You may have thought that LifeLab was a unique health education intervention programme in Southampton, but that is no longer the case! LifeLab is now working with partners across the world to deliver similar interventions under the same banner in Australia, Ghana, Nepal, Ireland and South Africa.
Last week these partners came together in Southampton for the inaugural LifeLab Global Community of Practice Workshop, an initiative designed to share best practice and to enable research, advocacy and education with children and young people in these different international settings. During the workshop, which was funded by the Sustainability and Resilience Institute, global partners discussed the different contexts of education and outreach needed in each location, local health needs, teacher training, common goals, and potential areas for funding.
It was a pleasure to welcome:
- Eva Breidenbach and George Johnson from Sydney Institute for Women, Children and their Families, Australia
- Victor Mogre from the University for Development Studies, Ghana
- Sweta Koirala from the Nepal Development Society, Nepal
- Hannah Goss and Craig Smith from Dublin City University, Ireland
- Lethu Ndwandwe and Lisa Ware from Soweto, South Africa
Our global partners were joined by colleagues from across the University; Lisa Bagust, Donna Lovelock, Cheryl Metcalf, Mary Barker, Danielle Lambrick, Michael Head, Laila Khawaja, Chris Downey, Jon Lawn, James Eustace, Tony Hill, David Lubega, Emily Bastable, Amy Halls, Grace Compton, Shane Norris and Keith Godfrey
LifeLab’s Programme Director, Dr Kath Woods-Townsend, commented: “What a fantastically inspiring few days this meeting was sharing our experiences of working with young people and realising the common challenges and opportunities that we have. Meeting colleagues who have worked together over several years but never met face to face was brilliant and we all left with a commitment to working together to bring these opportunities to more young people, both in existing settings but also for our new partners in Ghana and Nepal.