News
Keep up to date with all the latest SKIP news! Here you’ll find out what all our branches have been up to across the UK and around the world.
On Project with SKIP St George's
SKIP St. George's have just arrived in Kisii, Kenya to begin their pilot project with Voices for Hope. Having carried out rigorous research into organisations around the world, SKIP St. George's have decided to work with this orphanage that provides care to 50 orphans. Last year a small group visited Kisii to see what they would be able to do to assist and add to the work of Voices for Hope. This year they return to start their work!
Voices for Hope support children through their time at school, keeping them in contact with their original communities. The children will then return as adults to their original communities with vocational skills to help them live a life of their own, free from dependence on handouts.
For 6 weeks, the 11 volunteers will be trialling some of their proposed interventions for future projects. They will be teaching about sanitation and infection preventions, running sex education workshops for the over 16s and teaching English.
As this is a pilot project year they will spend a lot of time assessing the quality of these interventions and researching the need and plausibility of other ideas such as providing further infrastructure and capacity for the orphanage through building projects and obtaining a sustainable source of bed nets.
Through their work this summer the St. George’s team should be moving into full project status, with a well-researched project containing appropriate interventions that provide great support to Voices of Hope.
Here at SKIP we're looking forward to hearing the results of St. George’s time in Kisii, and wish them a successful and safe Summer!
For more information about SKIP St. George’s, their work in Kenya and to donate towards it, please visit http://www.skipkids.org.uk/projects/skip-st-georges-kenya
So how does a SKIP project establish itself?
How branches move from a seed of an idea in a students mind to becoming a fully fledged, life changing project - this is the SKIP prject life cycle:
- Research and Decide on Country
- Research Organisations
- Research and Needs Assessment Trip
- Pilot Proposal and Pilot Project Year
- Full Project!
Preparing for Project: Inside the Minds of a SKIP Volunteer and a Project Coordinator
With SKIP Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cardiff already out on project and many other branches preparing to depart over the next few days, excitement is building amongst SKIP volunteers and committees regarding the prospects for the coming summer.
We got in touch with Emily Mayo, a volunteer for Southampton, preparing to go out with Group 1 to Madagascar. We also to spoke to Tim Smith, one of the project coordinators who has been organising the project and the volunteers along with Sarah Jackson and the rest of the SKIP Southampton committee. To find out how they responded, read on...
Tell us about yourself.
I am Emily Mayo a 1st Year Medic at Southampton Uni and I’m from Essex originally.
How did you get involved with SKIP?
Someone came to one of my lectures and did a shout out, talking about the project in Madagascar and it sounded really fun and worthwhile, as well as something to fill the long summer with, so I decided to get involved! I went along to an information evening, applied, and now I’m getting ready to go on the trip.
What are you going out to do in Madagascar?
Well, I’m going to be working as part of the village project, where we are helping to build a health centre, teaching children in weekday workshops about dental hygiene and how to prevent malaria, and reinforcing hygiene and nutrition taught in previous years. As a new thing this year we’re running Saturday workshops about proper breastfeeding that we’ve all been learning about through our training weekends.
How will this help the local community?
The knowledge we pass on will help to reduce rates of diarrhoea and increase general health of the population to help everyone there live longer and healthier lives. We learnt that a part of the SKIP ethos is to teach people to teach and to eventually not be needed so we will leave skills and knowledge to children and mothers at the workshops to pass around to others in their community.
What’s your role as group leader?
I have to be the first point of call for volunteers who have problems and am a link between events on project, the partner organisations and the Southampton committee back home.
Is there anything you’re worried about?
A couple of things! As I am one of the group leaders, I will have to keep harmony in the group and get everyone working together, but I hope this won’t be a problem as everyone in the group is really nice.
What are you most excited about?
I can’t wait to meet the local people, learn about their culture, stay with my host family and of course the teaching, I love being around children, so that will be a big highlight!
What are your expectations of your time there?
I think I’ll grow as a person, especially through learning about another culture and working in a team, all working towards the same cause. Most of all, having a great time and having a real positive impact on the community!
Thanks Emily, and best of luck to you!
Now to Tim Smith, the joint project coordinator who has been working tirelessly all year to put the project together, and will be pulling the strings in the background all summer.
When and how did you get involved with SKIP Southampton originally?
I first saw it at the medic’s bunfight and I was looking to do charity work at the end of my first year, and SKIP seemed to fit the bill, and I’ve been on the project twice since then, and been training coordinator.
What have the committee been up to this year getting volunteers ready and the project ready?
We recruited volunteers early on with aim of giving people plenty of notice of training weekends and fundraisers so that we could get everyone involved. We have taught our volunteers all about SKIP and how we work, Madagascar and the charities that we work with, what’s been achieved so far and what we have planned for this summer and beyond!
