How can governments protect and promote mental health and well-being across sectors?

For decades, global health policy has approached mental illness primarily as a clinical challenge, a condition to be managed within the walls of hospitals and clinics by medical professionals. This biomedical focus, while essential, has often obscured the broader context in which mental health is shaped. A new publication from the World Health Organization, Guidance on policy and strategic actions to protect and promote mental health and well-being across government sectors, marks a significant shift in normative standards. It posits that mental health is not merely a health outcome but a structural one, determined as much by the fiscal policy, urban planning, and labor laws of governments as by psychiatric care.

A technical framework for cross-sectoral governance

The guidance emerges against a backdrop of escalating costs. The global economic burden of mental health conditions is projected to reach US$6 trillion by 2030. In response, the WHO outlines a “whole-of-government” approach, moving beyond general advocacy to provide specific policy directives for ministries that have historically operated independently of mental health considerations.

The document details an eight-step implementation cycle, requiring high-level political dialogue, rigorous situational analysis, and the drafting of sector-specific policies. It assigns distinct responsibilities to key government sectors:

• Finance and Treasury: The guidance suggests that fiscal policies – including tax rates and welfare allocations – must be evaluated for their impact on health equity, rather than viewing mental health funding solely as a healthcare expenditure.
• Interior and Justice: It recommends a shift in the role of police and prisons, advocating for the retraining of first responders to manage crises through de-escalation rather than coercion, and establishing independent mechanisms to report abuse.
• Education and Employment: The framework calls for schools to embed social-emotional learning into standard curricula and for labor ministries to enforce standards that mitigate psychosocial risks in the workplace, such as precarious contracts and unsafe working conditions.

This approach frames mental health as a shared liability across the state apparatus, requiring coordinated action to address the social and structural determinants such as poverty, discrimination, and violence that drive poor mental health outcomes.

The challenge of implementation in resource-constrained settings

While the normative framework is clear, the practical pathway to implementation remains complex, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The current development finance landscape is characterized by shrinking budgets and a fracturing of global health funding. Governments in LMICs face the dual challenge of executing complex, multi-sectoral strategies while managing severe fiscal constraints.

One critical question for policymakers is operational: How can a Ministry of Health in a resource-constrained setting effectively engage other sectors – such as finance or justice – to adopt these recommendations without significant new external funding? Moving from high-level policy documents to localized action requires a mechanism that can bridge the gap between statutory intent and the reality of service delivery.

So what are the options to do more with less?

Peer learning as a mechanism for structural change

The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) offers an operational model that addresses this implementation gap by utilizing the existing capacity of the health and social workforce. Rather than relying on traditional, resource-intensive capacity-building or technical assistance models, TGLF employs a “learning-to-action” methodology rooted in structured peer interaction. This approach connects thousands of frontline professionals – ranging from district administrators to social workers – into a structured digital network to learn from and support each other in actual implementation.

This model could support this WHO guidance in three specific ways:

• Generating actionable local data: In contexts where central data is scarce, the network functions as a distributed sensor. In a recent deployment in Nigeria, working with NPHCDA and UNICEF, 4,300 health workers generated over 400 root cause analyses within weeks. By identifying specific local barriers to service delivery the network produced the granular evidence needed to inform the cross-sectoral policies advocated by the WHO, and turn them into practice.
• Facilitating cross-sectoral integration: The WHO guidance necessitates collaboration between siloed professionals. TGLF’s model creates a forum where professionals from different sectors can share experience as they work to drive change, each in their own context. A school nurse can analyze crisis response strategies alongside a social worker from a different district, fostering the “collective intelligence” required to implement complex, multi-agency directives right down to the community level.
• Improving cost-efficiency: By digitizing the peer-learning process and utilizing peer accountability rather than external consultants, the model achieves a cost reduction of approximately 90 percent compared to conventional implementation methods. This efficiency could allow governments to begin operationalizing the WHO guidelines immediately using existing payroll structures, rather than waiting for external grants.

