PQMD Community of Practice

Draft Project Proposal

September 29, 2015

Summary

Launching a virtual Community of Practice would re-introduce PQMD to national and global policy makers, as an international leader in exchanging medical donation knowledge and expertise. This web-based community would position PQMD on the cutting edge of setting guidelines, improving capacity to provide humanitarian assistance, broadening competency in delivering healthcare and health systems, and strengthening disaster response effectiveness.

This Community of Practice would reflect the quality of PQMD’s engagement and leadership in the world of product, device and service donations. This platform would create opportunities for members to share information and collaborate with each other and external stakeholders; encourage documentation and scholarly study of health and socioeconomic impacts of the donation of health care products and services; and educate audiences about member projects and programs that serve to encourage replication of appropriate donation practices.

In addition, this project would provide an opportunity to enhance PQMD’s educational programming emphasizing growth, membership development and shared value for better service delivery.

Background

A Community of Practice is defined as an informal network – a group of people who share a common sense of purpose and desire to exchange knowledge and experiences in an area of shared interest. Core competencies emerge and are strengthened, through mutual learning and sharing of information. A Community of Practice develops and spreads best practices; connects “islands of knowledge” into networks; and fosters cross-country collaboration.

PQMD has demonstrated a continuing commitment to improve and implement guidelines to guide the management of donated medical products and the performance of those who participate in this industry. The guidelines developed by PQMD reflect its organizational base of knowledge, experience and expectations of the membership for how medical product, device and service donations will be judged going forward. A virtual Community of Practice offers the perfect opportunity to expand PQMD’s expertise and uniquely position PQMD as a forward looking leader in setting guidelines and enabling its membership to be highly responsive to calls for humanitarian aid and future crises.

Participants

The Community of Practice would be a private group with access available only by invitation or through a request to join. We envision invitations being sent out to the following targeted groups:

  • PQMD Board Members and all interested parties in their organizations;
  • Appropriate representatives from international agencies such as WHO, IFPMA, PhRMA, World Bank, African Development Bank and Inter-American Development Bank;
  • Leadership from Country Donation Recipients;
  • Professors and researchers in the field of drug and medical service donations;
  • Other individuals involved with this field.

Our goal would be to include all the leading actors and thinkers involved with medical donations and health system strengthening. In order to stimulate discussion, individuals/organizations(initially from the Board) would be asked to take on lead roles in monitoring and responding to theme threads within their area of expertise.

Core Leadership Team

A Core Leadership Team would be made up of five or six committed participants that would take a lead role in creating the vision, direction and development of the Community of Practice. They would provide guidance on the discussion themes and topics, proposed events and the overall development of the community. Core Leadership Team meetings would be hosted virtually once a month with invitations to provide comments intermittently.

Project Management

Under the guidance of the Core Leadership Team and the PQMD’s Executive Director, a project manager would oversee development and delivery of all the Community of Practice products: web-based discussions, video and audio podcasts, resource library, media corner, video live streaming and face-to-face forums. All web-based products would be developed in coordination with PQMD’s website developers.

Online Project Description

The PQMD Community of Practice would primarily exist on a web-based platform with access only given to members, invited participants and vetted applicants. This electronic platform would feature the following products:

  • Online Discussions: Every three-six months, a new theme would be selected with several discussion threads. Community members would be invited to engage in electronic discussions where they would post their thoughts on the active topic and share their experiences. In addition, topic experts would be identified who would make regularly postings, monitor their discussion thread and provide responses to participants.
  • Just-in Time Discussions: Topics would be offered for discussion based on current events, active crisis, or disasters
  • Video and Audio Podcasts: Experts would be interviewed on one aspect of the active topic and audio/video files would be available for download.
  • Resource Library: A library, organized around key subjects areas, would be developed where organizations and individuals would post research, case studies, and other related documents. This library would be a resource for those seeking to expand their knowledge and understanding of specific areas related to medical donations.
  • Media Corner: Articles, media clips and social media postings about member activities or relating to medical donations would be clipped and featured in this “corner”.
  • Ask An Expert “LIVE”: Experts would be available for an hour or two to answer questions about the active topic. Video would be streamed live via the Internet and a moderator would take questions through a live chat room and email. A summary of the discussion would then be posted and a video podcast made available.
  • Source Book: A book of best practices stories from members and partners would be published on annual basis. Cases would be a product of the Community of Practice, sponsored and supported by community members.

