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One of the most important things in developing educational programmes is having the support of organizations that have important experience in the field. It helps to bring a level of objective reflection and validation of the work being done. Establishing a professional training programme is not easy and in African countries can bring another level of challenge in accommodating homeopathy to different cultural norms and also in navigating the educational and political hurdles one can find. Fortunately, the previous co-ordinator of the project, Lyn Clarke, had done an amazing job in obtaining accreditation from the Society of Homeopaths in the UK for the professional curriculum she had established, along with a dedicated team of homeopathic educators. This accreditation adds great value to the programmes that have been offered and also gives validation and trust in the quality of the programme, in and out of Africa.
On becoming Co-ordinator of the project again, I felt, along with the Board of Trustees, that this important milestone in our work needs to be consolidated and built upon. Therefore, we had further discussions with the Society of Homeopaths to inform them of our progress and our future plans. We chose to focus on first offering Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training programmes with the graduates, to consolidate their academic training and to facilitate necessary skills for professional practice. We are also in the process of getting the school we established formally recognized with the Traditional Medicine Practitioners Council (TMPC) under the name, International College of Homeopathy (Ghana). Our goal is to continue to develop the professional training programme in the future, adjusting it to the needs of practice in an African context and also to explore the possibilities of distant learning models.
We are now establishing a CPD programme, and have created a team of volunteer homeopaths to be on our educational committee, some of whom have been working with our new graduates for some years. This gives an important continuity for the graduates and further supports their movement into practice.
We also reached out to a UK based school, the Welsh School of Homeopathy, seeking to create another partnership with a professional programme based in the UK. The Welsh school is one of the longest running professional programmes in the UK and one of its founders, Bill Rumble, has a lot of experience in various African countries, including Ghana. They have been happy to come aboard as a partner and to support our CPD work, amongst other programmes, as we move forward.
Therefore, the original vision of the project that began 17 years ago continues to blossom and we are excited at this new stage in the project's evolution.
Richard Pitt
Project Coordinator.