Workforce support programme

The eye health workers we train often return home to work in very challenging environments. They may be the only eye doctor or nurse on their island, relying on visits from our outreach team to meet the need for eye care services. That’s why we provide on-going support and guidance through our workforce support programme.

It’s designed to help our graduates stick it out in the toughest of conditions, and to make sure they have what they need to provide high-quality eye care services in their communities. At the end of the day it’s about putting in place eye care services that can be sustained well into the future. Fred wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Below is a summary of a research report about our in-country model of workforce support in the Pacific.

You can read the full article in the New Zealand Medical Journal here.

An in-country model of workforce support for trained mid-level eye care workers in the Pacific

This comprehensive workforce support programme, based on the World Health Organization's building blocks for health systems, is designed to offer in-country, best-quality support to the graduates of eye care training programmes. It addresses key factors in workforce maintenance and retention and gathers data that can be used for advocacy to employers and authorities. Workforce support is tantamount to maintaining a vibrant, competent and engaged workforce in the home countries once the graduates have been trained; it is also an important step towards sustainability of any workforce development programme.

The work force support programme employs a standardised process, allowing comparable reporting, providing valuable information for The Foundation to evaluate its training programmes, outputs, data pertaining to equipment and stocks availability, knowledge retention, clinical skills retention as well as professional recognition and integration in the workplace. It offers an opportunity to improve the delivery of eye care services as a result.