Face-to-Face Educational Forums

In addition to the web-based activities, face-to-face Educational Forums would be organized on an annual basis to bring together participants, develop relationships and jump start discussions. Specifically, the Annual Educational Forum would build international capacity within the field of medical donations, allow members and stakeholders to share experiences and lessons learned, provide members an opportunity to shape the direction of the online community, and strengthen relationships across the membership base. Themes and topics would be a product of key online discussions within the Community. High profile speakers, thought leaders, and global policy makers will be invited, along with country counterparts and others capable of contributing to the work of PQMD and member organizations.

In addition, the Annual Forum would give the Core Leadership Team an opportunity to develop strategic plans, approve proposed activities and provide feedback.

Topics & Themes

One or two new discussion topics would be featured every three to six months. Potential discussion themes include the following:

  • PQMD Guidelines: What role do the PQMD guidelines play in crisis response and what impact are they having?
  • How to Connect Guidelines to Real Life: How do PQMD Guidelines apply to everyday disaster response and humanitarian aid situations?
  • Disaster Response: Best practices, how to develop a clear plan with so many organizations sending teams to the front lines and how are PQMD members are responding to a disaster.
  • Country Representatives: Perspectives, experiences and recommendations for best practices
  • Beyond Natural Disasters: Conflicts and diseases (e.g. Ebola)
  • Gifts in Kind: challenges and issues
  • Drug Supply Chain Security Act: Implications of the act on corporations, NGOs and recipients.
  • Donation Destruction: Best practices and guidelines for the destruction of donations.
  • Exit Strategies: Moving from Emergency response to longer-term sustainable healthcare solutions.
  • Warehousing: Draft guidelines and suggest best practices for regulation.
  • PQMD and the Sustainable Development Goals:What is the role of PQMD in supporting and helping to deliver the SDGs in the years to come.
  • Documentation: How to better document the impact a drug donation program has on access, health and economic outcomes. E.g. what would have been the outcome in the absence of a medical donation?

We would design the forum in a flexible manner so that new themes or topics could be added in response to unfolding events.

Activities and Outcomes

The following chart lists the PQMD Community of Practice proposed activities and their targeted outcomes.

Activity / Intermediate Output / Outcome
Discuss the role and impact PQMD guidelines have in disaster response. / Set-up online forum with discussion leader, encourage membership input. / Keep PQMD guidelines current and improve membership’s coordination and ability to respond to disasters.
Share best practices for disaster response. / Collect case studies from members for review and discussion. / Become a critical reference point during disaster response. Have materials to share in publications, website, and forums.
Examine how to move beyond natural disasters to sustainable aid to crises created by conflict and diseases. / Online discussion topic and potential central theme at an Educational Forum. / Expand recipient base for medical donations.
Share expertise on current issues with regards to quality medical donations. / With guidance from the Core Leadership Team, establish online discussions of central issues with robust membership participation. / Become a thought leader in global policy discussion.
Create a library of PQMD resources with postings of articles, publications and other pieces. / Establish web hub for members to post and search for publications. / Become a go-to resource for the humanitarian and disaster response community for the most current information and publications.
Engage Country Representatives in the discussion of best practices. / Identify key representatives and engage their participation as members. / Increase capacity and efficiency of countries in dealing with medical donations.
Develop a medical donations directory by inviting Community of Practice members to post profiles. / Set-up web database for members to share professional profiles. / Strengthen and expand the network of people working the field of medical donations.
Publish and distribute a periodic newsletter with member articles, a listing of events, and announcements. / Create template, identify editor and solicit member submissions. / Increase medical donation knowledge captured and disseminated.

Design and Monitoring Framework

See separate document.

Indicative Timeline

October 2015Present to the PQMD Board and gain approval for the COP.

Apply for Community of Practice project funding.

January 2016Set-up Core Leadership Team and hold first meeting to establish the vision and direction of the PQMD Community of Practice.

Work with web developers to create web platform.

March 2016Identify thematic experts to animate the first theme.

Launch web platform and first thematic focus for online discussions.

Send out target invitations to PQMD membership and people across their organizations, representatives with WHO, World Bank and other experts in the field of medical donations.

May 2016Publish first Community of Practice newsletter.

August 2016Develop agenda for first face-to-face forum.

Call for cases to be presented at the first forum.

September 2016Launch second thematic focus for the online discussions.

Publish second Community of Practice newsletter.

October 2016Host First Annual Forum

December 2016Publish report from face-to-face forum.

Annual Evaluation

January 2017Publish third Community of Practice newsletter.

March 2017Launch third thematic focus for the online discussions.

May 2017Publish fourth Community of Practice newsletter.

August 2017Develop agenda for second face-to-face forum.

Call for cases to be presented at the second forum.

September 2017Launch fourth thematic focus for the online discussions.

Publish fifth Community of Practice newsletter.

October 2017Host Second Annual Forum

December 2017Publish report from face-to-face forum.

Annual Evaluation