By validating local knowledge and structuring peer accountability, this innovative model provides a practical means to transform the WHO’s technical guidance into sustained administrative action. It demonstrates that the capacity to reform mental health governance lies not only in new financial instruments but in the structured coordination of the workforce already present on the ground.

Image: Crossing Into Clarity, The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025. A corridor built from carved, interlocking forms – half letters, half symbols – evokes the dense, overlapping pressures that shape mental health across societies. As the viewer steps through this textured passage, the individual ahead emerges into a space of light and openness, suggesting the possibility of coherence after complexity. The piece reflects a core truth of whole-of-government mental health action: when fragmented systems align, even imperfectly, they create pathways that help people move from burden toward balance, and from confusion toward care.

Reference

Michelle Funk, Dévora Kestel, Natalie Drew Bold, Celline Cole, Maria Francesca Moro, 2025. Guidance on policy and strategic actions to protect and promote mental health and well-being across government sectors. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240114388

#governmentSectors #implementationScience #lmics #mentalHealth #peerLearning #genevaLearningFoundation #wellBeing #workforce

Beyond outputs, a scalable model for documenting child MHPSS outcomes in a crisis: remarks by Reda Sadki at the 18th European Public Health Conference

On November 12, 2025, the 18th European Public Health Conference hosted a symposium organized by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The session, “The heart of resilience: lessons from mental health support for children and young people affected by conflict in Ukraine,” explored the large-scale mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) initiative developed by the IFRC with support from the European Commission.

The panel was moderated by Dr Aneta Trgachevska, who coordinated this initiative at the IFRC Regional Office for Europe. She was joined by four panelists: Emelie Rohdén and Ivan Kryvenko from the Swedish Red Cross Youth, Martina Dugonjić, a primary school teacher from Croatia, and Reda Sadki, Executive Director of The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF).

As part of the IFRC-led initiative, TGLF developed the first Certificate peer learning programme on Psychological First Aid (PFA) in support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. In his remarks, Mr. Sadki explains how this model’s success has led to its transformation from a time-limited project into a self-sustaining digital network proven to improve children’s health and well-being outcomes. Following the completion of the EU4Health project, the Geneva Learning Foundation has committed to supporting this community-driven system for five additional years, until 2030.

The following remarks from Reda Sadki have been edited for clarity and coherence from the panel transcript and expanded with examples from the project’s insights reports.

Aneta Trgachevska: Reda, we heard that enabling environments and peer-to-peer support and learning are very important. The Geneva Learning Foundation has developed a huge and diverse set of tools within the project to support professionals working with children displaced from Ukraine. Can you tell me from your perspective, working with these professionals, what you have noticed? What are the challenges and needs, and how have they managed with this environment and situation?

Reda Sadki: Thank you, Aneta. At The Geneva Learning Foundation, we research, develop, and implement large-scale peer learning systems that really drive change, all the way to health outcomes that can be attributed to the activities involved.

We took on this challenge with IFRC of reaching outside the Red Cross networks to support people who work in education, social work, and health. These are three complementary, but potentially very different groups. The common thread was that they were all involved in supporting Ukrainian children.

How did we start? I think what brought us together with the IFRC was a shared culture of listening and of paying attention to the needs of communities. Rather than presuming, we used that listening to build initiatives.

What that meant is that before launching a peer learning programme, we asked questions. We asked questions about your situation, about your context. What we had within less than four weeks was 873 context-specific descriptions of challenges faced by practitioners, in Ukraine and throughout Europe.

And those 873 descriptions told us a powerful story. The challenges were not abstract. They were immediate and acute: pervasive anxiety and fear, especially in response to air raid sirens; children showing sudden aggression or complete withdrawal; and the profound social isolation of being displaced.

We made some pretty radical changes very quickly based on this listening. The first was language. We had assumed most people would be professionals outside of Ukraine who are supporting displayed children. Our data showed the opposite: 76 percent of participants were in Ukraine itself, and 77 percent preferred to learn in Ukrainian. So, we changed our plan immediately and launched in Ukrainian from day one. That was the most obvious, but one of the most significant, changes.

