WHY:  The Network: Towards Unity for Health has a moral compact to mend the fabric upon which our communities and their health depends.  This requires TUFH to focus on the globe’s most vulnerable communities as all too often, they live insecurely on the fringes of society, in fear and without access to a reasonable level of essential services, including health services. They may face discrimination, social exclusion, negative attitudes, and stigmatizing stereotypes.

HOW: TUFH hosts a Global Communities of Practice platform for experts to dialogue and collaborate on projects around Indigenous, Migrant and Refugee, Remote and Rural, Ageing, Intellectual Developmental Disabilities, and Women’s Health. This platform provides members the opportunity  to share projects, initiate collaborations, and communicate within and across global regions. 

WHAT: TUFH, to provide additional structure, is building upon its Community of Practice of Experts to form the Content Centers of Excellence.  These content Centers of Excellence are and will be an ever-evolving and inclusive network that embraces individuals and organizations who collectively strive to create or improve upon educational practices, community approaches, and research and action to develop the evidence for what works. 

TUFH Content Centers of Excellence builds upon the collaboration between WHO and The Network: Towards Unity for Health (TUFH) focused on enabling countries to strengthen their health and social care workforce.  TUFH, through its Content Centers of Excellence, focuses on gathering data and evidence to support the development and implementation of WHO education and training normative products. 

A TUFH Community of Practice and Center of Excellence addresses problems by looking for what is working and why. This accelerates the process of positive change by occupying people with doing rather than dwelling on why it can’t be done.

GOALS/BENCHMARKS:  TUFH strives toward the adoption and integration of  global competency standards for health workers into medical, nursing, and/or health sciences school curricula.   Global Competency Standards for Health Workers (the Standards) highlights the competencies and behaviours of the health workforce in providing quality care to targeted  populations. Competency-based education situates knowledge and skills in the specific context of practice while recognizing that the composition and responsibilities of the health workforce are also shaped by the specific health systems and health practices of regions and countries.

The TUFH Community of Practice/Centers of Excellence will:

1. Gather evidence and develop Global Competency Standards for health workers who serve Indigenous, Migrant and Refugee, Remote and Rural, Ageing, Intellectual Developmental Disabilities, and Women’s Health Populations.
2. Publish and distribute Global Competency Standards for health workers who serve Indigenous, Migrant and Refugee, Remote and Rural, Ageing, Intellectual Developmental Disabilities, and Women’s Health Populations.
3. Provide an asynchronous course for Indigenous, Migrant and Refugee, Remote and Rural, Ageing, Intellectual Developmental Disabilities, and Women’s Health resulting in an increase of the health workforce demonstrating knowledge competencies. 
4. Provide modules and curricula for a synchronous course for health science school adoption for Indigenous, Migrant and Refugee, Remote and Rural, Ageing, Intellectual Developmental Disabilities, and Women’s Health resulting in an increase of the health workforce demonstrating skill competencies.