The more practical things we’ve taught are teaching methods, cultural sensitivity issues specific to Madagascar, health and safety and child protection to ensure everything we do this summer is both safe and effective. Of course we’ve also played a lot of fun games to get all the groups to know each other better and most importantly not being embarrassed looking silly in front of each other, which is very important if you’re going to keep children interested during the teaching sessions!
After a thorough handover, we’ve been in regular contact with the charities we work with to prepare everything on the ground. We have been checking the general situation around Antananarivo (Madagascar’s capital) and the political situation for the entire country.
We’ve put a lot of work in adding interventions to our project schedule, with Sarah Yamamoto doing a lot research into oral health, malaria prevention, oral rehydration therapy and breast feeding, topics that have been added based on feedback and requests from the Malagasy people we have taught and collaborated with in the past.
What are you hoping for the project to achieve over the summer?
First and foremost establish our presence back out there after a one year absence due to the political problems in Madagascar. Delivering the new oral health messages whilst reinforcing the older, but still important hygiene and nutrition messages. We will be collecting more feedback this year to see how well our teaching is working, along with carrying out some observational research providing baseline data on hand washing in the community in the Old Town.
I really hope our new community workshops are a success and the community feels they got what they wanted from the volunteers’ presence. For the volunteers I hope they will learn about the developing world and feel empowered to get involved further in the SKIP project and later in life.
What words do you have for any SKIP volunteers getting ready to go on project, or anyone going out to the developing world for that matter?
Learn as much as you can about the place that you are going to and what you will be doing before you go, as you won’t have to ask too many stupid questions and you can hit the ground running in achieving your aims.
Basically this should stop you standing in front of a class of children on the first day trying to work out how you are actually supposed to wash your hands, let alone being able to teach them!
Certainly a summer full of potential, for volunteers, partner organisations and most importantly, the communities that all of this hard work is trying to benefit.
If you would like to get involved with SKIP, as a volunteer at your university or through our external volunteer scheme, or even as a professional advisor please have a look around our website for the relevant contact details or email info@skipkids.org.uk To donate towards our continuing work around the world, please press the red donate button in the top right corner of the page.
Spring National Conference held in Cardiff on 20th and 21st of February
This last weekend just over 100 members of SKIP met in Cardiff, hosted by the Cardiff branch of the Charity. Volunteers, Committee Members, National Committee and the Executive Board were all present for a weekend of idea sharing, workshops and presentations.
The atmosphere, as always, was electric. So many like minded people coming together to work towards the same ideals and goals will always create excitement, and rightly so. This excitement was increased by the esteemed guests who addressed the conference. Our patron, Professor Baroness Ilora Finlay and the Dean of Medicine at Cardiff Medical School, Paul Morgan, gave some inspiring words of encouragement and Professor Steve Allen from Swansea University spoke on “Where Children Die”. We are very grateful to them all.
The focus of the spring conference is to prepare attendees for their summer projects. This is done through workshops and plenary discussions, looking at key issues and important skills that volunteers will need to take on to project. The workshops covered themes such as collaborating with partners, sustaining interventions and using research to improve projects. Those that have attended the conference will be able to pass this knowledge on at training weekends taking place between the conference and the summer.
A lot is made from breaks between sessions, branches meet with their national committee branch buddies to discuss feedback about their documents outlining plans for the summer. Networking time gives time for branches to share ideas, share support and spread knowledge and materials. Of course it also allows people from branches as far away as Southampton and Glasgow to meet and get to know each other, something aided by the social held on the Saturday night.
To facilitate idea sharing, to give a sense of belonging to something larger than each branch’s individual efforts and just to be a little bit nosy, each branch delivers a report on their progress over the recent months and what they plan to do in the near future. It is always great to see what innovative and interesting ideas each branch has for their projects, fundraising and training.
Once all of this had happened, the curtain was called on an incredible weekend, leaving those who attended with a great sense of achievement and purpose, prepared to take on the opportunities and challenges they are sure to be presented with both before and during the projects taking place around the world this summer.
Dr Steve Allen Announced as Speaker for National Conference
Dr Steve Allen, Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics at Swansea University and Course Coordinator of their International Health module, has kindly agreed to come and speak during our National Conference on the 20th-21st of February.
He will delivery the Plenary Speech to around 100 students on the Saturday afternoon on the topic of "Where do infants and children die?". He will explore the main direct caues of death and disability and what are the main risk factors? This will lead into a discussion on the obstacles and opportunities to improving children's health, a topic close to the hearts of many of those involved with SKIP, and is sure to interest all of those attending the National Conference.
The National Conference is an opportunity for the 12 branches around the UK to come together and share ideas and inspiration for each other's work in the developing world. SKIP Members will also receive training from the National Committee and Executive Board, aimed at making interventions carried out over the summer months as effective as they can be.
SKIP would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Allen for giving us his time. The Spring 2010 National Conference is shaping up to be a thoroughly interesting and exciting weekend.
Lazy Students? You won’t find them here.
