Candidature for SCORA director

CANDIDATURE FOR SCORA DIRECTOR 2014/2015

CEPHAS KE-ON AVOKA

MOTIVATIONAL LETTER I am a dreamer, I believe in the possibility of my dreams, I believe in SCORA and I believe in the vision of a world in which there is equity in sexual and reproductive health, where people are empowered to create stigma-free, non-discriminatory communities.

Dear Members of IFMSA, presenting to you my candidature for SCORA Director is the realization of a dream, and the beginning of another chapter of my IFMSA experience.

My experience with reproductive health issues started at the age of 13, when I was trained as a Peer Educator under the Ghana Red Cross Society’s Peer Education Program and a member of a “Children in Broadcasting” group where we held regular Peer Education sessions on radio and spoke strongly against issues affecting young people in my region.

This experience gave me my first taste of advocacy, and got me hooked on engaging in student activities and leading youth groups, motivated by an innate belief that change and progress could be achieved by a pro-active youth generation.

In medical school, I worked on various committees and eventually became Vice President of my NMO. Working in these roles, I developed an attitude of getting things done, of leading the way and of recruiting a cohort of strong leaders that I knew shared my vision and workethic. I drafted documents for all standing committee national and local officers specifying their roles, a document some of my fellow RAs have found very useful today. I believe this strong background in team management and work plan development will enhance my ability in the role of SCORA Director.

Attending the ARM 2012 in Tanzania was the major turning point of my IFMSA experience.

There and then I knew SCORA was where my heart was. The motivation drove me to:  Organize an IPET in Ghana during the maiden UDS MSA International Conference.  Become the SCORA RA for Africa translating a strong motivation into a sense of ownership, the feeling that the promotion of SRHR in the region was entirely my responsibility and one that I was geared up for.  Broaden my network with other youth groups in the region at the family planning conference in Ethiopia and currently representing SCORA Africa as a key partner in solving the SRHR issues in the continent.  Planning both the Pre-ARM Ipas session and SCORA sessions of the Africa Regional Meeting in Ethiopia, whiles at the same time working on the IOC.  Preparing a State of SCORA Africa Report, containing a needs assessment, project database, plans and external collaboration needs of NMOs in the region.

ďƒ˜ Currently working with my team to plan a Maternal Health and Safe abortion Regional TOT in Tanzania, in pursuance of my goal of training advocates and extending the global partnership to regional, national and local levels.

Although it was a challenge working in the field of reproductive health in Africa, it was one that made all the work a lot more rewarding when we made progress and it is this motivation that has brought us this far.

Overall, this experience has allowed me to develop strong interpersonal skills, a sense of commitment and dedication to tasks, team building strategies, resourcefulness and advocacy skills to ensure the smooth running of the committee, alongside my International team and Team of Officials. Being SCORA Director will not only enable me acquire more skills and make a greater impact, but also actively shape policies and initiatives related to reproductive health and AIDS. My current work on the Internal Operational Guidelines for all standing committees has increased my understanding of the structure and functions of the standing committees and will guide my work as Director.

Throughout my term I have worked closely not only with our current SCORA-D, but also with the LRA and other members of the Team of Officials. This has allowed me to understand not only the current work of SCORA internally, but also our external representation and what possibilities there are for strengthening collaboration and partnerships.

To desire and strive to be of some service to the world, to aim at doing something which shall really increase the happiness, welfare and virtue of mankind- this is a choice which is possible for all of us; and surely it is a good haven to sail for. I ask that you allow me to lead you, to share in the satisfaction of achieving our goals, to mobilize, to inspire and nurture a generation of dreamers, to unite medical students worldwide to lead initiatives that impact positively, the communities we serve.

Thank you Yours Sincerely,

Cephas Ke-on Avoka

PLAN OF ACTION SCORA Focus Areas and Programs These focus areas form a framework to guide all activities and programs of SCORA from International to regional and eventually to national levels and the translation of these focus areas into the new awesome structure of IFMSA programs will allow for increased coordination and collaboration among the various committees and support divisions. I will ensure that these programs are modified and implemented at regional and national levels utilizing the resources available to members at these levels allowing global initiatives to have the far reaching local impact and feedback.

I plan to create specific, measurable and time-bound goals for each of these programs so as to ensure that we achieve tangible outcomes, redefine our strategies and measure our progress I would encourage increased intra-federation collaboration in the running of these programs notably amongst standing committees and support divisions involved in a particular program implementation. With the help of the LO and International Team, we would identify external partners working in fields directly linked to our goals and push for greater collaboration with them at all levels of implementation.