The second thing we found was the profound sense of professional isolation. The feedback we received was overwhelming on this point. More than any tool, what these practitioners valued was connection. It was the most important thing to them. We heard it in their own words. One participant from Ukraine wrote: “It is very important to know that I am not alone with these problems.”. An English-speaking colleague wrote, “It was so helpful to hear that other teachers are facing the same challenges. It makes you feel less alone.” This sense of community, we found, is a powerful antidote to burnout.

We also found was a significant knowledge-to-action gap. Our focus was on Psychological First Aid for children. There is already excellent technical training. But we realized that in some cases, people had been through formal training but had struggled to connect that with application. They wondered, “How do I take that and actually put it to use?”

Our data confirmed this. When we analyzed their plans, we saw a strong preference for practical, concrete support.

Aneta Trgachevska: I really think it is important to have these tools, training, and capacity building, so that the frontline responders that are on the ground can provide adequate and timely, quality Psychological First Aid and mental health support to children.

Reda Sadki: Alongside the knowledge and skills, what I heard from my fellow panelists is also about emotion and connection.

The challenge we took on is that we are looking at how to connect people who may not have anyone to talk to. Who would rather be on a squawky Zoom call than being human together with fellow humans in a physical space? No one, I think. But in some cases, you do not have a choice. It is the only way to connect.

The main result is that alongside the amazing MHPSS infrastructure of the Red Cross, we contributed to building a digital infrastructure that helps people connect.

The first main result is a self-sustaining network. What that looks like is that staff and volunteers from 331 organizations, 76 percent of them from Ukraine, participated in the programme. These partners include large non-governmental organizations and small, locally-led groups working close to the front lines. Together, these organizations represent approximately 10,000 staff and volunteers that are supporting 1 million Ukrainian children.

The network is owned by its members. People volunteered to serve as European PFA focal points in their local area. Pretty much overnight, we found ourselves with 91 very dedicated volunteer leaders from Ukraine and 12 European countries.

Alongside that, we had 20 organizations that joined as formal programme partners. And these partnerships were tailored to their real-world needs. For example, Posmishka UA, one of the largest non-governmental organizations in Ukraine, sent 400 of their staff to join our Impact Accelerator. Or, another partner, SVOJA, an organization in Croatia founded and led by Ukrainian refugee women, needed a flexible programme that aligned with their unique “by refugees, for refugees” mission. This digital infrastructure allowed us to include both.

The key result is really around health outcomes. The capstone activity of our programme is called the PFA Accelerator. This is our “learn-by-doing” model. It is not a traditional course. It follows a simple weekly rhythm: on Monday, you set one specific, practical goal. On Friday, you report on what happened. And you give and receive both feedback and support.

This structure helps practitioners move from vague intentions to concrete action. For example, one participant, Yuliia, moved from an initial goal of “I want to help children with their emotional state” to a specific, measurable goal: “This week I will hold a session for a group of teenagers (6 people) aimed at developing self-help skills. We will practice the grounding technique ‘54321’.”

This weekly reporting cycle, this “learn-by-doing” model, then allows us to measure what really matters: health outcomes for the children. It allowed us to document specific, tangible ways that participation was linked to improvements in a child’s well-being.

We call these “attribution-level outcomes,” which, as many of us in public health know, is the holy grail. We cannot afford to just train professionals and hope for the best. We were able to both document and measure that because of their actions, the children they support showed tangible improvements in their mental health and well-being. For this purpose, Kari Eller, a Ph.D. candidate whose work was supported by The Geneva Learning Foundation, developed a simple, easy-to-use instrument in line with the IASC’s call for tools for busy humanitarian practitioners who lack formal mental health training, but are in fact the only ones there when support is critical for children. This tool was then discussed and improved by practitioners themselves before they began to use it.

