The International Working Group for Health Systems Strengthening (IWG) is a community of action. It convenes emerging changemakers and catalyzes efforts towards local and global health systems strengthening.
During our mission/vision workshop, we asked our members what would happen if the IWG did not exist?
“We would lose a wonderful opportunity to build a comprehensive, integrated and collaborative team that could actually make an impact regionally and globally in the context of the strengthening of the health systems in all its dimensions.”
IWG Founding Cohort, Board Member, 2020
Intergenerational participation and co-leadership for local and health systems strengthening is still at its nascent stages. Young people and emerging leaders and changemakers in and beyond public health inherit the local and global health systems of today, and thus have innate power to shape its trajectory. Yet, they often do not have a seat at the table, and the ability to assert their influence in global and local health systems strengthening efforts as:
- Space may be conceded to a limited few with power and privilege; or can feel like token representation;
- Opportunities for meaningful experience in cross-regional learning and collaboration are oft unidirectional, or lacking;
- Emerging public health professionals work in silos in elite academic networks, often without intentional inclusion of, and collaboration with, diverse community members, leaders and changemakers.
The IWG exists to change this.
The IWG aims to expand the arena for health systems strengthening, to make space for a diverse community of passionate changemakers to convene and collaborate towards local and global health systems action, and crucially, for it to be in their own terms.
International Working Group for Health Systems Strengthening 