Integration and Collaboration In collaboration with the Training and Projects Support Divisions, I plan to create a manual that teaches basic skills in initiating and running projects, advocacy, fundraising, team building and monitoring and evaluation strategies among other things.

This manual would serve as a guide for regional and national SCORA members and groups to effectively initiate and run projects within their various settings, using readily available resources, without necessarily attending such training at a GA or RM.

Knowledge Sharing and Empowerment I will promote the expansion of the resource section of the IFMSA website to contain all documents pertaining to the work of SCORA. These would include past GA and RM reports, Policy statements related to SCORA, manuals and survival kits as well as links to relevant websites.

I will also encourage blogging by members of SCORA worldwide on issues affecting them within their setting, sharing of stories and initiation of discussions on a broad spectrum of issues. I believe that once members are actively involved in acquiring the knowledge and skills that SCORA has to offer, we empower them to translate these skills into strategies and initiatives at the local level.

Meetings As SCORA Director, I intend to improve upon the current quality of SCORA sessions at all levels. The Internal Operational Guidelines for all standing committees will allow for standardization of these sessions and also for quality control measures to be effectively implemented. This I believe is a step in the right direction since it enhances the quality of our sessions.

I will carry on the good tradition of preparing a survival kit before meetings, incorporating input and feedback from sessions into subsequent ones, sending out reports and relevant links to all members and initiating follow up measures such as OLMs, Blogging updates and webinars.

I intend introducing a social medial concept into our meetings at all levels. Reports of meetings at national, regional and international levels will be shared on all our networks.

During sessions, we will have live twitter feeds of the session as they progress so that members who are not present can also contribute to discussions currently. Meetings will be followed by the initiation of discussions on how to translate outcomes of such meetings into

initiatives on the ground. I will encourage my team and all members to utilize social media tools in all meetings so as to promote easy sharing of information and effective participation.

I will encourage that every meeting at national or regional levels be followed up with a document outlining specific, time bound goals emanating from that meeting with a task force set up at each level to implement these goals. This is to ensure that our meetings and deliberations culminate in result oriented actions.

I will make it a point to attend all Regional Meetings in addition to the GAs to support the Regional Assistants, Initiatives and also to get to know the SCORAngels on a personal level.

External Collaboration Having worked with and helped garner support for SCORA within my region, I will translate these abilities into the global community. I will develop a strategic plan as well as programming goals which will enable me support the Liaison Officer and to ensure that our partnerships are more beneficial to the members.

I will encourage the extension of global partnerships to regional and national levels whiles at the same time encouraging de novo partnerships at these levels to the benefit of members regionally and nationally.

I plan to tailor some of the outcomes of our meetings to fit into the focus areas of these partners that we work with so that we can collectively implement whatever time-bound strategies we came up with during the meetings.

SCORA Strategic Plan I will organize a review of the SCORA strategic plan so that members can assess these goals by analyzing the measures for success of SCORA committees at regional and national levels.

This would allow us redefine these goals to ensure that they are meeting our ever growing needs.

Internal networking, Transparency and Accountability I will work closely with the IFMSA EB and Team of Officials to ensure a unified and collective strategizing for the administrative year, regular evaluations and collaboration on programs and initiatives that encourage team building and greater networking among our members.

I will work closely with my nuclear family- the SCORA international team members via regular online meetings and evaluation sessions, networking and collaboration at the

regional level as well as documentation and report writing to build institutional memory and ensure continuity of our work after we have effectively handed over.

I will increase transparency via regularly updating our online networks, sending out regular reports to NORAs with the help of the RAs, and basically keeping my doors wide open for contributions, constructive criticisms and feedback.

Advocacy I will encourage increased representation of SCORA members and officials at conferences and international meetings. Such meetings will be announced via our online networks, for members to make their inputs and contribute questions which will then be communicated by our representatives at the meeting. This is to ensure that whatever inputs we are making are from the wider network of our members and reflect what happens on the ground and in their communities.

I will create a platform for members who are passionate about certain issues to initiate advocacy strategies for those issues and to advertise these strategies across all networks so that other interested members can contribute. Together and with concerted efforts, we will transform our strategies into tangible actions.

