AIHA's Volunteer Healthcare Corps (VHC) is part of USAID’s Volunteer’s for Prosperity program and directly supports President Obama’s volunteer initiative under the 2009 Serve America Act.
The VHC's Ethiopia Diaspora Initiative works to identify and place highly skilled Diaspora professionals at PEPFAR-supported
ARV treatment sites and AIDS service organizations, where they serve as technical experts. Volunteers are placed at sites for a period ranging
from three months to more than two years with the dual goals of building institutional capacity and increasing staff competencies.
To ensure a demand-driven program, the Twinning Center office in Addis Ababa works closely with potential placement sites to identify their specific human resource
needs and jointly develops a scope of work for each volunteer assignment. When the scope of work is finalized, our partnering
organizations identify a qualified candidate from the Diaspora community. The Twinning Center then provides travel-related logistical support, extensive orientation,
and on-going support throughout each volunteer’s assignment.
The VHC taps into the Diaspora’s shared culture, language, and motivation to make a meaningful contribution to development efforts in their homeland. This program harnesses the knowledge and expertise of a broad range of health professionals ranging from physicians and nurses to clinical pharmacists and social workers, as well as experts in IT, web development, health communications, quality improvement, and database management. Additional disciplines represented by volunteers include epidemiology, psychology, youth prevention, HIV-TB co-infection, HIV nutrition, and palliative care.
Since its launch in late 2006, AIHA has placed 47 volunteers at more than 30 host sites through the Ethiopia Diaspora Initiative, including 14 in long-term positions with the Ministry of Health. With an average assignment length of 14.5 months, these professionals have contributed more than 663 months — some 55 years — of service in Ethiopia and a number of them have been repatriated and are now helping mitigate some of the negative effects of “brain drain” on the country’s health system.
AIHA launched the Ethiopia Diaspora Initiative in 2006 in cooperation with Visions for Development, Inc. and three supporting Diaspora organizations. AIHA now manages this program through its offices in Addis Ababa and Washington, DC.
Updated November 14, 2011
.gif)