On the 7th-8th of November 2009, over 100 students from all over the UK met at the University of Newcastle campus to discuss their work for Students for Kids International Projects (SKIP) at the Biannual SKIP National Conference.
Branches from Barts, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, HYMS, Newcastle, Oxford, Southampton, St. Georges and UCL came together for a series of reports, workshops, lectures and ideas cafes to improve their independently run projects in Belarus, India, Moldova, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Thailand, South Africa, Malawi and Madagascar.
Chris Lander, the Assistant Coordinator of SKIP National says “The national conference is the setting for inspired debate and idea sharing between extremely motivated and passionate healthcare students. It’s an electrifying atmosphere to be in”
The conference is focussed on topics designed to support these groups in their life changing work around the globe. Branches are taught about the history of SKIP, how after being founded in Cardiff in 1999, SKIP has grown to have a dozen branches based in UK universities all working to support vulnerable and impoverished children and communities worldwide.
Workshops support committee members in their roles, passing down knowledge and allowing the free exchange of ideas in smaller sessions. Important management skills are also taught, such as effective handovers, facilitation and strategic planning. Project coordinators, responsible for leading their branches, are in sessions discussing the best practice for branches’ interventions and management, and allow them to discuss the important issues facing SKIP at that time, and help guide its direction.
The real stars of the show, however, are the branches themselves. Each branch has time to present their achievements over the previous six months, to keep other branches informed and share what they see as the important challenges and learning points of the last 6 months. This year, increased importance has been placed on the use of the national conference to allow them to share ideas and support each other. So many times, branches have come up against hurdles that others have just navigated, and hopefully, with each other’s help, they can work more efficiently, coaching each other through these difficult situations. Importantly, they seem to agree, Milly West of Barts University thought that the conference was “Really, really helpful for making contacts and learning. So inspiring.”
An emphasis is placed on socialising too, at every conference the different groups don their outfits, picked from the letter of their branch name, this time ranging from Alphabets to Where’s Wallys, and take to the streets of their host town. It’s a great bonding experience, reinforcing SKIP’s sense of fun and humour, an integral part of the charity’s work.
To close the conference the most important points for SKIP’s vision for the year were reinforced:
- Good Practice; using our laws and constitution to act appropriately and effectively
- Expanding Horizons; taking SKIP forward into new areas and opportunities
- Informed Advocacy; using our position as a unique voice in international issues, especially those affecting the countries where we work
After a round of applause the different branches made their way home, certainly tired from a long weekend, but hopefully filled with passion and informed, ready to take on another six months of opportunities and challenges, taking SKIP onto new heights.
SKIP Co-ordinator wins Global Action Award
Danny Hutley, has been awarded the 2009 Sheila McKechnie Foundation (SMK) Global Action Award for his work raising awareness of global health issues through, amongst other ventures, his work as SKIP National Co-ordinator over the past year.
SMK, a charity dedicated to connecting, informing and supporting campaigners, announced the winners of its 2009 Awards at a special ceremony in London last week.
The awards recognise the outstanding contribution that a new generation of campaigners are making towards achieving social, environmental and economic justice both in the UK and abroad.
In deciding the award the judges were particularly impressed by the structural reform within SKIP that was initiated by Danny over the past year and carried out by our Executive Board, and National and Branch Committees.
Such structural reform is akin to the likes of a lot bigger charities and to achieve this with virtually no resources without compromising our ideals of evidence-based practice was highly commended by the judges.
Furthermore, the charity's aspirations for community empowerment drew particular admiration.
The prize will be particularly beneficial to SKIP as Danny is partnered with a professional mentor for the next 6 months and provided with support to help SKIP not only in an advisory role but also through publicity and networking.
SKIP would like to pass on our congratulations to Danny for the award and thank him and all our volunteers for their efforts that have made SKIP a multi-award winning charity in 2009!
Well done everyone!
SKIP – The best project in the world?
SKIP has been awarded 1st prize in the Projects Fair Competition at the 58th International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) General Assembly.
The IFMSA is an independent, non-governmental and non-political federation of medical students' associations throughout the world.
The meeting, held in Tunisia in March 2009, saw a gathering of 102 National Member Organizations from 100 countries on six continents and represented more than 1 million medical students worldwide.
The UK was represented by Medsin, of which SKIP is a member. The Projects Fair Competition examined affiliated members’ projects and decided that SKIP had demonstrated one of the best student-led global health projects in the World over the course of 2008-2009.
The prize was graciously accepted by Anushka Mehrotra (SKIP Newcastle Co-ordinator 2008-09 and SKIP National Assistant Co-ordinator 2009-10) who represented SKIP at the conference.
SKIP's new website!
Hello and welcome to our brand new website.
We've put this website together to help you to understand SKIP and what we do throughout the world, and hopefully encourage you to get involved or donate!
Have fun looking around, and if you've got any feedback, please send it to web@skipkids.org.uk.
Thanks!
