Ghanaian Collaborations

The University of Alberta has a variety of ongoing collaborations with institutions in Ghana.

In 1999, the UAlberta Faculty of Nursing (FON) received Canadian government funding to establish a nursing Master's program at the University of Ghana (UG). Building on that connection, since then over 60 UG Nursing Master's students have received research training and proposal development instruction at UAlberta under the supervision of Faculty of Nursing professors. FON yearly sends undergraduate students to UG for clinical placements.

FON is currently holding a Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) grant. The Coming Together Project is part of a larger partnership between FON and the UG School of Nursing to develop a community of global nurse scholars and leaders. The QES-Advanced Scholars Program (QES-AS) supports future nursing leaders with the knowledge and leadership skills needed to address significant Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health issues in Ghana. The QES program is managed through a unique partnership of Universities Canada, the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF), Community Foundations of Canada (CFC), and Canadian universities. The QES-AS is made possible with financial support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Singing and Dancing for Health: Traditional music and dance for health education and promotion in rural northern Ghana

This Killam-funded project aimed to create, evaluate, and refine effective music and dance interventions for public health education and promotion in the developing world. In particular, it was sought to collaboratively develop and assess the impact of participatory "dance dramas" (comprising music, song, dance, poetry, drama, and comedy in traditional or neo-traditional idioms) for public health education in northern Ghana, that country's most underdeveloped area, together with a Ghanaian performing arts/education NGO experienced in applications of music and dance to development projects. Efficacy of traditional performance arts as a vehicle for promoting positive health messaging in an atmosphere of social solidarity rests on the traditional respect accorded such arts, while meanwhile compensating for obstacles encountered by health workers due to illiteracy and social anomie.