Image courtesy of Deon Hanns

Building on the success of the online Connectors Workshop series, Mesh, Eh!woza and Interfer held the first in-person Connectors Workshop bringing together 54 people from all over the world in Cape Town, South Africa.

Over the course of the three day workshop colleagues (‘Connectors’) presented experiences from their work and engaged in formal and informal discussions and guided workshop activities, as well as casual social activities and even some dancing. This page hosts videos of the presentations given at the workshop.

Download the full workshop report [PDF 29mb]

Day 1 | Session 1: What is Community Engagement to you?

In the videos below three Connectors, who work in different contexts with different approaches, each offered a short perspective on what community engagement is to them.

Patrick Mdletshe
Head of Community Programs at Centre for The Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)

Anita Shervington
Director of BLAST Fest
 

Haidee Bell
Public Participation Lead at Wellcome

  

Day 1 | Session 2: Innovation in Practice

Session two explored the characteristics of innovative engagement practice. The case study presentations below describe two exciting engagement projects working with young people.

Sara Kenney
Creative Director at Wowbagger Productions
Bella Starling
Director of Vocal

Ed Young
Co-director, Eh!woza

Day 1 | Session 3: The Role of the Connector

The next session looked at role of the ‘Connector’. Two workshop participants shared their personal career stories and took part in a discussion about their journeys to health engagement.  

Anelisa Jaca
Specialist Scientist at the South African Medical Research Council

Shaun Danquah
Director of Innovation at Centric Community Research
Anelisa Jaca
Specialist Scientist at the South African Medical Research Council

Day 1 | Session 4: Exploring Barriers and Enablers

The final session on day one looked at some of the barriers and enablers to doing good engagement. It began with the presentation below on the ethical, political and historical context to community engagement  

Lindsey Reynolds
Co-director of Pivot Collective

Stephanie Ajwang Okeyo
Director, Under the Microscope
 

Anja Schoch
Head of Falling Walls Engage at Falling Walls Foundation
Niklas Marzinek
Project Manager at Falling Walls Foundation

  

Day 2 | Session 1: Managing Collaborative Projects

The first session of day 2 explored experiences of managing collaborative, interdisciplinary engagement projects. The speakers below share their work as well as their reflections and learning.

Paula Yarrow
Global Development Director at Waves for Change
Katherine Sorsdahl
Director of the Alan J. Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health

Jacqueline Goldin
Professor at the University of the Western Cape

Day 2 | Session 2: Addressing Challenges

Session two looked at the challenges that many Connectors experience in working in engagement and particularly when working on collaborative interdisciplinary projects with multiple partners. Workshop participants worked in small groups to explore common challenges and solutions.

Day 2 | Session 3: Embracing Creativity

The final session of day two offered an introduction to some of the dynamics of working in creative spaces when exploring health and community engagement.  In the videos below, three speakers describe their different approaches and processes.

Stacy Hardy
Writer

Kevin Kimwelle
Community Architect at Indalo World NGO
 

Richard Kilpert
Museum Educator at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA)

  

Day 3 | Open Space Sessions

The Open Space sessions offered room for Connectors to share presentations that were not included in the scheduled programme, as well as having small group or one-to-one discussions. The videos below share the presentations given in the main workshop room.

 

Gabrielle Allen
Portfolio Manager at Impact on Urban Health

Paula Yarrow
Global Development Director at Waves for Change

Renee Holleman
Researcher at the City of Cape Town - Arts and Culture 

Rodrick Sambakunsi
Public Engagement Manager at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme
interviewed by Patrick Wilson
Head of Global Health Communications and Stakeholder Engagement at the NIHR

Rob Burnet
CEO of Shujaaz Inc

Jacqueline Goldin
Professor at the University of the Western Cape

The full workshop report [Download | PDF 29mb] provides a description of the workshop including detailed documentation of each session, a distillation of key outcomes and themes uncovered during the workshop, post-workshop feedback and a brief description of possible future steps.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License