The “Emerging Voices” venture as my passport to Global
Health
Citizenship
I was part of the first ever Emerging Voices venture held back
in 2010 (Antwerp/Montreux). When I first received an email from ITM informing me
of my successful acceptance to the EV program, I was not sure if I could afford
to leave my “very important” job for three long weeks. At the time, I was
working as a National Consultant for the Health Sector Development Program of
the Ministry of Health, Mongolia, and I considered myself as a relatively
“emerged” professional. However, looking back, now I can confidently say my
participation was one of the few best decisions I have ever made in my life.
Just to name a few reasons why this is the case:
- It made me a “life-time” member of a larger global health family (with
members from all over the world) from whom I drew my inspiration to
pursue my research career.
- It made me realise how boring I was in communicating my ideas and
presentations and provided me with all necessary skills and knowledge to
become a more effective presenter/writer. As a result, my applications
for a PhD scholarship submitted to three different institutions all got
accepted. An unbelievable success!
- It sowed a “disruptive mindset” seed in my thinking, turning me into a
life-long learner.
- It made me pursue my further career in international health and obtain
my PhD degree from one of the best universities in Australia.
- It gave me the confidence to work internationally which had been
almost a “mission impossible” for me before my EV experience.
- It provided me with the necessary tools, knowledge and confidence to
apply to well-known International consulting companies like Abt
Associates, and be successful in my application.
- The Googlegroup (to be exact, it is Kristof) keeps me up-to-date on
the latest news and publications which is one of the reasons why I’m
considered a “valuable” member within my team.
- Lastly but most importantly, thanks to the EV venture, I have met Dr
Asmat Malik who later became my best colleague and friend, a “ruthless”
critic, co-author of my papers and the greatest mentor whom I could ask
the silliest question. Sadly, in May 2017, we all received the
heartbreaking news of our dearest friend having passed away. He will
always be remembered by the EV community as a passionate professional,
best friend and the greatest human being.
In a nutshell, the EV venture provided me with a passport to Global
(Health) Citizenship. Being heard in a global platform is a rare
opportunity, especially, for someone like me who was educated (and used to
practice) in a former socialist/Soviet country, where open communication and
diversity are not often encouraged. In fact, I was and still am the first
and only EV from Mongolia. Moving forward, expanding the EV opportunity to
engage those often-unheard voices would be a great contribution to the
development of the global health community, and bring further equity and
diversity within the EV community as well.
Lastly, I must also say that the EV experience was not all “fairy tale”.
The programme challenged my language abilities (English), fluency, critical
thinking and presentation and networking skills. It also required some
critical “de-learning” first, in order to “enable” my mind for innovation
and different ways of thinking and doing. However, a diverse package of
training, mentoring and peer learning opportunities provided by the EV
venture assisted to overcome all these challenges. And the support and
learning opportunities did not end there. It is not an exaggeration that in
these ten years, not a week went by that I didn’t receive EV4GH
emails/updates. Unbelievable! I cannot thank Kristof and the
EV secretariat enough for their relentless effort to keep
the EV loop still so alive and vibrant even 10 years since its
start.