I want to share three qualitative examples from our practitioners’ Friday reports. Hundreds of such reports describe how a professional used what they learned from the network, and that led to improvements in the health and well-being of the children they were supporting.

• One teacher in Kharkiv, working with children who panicked during air raids, taught them the “butterfly hug” self-soothing technique as a way to provide support. She reported: “One girl, who usually cries for 30 minutes after a siren, stopped crying and was able to start her drawing activity. She told me the ‘hug’ helped her ‘bad feelings go away’.”
• Another practitioner, Юлія, reported on her work with a teenage girl: “During an anxiety attack, the girl began to use the grounding technique we had learned. She was able to calm down on her own. This is a very good result.”
• And finally, Раїса wrote: “When the children heard the siren, they were able to do breathing exercises on their own… They knew what to do and it gave them confidence. The children began to use the ‘safe place’ exercise on their own when they felt anxious.”

With all the public health professionals in the room, we know that attribution is the challenge. We feel that in a small but significant way, we found a method to document it. Because of the volume of data, which also includes quantitative measurement, we quickly see patterns of outcomes. These practitioners are not just learning theory. They are successfully applying their skills in ways that demonstrably restore a sense of calm, safety, and function for children in crisis.

As one participant, Olha, reflected, “This experience did not just add to my knowledge—it completely redefined the essence of my profession. I no longer just heal wounds; I build oases of safety in the midst of chaos.”

That is the impact we are documenting. Thank you very much.

The initial development and implementation of this programme (2023-2025) was funded by the European Union through a project partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). All ongoing activities, content, and their delivery from 1 September 2025 are the sole responsibility of The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF).

Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025. In Seed of Silence, the artist captures a moment of profound stillness, the fragile intersection of innocence, nature, and transformation. The child’s face, serene and introspective, is encircled by sculpted layers resembling petals or scales, evoking both protection and metamorphosis. The materiality of the form, textured, earthen, and softly colored, blurs the boundary between organic and human, suggesting that resilience and renewal are rooted in both. The muted palette of ochre, rust, and blue recalls soil, flame, and sky: elemental forces that cradle life even amid crisis. This image resonates deeply with the work of those documenting children’s mental health and psychosocial well-being in humanitarian contexts. Here, art becomes a quiet witness, not to trauma itself, but to the enduring capacity for growth, reflection, and rebirth. Through silence, the piece speaks of healing.

References

1. Sadki, R., 2025. How practitioners in Ukraine and across Europe built a self-sustaining peer learning network to support children. https://doi.org/10.59350/25pa2-ddt80
2. Sadki, R., 2025. PFA Accelerator: across Europe, practitioners learn from each other to strengthen support to children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. https://doi.org/10.59350/redasadki.21155
3. Sadki, R., 2025. Peer learning for Psychological First Aid: New ways to strengthen support for Ukrainian children. https://doi.org/10.59350/dgpff-n9d63
4. Sadki, R., 2024. Support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine: Bridging practice and learning through the sharing of experience. https://doi.org/10.59350/zbb4v-hay69
5. The Geneva Learning Foundation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2025. Діти у кризових ситуаціях, спільноти підтримки – Застосування першої психологічної допомоги для підтримки дітей, які постраждали від гуманітарної кризи в україні. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14901474
6. The Geneva Learning Foundation, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2025. Children in Crisis, Communities of Care – Psychological first aid for children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.14732092
7. The Geneva Learning Foundation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2024. Перша психологічна допомога дітям, які постраждали внаслідок гуманітарної кризи в Україні – Досвід дітей, опікунів та помічників. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.13730132
8. The Geneva Learning Foundation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2024. Psychological first aid in support of children affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine: Experiences of children, caregivers, and helpers. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.13618862

#certificatePeerLearningProgrammeOnPsychologicalFirstAidPfaInSupportOfChildrenAffectedByTheHumanitarianCrisisInUkraine #childProtection #children #europe #europeanUnion #globalHealth #healthOutcomes #internationalFederationOfRedCrossAndRedCrescentSocietiesIfrc #learning2 #mentalHealth #mhpss #peerLearning #pfa #psychologicalFirstAid #psychosocialSupport #genevaLearningFoundation #ukraine

What is The Geneva Learning Foundation’s Impact Accelerator?

