Capacitação e parcerias norte/sul na área da saúde – o caso do projeto UDI-A

Abstract

UDI-A is a consortium led by NOVA University of Lisbon in partnership with European and African institutions which aims at improving the scientific and academic profile of four Universities – two in Angola and two in Mozambique -, with a strong emphasis on social entrepreneurship. This article aims at understanding the experiences, motivations and criticism of African participants (Champions), valuing the voices of participants from the Global South, whose narratives are often overlooked by scholarly work on capacity building and partnerships. This article presents data collected between March and April 2018, resorting to qualitative methodologies (participant observation, semi-structured interviews, a focus group and content analysis) put in place to analyze the experiences of The interviews and the focus group were fully transcribed and the transcripts were analyzed through thematic analysis. The results indicate that the early motivations of Champions are manifold, encompassing research, teaching and entrepreneurship, as well as the possibility of developing research partnerships and community-based intervention projects. The contact with innovative teaching methods was recognized by Champions as a positive aspect. In the conclusion we provide some suggestions on how to reconfigure capacity building exercises.