

BREAK

2:30 – 3:00 pm

Refreshments and Networking

PANEL DISCUSSION

3:00 – 4:00 pm

At a Crossroads: Evaluating our results to take charge of our success and failures moving forward

The post-2015 era offers unprecedented opportunities for global health. We are presented with a perfect moment to build on our achievements thus far. This panel reflects on how the ways we design, monitor and evaluate our programs influences our impact. The panel also explores the challenges and opportunities to communicating results to both public and private donors.

Panelists:

• Tanjina Mirza, Vice-President, International Programs, Plan International Canada
• Peter Singer, CEO, Grand Challenges Canada
• Zubia Mumtaz - Associate Professor, School of Public Health, University of Alberta
• James Blanchard – Professor of Community Health Sciences & Medical Microbiology, College of Medicine, University of Manitoba.

Moderator: Elly Vandenberg – Senior Director, Policy and Advocacy, World Vision Canada

KEYNOTE ADDRESS

4:00 – 4:30 pm

The Road Ahead: Mothers and children in humanitarian crises

The worst rates of preventable mortality and morbidity among women, adolescents, and children occur in humanitarian and other crises. Sarah Zeid discusses the specific attention that is needed for women, adolescents, and children in crises and fragile settings.

Keynote Speaker: Her Royal Highness Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan

HRH Princess Sarah Zeid is a global maternal and newborn health advocate. She has successfully sponsored the addition of an unprecedented focus on humanitarian settings in the updated global strategy for the UNSG’s “Every Woman Every Child” (EWEC) initiative. Commissioned by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and in collaboration with the H4+ multilateral agencies (UN and the World Bank), Princess Sarah continues to champion the priority of, and innovation for, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health in humanitarian and fragile settings as the EWEC Strategy moves into implementation. Princess Sarah is a former UN staff member, having worked in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and she was the Desk Officer for Iraq in UNICEF's Office of Emergency Programmes. She holds a BA in International Relations from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and a MSc in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Princess Sarah is married to HRH Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. They have three children.

CLOSING REMARKS

4:30 – 4:45 pm

Dorothy Shaw - Vice President, Medical Affairs, BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre Clinical Professor, Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of British Columbia

EVENING SOCIAL

5:00 – 7:00 pm

Refreshments and Networking

For inquiries, please contact Ginette Gautreau: ginette.gautreau@can-mnch.ca.

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Additional Information

For more information on the Canadian Conference on Global Health taking place on November 5-7, 2015 in Montreal, QC, please follow this link.

For more information on the Canadian Association of Midwives taking place on November 4-6, 2015 in Montreal, QC, please follow this link.