Imagine a social worker in Ukraine supporting children affected by the humanitarian crisis. Thousands of kilometers away, a radiation specialist in Japan is trying to find effective ways to communicate with local communities. In Nigeria, a health worker is tackling how to increase immunization coverage in their remote village. These professionals face very different challenges in very different places. Yet when they joined their first “Impact Accelerator”, something remarkable happened. They all found a way forward. They all made real progress. They all discovered they are not alone.

The Impact Accelerator is a simple, practical method developed by The Geneva Learning Foundation that helps professionals turn intent into action, results, and outcomes. It has worked equally well in every country where it has been tried. It has helped people – whatever their knowledge domain or context – strengthen action and accelerate progress to improve health outcomes. Each time, in each place, whatever the challenge, it has produced the same powerful results.

The social worker joins other professionals facing similar challenges. The radiation specialist connects with safety experts dealing with comparable concerns. The health worker collaborates with others working to improve immunization. Each group shares a common purpose.

What makes the Impact Accelerator different?

Most training programs teach you something and then send you away. You return to your workplace full of ideas but face the same obstacles. You have new knowledge but struggle to apply it. (Some people call this “knowledge transfer” but it is not only about knowledge. Others call this the “applicability problem”.) You feel alone with your challenges.

The Impact Accelerator works differently. It stays with you as you implement change. It connects you with others facing similar challenges. It helps you take small, concrete steps each week toward your bigger goal.

Each Impact Accelerator brings together professionals working on the same type of challenge. Social workers who support children join with others who do the same – but the group may also include teachers and psychologists they do not usually work with. Safety specialists connect with safety specialists, but also people in other job roles. It is their shared purpose that makes this diversity productive:  every discussion, every shared experience, every piece of advice directly applies to their work.

Think of it like learning to ride a bicycle. Traditional training is like someone explaining how bicycles work. The Impact Accelerator is like having someone run alongside you, keeping you steady as you pedal, cheering when you succeed, and helping you get back on when you fall. Everyone learns to ride, together. And everyone is going somewhere.

How does the Impact Accelerator work?

The Impact Accelerator follows a simple weekly rhythm that fits into daily work. It is learning-based work and work-based learning.

Monday: Set your goal

Every Monday, you decide on one specific action you will complete by Friday. Not a vague hope or a grand plan. One concrete thing you can actually do.

For example:

• “I will create a safe space activity for five children showing signs of trauma.”
• “I will develop a visual guide for the new radiation monitoring procedures.”
• “I will meet with three community leaders to discuss vaccine concerns.”

You share this goal with others in the Accelerator. This creates accountability. You know that on Friday, your peers will ask how it turned out.

Wednesday: Check in with peers

Midweek, you connect with others in your group who face the same type of challenges. You share what is working, what is difficult, and what you are learning.

This is where magic happens. Someone else tried something that failed. Now you know to try differently. Another person found a creative solution. Now you can adapt it for your situation. You realize you are part of something bigger than yourself.

Friday: Report and reflect

On Friday, you report on your progress. Did you achieve your goal? What happened when you tried? What did you learn?

This is not about judging success or failure. Sometimes the most valuable learning comes from things that did not work as expected. The important thing is that you took action, you reflected on what happened, and you are ready to try again next week.

Monday again: Build on what you learned

The next Monday, you set a new goal. But now you are not starting from zero. You have the experience from last week. You have ideas from your peers. You have momentum.

Week by week, action by action, you make progress toward your larger goal.

The power of structured support in the Impact Accelerator

The Impact Accelerator provides several types of support to help you succeed.

Peer learning networks

You join a community of professionals who understand your challenges because they face similar ones. 