Curriculum Vitae CEPHAS KE-ON AVOKA Age: 23 years Country: Ghana Email: avokacephask@yahoo.com/ra.scora.africa@gmail.com EDUCATION  

School of Medical Sciences, KNUST – MBChB (2012 – 2015) Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) – BSc. Human Biology (2009 - 2012)  Notre Dame Senior High School – WASSCE Certificate with Distinction (2005 – 2008) RELEVANT EXPERIENCE  

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June 2014 till date: Member, Youth Advisory Board of Ipas Ghana.

February 2014 till date: Member(IFMSA-SCORA) and Youth Representative at a steering committee responsible for implementing an SRHR action plan at the Africa Union October 2013 till date: Regional Assistant for Africa Region, Standing Committee on Reproductive Health including HIV/AIDS (SCORA).

March 2013-January 2014: National Officer; Standing Committee on Reproductive Health including HIV/AIDS of FGMSA Ghana March 2012-March 2013: Vice President; FMGSA Ghana March 2012: Member of OC for National GA of FGMSA Ghana September 2011-April 2012: Member of Health Committee of the Local Association (KNUST MSA)

RELEVANT ACHIEVEMENTS     

2014: Presented two articles which have been accepted for the MSI 30 2014: Currently working on developing the next phase the IFMSA-Ipas Partnership 2014: Developed Internal Operational Guidelines for all standing committees 2014: SWG on SRHR in Medical Education 2014: SWG on Safe Abortion in Europe

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2014: Policy statement on Maternal, Adolescent and Child health post-2015 2014: Contributed in writing the report for SCORA sessions of MM 2014 2014: Currently working on partnering IFMSA Africa with the Africa Union on the Youth Volunteer program for medical students in Africa  2014: Introduced the Condom/Contraception fair at the Africa Regional Meeting which has now been adopted at the GA.  2014: Increased work with external organizations in Africa notably UNAIDS, UNFPA, Packard Foundation, CARMMA, Plan International, Ipas, Africa Union, etc.  2014: Increased work with and support for National Officers in Africa  2014: Started the “I am a Story Teller” project aimed at encouraging story telling as an advocacy strategy  2014: Helped organize an event to encourage Adolescents living with HIV in Ghana to adhere to their medication.  2014: Developed a state of SCORA Africa Report  2014: Member of IOC for ARM 2014 in Uganda  2013: Member of IOC for ARM 2013 in Ethiopia  2013: Participated in drafting an action plan on SRHR issues especially on improving family planning access for youth in Africa  2013: Trainer, International Peer Education Training, UDS-MSA International Conference  2013: Published in an international magazine (http://www.globalpressjournal.com/africa/ghana/medical-student-brings-healthcare-rural-village )  2013: Development of New Structure for the Standing Committees of FGMSA  2012: Trainee, IPET at the ARM 2012 CONFERENCES ATTENDED 

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August 2014: August Meeting in Taiwan  Co-Trainer at the Pre-GA Ipas Session  Facilitated a session on Family Planning March 2014: March Meeting in Tunisia  Co-facilitated a session on Sexual History Taking December 2013: Africa Regional Meeting (ARM) 2013 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  Planning and facilitating the Ipas Pre-ARM training  Planning and facilitating the SCORA sessions  Working on the IOC December 2013: Training of Trainers, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Review of Ipas training manual on maternal health and safe abortion for medical students.

November 2013: AU Youth Pre-Conference and International Conference on Family Planning in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia  Development of action plan on SRHR issues and increasing youth access to family planning in Africa  Formation of the International Youth Alliance on Family Planning July 2013: UDS-MSA International Conference in Tamale  Organized the IPET sessions  Worked with the OC December 2012: African Regional Meeting (ARM) in Arusha, Tanzania  Head of Delegation from Ghana  Team leader, SWG on Arusha Declaration for Health in Africa  IPET Training  Training on Project Management October 2012: Training program on Comprehensive Abortion Care organized by Ipas Ghana. 

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PROFESSIONAL SKILLS Leadership, Presentation, Facilitation, Organization, Event Management, Research, Project Management, Communication, Peer Education, Team Building and Entrepreneurial Skills FIELDS OF INTEREST Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Global Health Development, Healthcare for all agenda, Health Equity, Gender Equality, Stigma and Discrimination, Maternal Health, Family Planning, Social Determinants of Health and Peer Education HOBBIES Reading, Travelling, Playing the guitar, Listening to music, Basketball and Volley ball.