Projects

CURRENT PROJECTS

UPSKILLING OF NURSE EDUCATORS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Introduction

Nursing education and training in South Africa is currently undergoing changes, which are driven by three main factors, namely the migration of nursing education to higher education, the COVID – 19 pandemic and the nursing shortage. The three drivers have a direct impact on nursing education in terms of meeting higher education teaching and learning demands, the use of innovative strategies and technology through various online platforms as physical contact is no longer safe and feasible in teaching and learning, as well as increasing the number of nurses to be trained to mitigate the nursing shortage. However, the implementation of such strategies has to start with the preparation of nurse educators through upskilling and building capacity in specific areas, to deliver quality teaching and learning and also meet the competency and standards set by the South African Nursing Council (SANC) and are internationally comparable.

 FUNDISA in partnership with Johnson and Johnson will be implementing a project aimed at supporting nurse educators in order to strengthen their competence in innovative teaching and learning. The project will be conducted in three phases:

 Phase 1: Gap analysis

A gap analysis of the current training of nurse educators will be conducted to identify competencies that need strengthening, through a survey. A questionnaire will be sent to nurse educators in the public, private and university NEIs to complete.

 Phase 2: Co-creation workshop

FUNDISA will host a co–creation workshop to discuss the findings of the gap analysis and propose strategies to strengthen the competency of nurse educators in innovative teaching and learning. Participants to the co- creation workshop will be experts, regulators and policy makers in nursing education.

 Phase 3: Training workshops

A series of training workshops on content identified from the survey and confirmed at the co–creation workshop will be conducted. The aim of the training will be to strengthen the capacity of nurse educators.

Nursing education experts and stakeholders will be involved in the execution of the project.

CLEARSCAN

The Connecting and Leading Research, Education and Practice through Support, and Capacity Building in Nursing (CLEARSCAN) project aims to strengthen and transform nursing research, education, and practice by providing technical support and capacity building in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes which will enable nurses to improve health outcomes.

Objectives of the project include:

  • Establishing a capacity building programme and to support nursing schools in leveraging their resource base in order to strengthen their institutions.
  • Creating links and networks and identifying opportunities and platforms that will strengthen reciprocal development, learning, sharing and transfer of knowledge, skills and resources among nurses who participate in such activities.
  • Developing a programme for structured support for nursing schools to develop research programmes.
  • Exploring evidence-based strategies that will attract the quality of recruits into the nursing profession.
  • Developing a knowledge translation unit with resources to enable exchange, sharing and utilisation of scientific evidence to improve nursing education, practice and research.

PLUME

The PLUME project is a structured support programme designed to support nursing schools to develop research programmes. The project, in partnership with the National Research Foundation (NRF), aims to develop lead researchers who will not only create research intensive programmes in their schools, but also enhance their own skills, working towards NRF scientific rating.

Overall success of this project has been evidenced through the following achievements:

    • Fortified research capacity of nursing faculty
    • Improved quality of post graduate supervision.
    • Enabling platforms for research development and training of postgraduate students.
    • Increased outputs in terms of research publication.
    • Expansion of research collaborations and networks.
    • More nurse researchers working to attain NRF rating

MATERNAL – CHILD HEALTH NURSE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (MCHNLA) – STTI PROJECT

The purpose of the Maternal-Child Health Leadership Academy is to develop the leadership skills of maternal-child health nurses and midwives in positions of influence in a variety of health care settings. The Academy prepares maternal-child health nurses and midwives to effectively lead inter-professional teams to improve the quality of healthcare for childbearing women and children up to 5 years old.

The project was piloted in South Africa in 2011-2012.  Based on the success of the pilot in the North-West Province and the first cohort in Africa, inclusive of Malawi, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda, the funders continues to support a second cohort. FUNDISA provides project management and support to the project.

KWAZULU NATAL COLLEGE OF NURSING (KZNCN)

Atlantic Philanthropies commissioned FUNDISA and Nursing Education Association (NEA) to provide project management services to KZNCN inclusive of capacity building and the development and implementation of the college’s strategic plan 2013-2018.

ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT – ELMA FOUNDATION

Through this project, FUNDISA is strengthening its organizational capacity to sustain its core function in line with corporate governance structures.

Through recruitment of relevant skills and ongoing skills development for FUNDISA staff, aligning FUNDISA structures with King III requirements for corporate governance and the independent code of governance for Non-Governmental Organizations.

COMPLETED PROJECTS

NEPI – ICAP

FUNDISA, in collaboration with (ICAP) implemented the Nursing Education Partnership Initiatives (NEPI) project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia.

CERVICAL CANCER SCREENING

More information to follow, stay tuned.

UNEDSA

The UNESDA was funded by AP (Atlantic Philanthropies), ELMA Philanthropies and involved six (6) institutions who identified individual projects in response to the overall aim of UNEDSA which were to enhance the quality of nursing scholarship and practice.

The following university nursing departments were project grantees:

  • Tshwane University of Technology (TUT)
  • University of Fort Hare (UFH)
  • University of the Free State (UFS)
  • University of the Western Cape (UWC)
  • University of Pretoria (UP)
  • University of Limpopo Medunsa Campus (ULMC)

FUNDISA’s project management role included activities towards two objectives:

  • To ensure the overall integration of the UNEDSA Programme in South Africa to achieve greater impact
  • To promote the functional integrity of the individual UNEDSA projects to achieve their objectives