Each Impact Accelerator brings together people working on the same type of challenge. This shared purpose means that every suggestion, every idea, every lesson learned is likely to be relevant to your work. The learning comes not from distant experts but from people doing the same work you do. Their solutions are practical and tested in real conditions like yours.

Guided structure

While you choose your own goals and actions, the Accelerator provides a framework that keeps you moving forward. The weekly rhythm creates momentum. The reporting requirements ensure reflection. The peer connections prevent isolation.

This structure is like the banks of a river. The water (your energy and creativity) flows freely, but the banks keep it moving in a productive direction.

Expert guidance when needed

Sometimes you need specific technical input or help with a particular challenge. The Accelerator provides “guides on the side” – experts who offer targeted support without taking over your process. They help you think through problems and connect you with resources, but you remain in charge of your own change effort.

What participants achieve

Across different countries and different challenges, Impact Accelerator participants report similar outcomes.

Increased confidence

“Before, I knew what should be done but felt overwhelmed about how to start. Now I take one step at a time and see real progress.” This confidence comes from successfully completing weekly actions and seeing their impact.

Tangible progress

Participants do not just learn about change; they create it. A vaccination program reaches new communities. Safety procedures actually get implemented. Children receive support when they need it. The changes may start small, but they are real and they grow.

Expanded networks

“I used to feel like I was the only one facing these problems. Now I have colleagues across my country who understand and support me.” These networks last beyond the Accelerator, providing ongoing support and collaboration.

Enhanced problem-solving

Through weekly practice and peer exchange, participants develop stronger skills for analyzing challenges and developing solutions. They learn to break big problems into manageable actions and to adapt based on results.

Resilience in facing obstacles

Every change effort faces barriers. The Accelerator helps participants expect these obstacles and work through them with peer support rather than giving up when things get difficult.

How can the same methodology work everywhere?

The Impact Accelerator has succeeded across vastly different contexts – from supporting children in Ukrainian cities to enhancing radiation safety in Japanese facilities to improving immunization in Nigerian villages. Each Accelerator focuses on one specific challenge area, bringing together professionals who share that common purpose. Why does the same approach work for such different challenges?

The answer lies in focusing on universal elements of successful change:

• Breaking big goals into weekly actions;
• Learning from peers who understand your specific context and challenges;
• Reflecting on what works and what does not;
• Building momentum through consistent progress; and
• Creating accountability through a community united by shared purpose.

Each group focuses on their specific challenge and context, but the process of creating change remains remarkably similar.

A typical participant journey in the Impact Accelerator

Let us follow Yuliia, a social worker in Ukraine helping children affected by the humanitarian crisis.

Week 1: Getting started

Yuliia joins the Impact Accelerator after developing her action plan. Her big goal: establish effective psychological support for 50 displaced children in her community center within three months.

On Monday, she sets her first weekly goal: “During daily activities, I will observe and document how 10 children are affected.”

By Friday, she has detailed observations. She notices that loud noises sometimes cause reactions in most children, and several withdraw completely during group activities. This gives her concrete starting points.

Week 2: Building on learning

Based on her observations, Yuliia sets a new goal: “I will create a quiet corner with calming materials and test it with three children who are withdrawn.”

During the Wednesday check-in, another social worker shares how she uses art therapy for non-verbal expression with traumatized children. A colleague working in a different city describes success with sensory materials. Yuliia incorporates both ideas into her quiet corner.

The quiet corner proves successful – two of the three children spend time there and begin to engage with the materials. One child draws for the first time since arriving at the center.

Week 3: Creative solutions

Yuliia’s new goal: “I will develop a simple ‘feelings chart’ with visual cues and introduce it during morning circle time.”

Her peers from Ukraine and all over Europe – all working with children – help refine the idea. A psychologist from another region shares that abstract emotions are hard for traumatized children to identify. She suggests using colors and weather symbols instead of facial expressions. Another colleague recommends making the chart interactive rather than static.

