Apia, SAMOA – Noting the rising visibility of women in leadership roles across different sectors, the Society of Private Nurses and Midwives (SPNM), in partnership with the Women in Leadership in Samoa (WILS) Project, are collaborating to conduct a series of trainings on “Transformational Leadership”. This specifically targets nurses and midwives from the private and public sector in both Upolu and Savaii. The trainings are part of the SPNM’s planned professional development activities throughout this year to acknowledge and celebrate the ‘2020 International Year of the Nurse and Midwife’ in Samoa.  

The four-day training will enable the participants to unleash their capacity to create a future based on the universal values of peace, equality, justice and respect for all. The training also aims to enable participants to see the trends and systems in society which perpetuate problems and learn how to create solutions to resolve any social issue they choose to focus on especially in the health sector. As transformed participants, this training will enable them to learn how to deliver results, scale up and lead change.  

The trainings will run from July to August 2020, with the first training to be conducted from the 14th – 17th July at the Tanoa Hotel, Sogi.

The expected long-term outcome is for nurses to reignite their leadership capacities in clinical, professional and corporate spaces. Nurses and midwives represent a country’s hopes for the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through their work in Primary Health Care (PHC) and Community Development in Health or Health Promotion (CDH/HP). Their leadership in health systems is vital and the training purports to enhance transformational personal and social changes for improved health services. The investment made by UNDP, UNWILS, AusAID and UN Women in Samoan nurses at a time when the world is acknowledging nurses and midwifery services is highly commendable.

There will also be a publication of stories by members of the SPNM and their children, plus a few other stories from some past and present nurses/midwives, that will be part of this commemoration. This publication is made possible by the kind support of the above-mentioned partners, who recognised the engendering aspect of the writings. It reprints a  special poem by Peseta Noumea Simi called ‘The Nurse’ which captures the values and impressions of a nurse’s service in an ill health environment.
    
This partnership also contributes to the achievement of the WILS Project overall outcome, which is to strengthen women’s leadership and gender equality in Samoa.  The WILS Project is a three-year joint project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women with funding from the Australian Government in partnership with the Government of Samoa.  

“The implementation of the four trainings commencing this week is to mark the “International Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020”, for Samoa to recognise and celebrate the very important, tireless efforts and contributions of ALL Samoan nurses and midwives, past and present, through the provision of nursing and midwifery duties for an improved health system in Samoa,” said Jorn Sorensen, Resident Representative, UNDP.

The training guarantees participants the opportunity to share thoughts and experiences in order to learn from each other and to strengthen their leadership capacity in their line of work in the Health Sector.


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Media enquiries should be directed to:

1.    Ms Jordanna Mareko, Communication Project Coordinator, WILS Project, UN Women Samoa Office, Ph: Tel: +685-23670 ext 61 or Email: jordanna.mareko@unwomen.org

 
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