The feelings chart becomes a breakthrough tool. Children who never spoke about their emotions begin pointing to images. Yuliia’s colleagues can better understand and respond to children’s needs.

Week 4: Scaling what works

Energized by success, Yuliia aims higher: “I will train two other staff members to use the quiet corner and feelings chart, and create a simple guide for these tools.”

By now, Yuliia has concrete evidence that these approaches work. She documents specific examples of children’s progress. Her guide is so practical that the center director wants to share it with other locations.

The ripple effect

Yuliia’s tools spread throughout the network of centers supporting displaced children. Through the Accelerator network, colleagues adapt her approaches for different age groups and settings. Soon, hundreds of children across Ukraine benefit from these simple but effective interventions.

The evidence of impact

The true test of any approach is whether it creates lasting change. Impact Accelerator participants consistently report:

• Specific improvements in their work that they can measure and document;
• Sustained changes that continue after the Accelerator ends;
• Solutions that others adopt and spread;
• Professional growth that enhances all their future work; and
• Networks that provide ongoing support and learning.

These outcomes appear whether participants work on mental health support in Ukraine, radiation safety in Japan, or immunization in Nigeria. The challenges differ, but the pattern of success remains consistent.

How we prove the Accelerator makes a difference

In global health, the biggest challenge is proving that your intervention actually caused the improvements you see. This is called “attribution.” How do we know that better health outcomes happened because of the Impact Accelerator and not for other reasons?

The Geneva Learning Foundation solves this challenge through a three-step process that connects the dots between learning, action, and results.

Step 1: Measuring where we start

Before participants begin taking action, they document their baseline – the current situation they want to improve. For example:

• A social worker records how many children show severe trauma symptoms.
• A radiation specialist documents current safety incident rates.
• A health worker notes the vaccination coverage in their area.

These starting numbers give us a clear picture of where improvement begins.

Step 2: Tracking progress and actions

Every week, participants complete “acceleration reports” that capture two things:

• The specific actions they took; and
• Any changes they observe in their measurements.

This creates a detailed record connecting what participants do to what happens as a result. Week by week, the picture becomes clearer.

Step 3: Proving the connection

Here is where the Impact Accelerator becomes special. When participants see improvements, they must answer a crucial question: “How much of this change happened because of what you learned and did through the Accelerator?”

But they cannot just claim credit. They must prove it to their peers by showing:

• Exactly which actions led to which results;
• Why the changes would not have happened without their intervention; and
• Evidence that their specific approach made the difference.

This peer review process is powerful. Your colleagues understand your context. They know what is realistic. They can spot when claims are too bold or when someone is being too modest. They ask tough questions that help clarify what really caused the improvements.

After the first-ever Accelerator in 2019, we compared the implementation progress after six months between those who joined this final stage and a control group that also developed action plans, but did not join.

Why this method works

This approach solves several problems that make attribution difficult:

1. Traditional studies often cannot capture the complexity of real-world change. The Impact Accelerator’s method shows not just that change happened, but how and why it happened.
2. Self-reporting can be unreliable when people work alone. But when you must convince peers who understand your work, the reports become more accurate and honest.
3. Numbers alone do not tell the whole story. By combining measurements with detailed descriptions of actions and peer validation, we get a complete picture of how change happens.

The invitation to act

Around the world, professionals like you are transforming their work through the Impact Accelerator. They start with the same doubts you might have: “Can I really create change? Will this work in my context? Do I have time for this?”

Week by week, action by action, they discover the answer is yes. Yes, they can create change. Yes, it works in their context. Yes, they can find time because the Accelerator fits into their real work rather than adding to it.

The Impact Accelerator does not promise overnight transformation. It offers something better: a proven process for creating real, sustainable change through your own efforts, supported by peers who understand your journey.

If you work in a field where you seek to make a difference, the Impact Accelerator can help you move from good intentions to meaningful impact. The same process can work for you.

The question is not whether the Impact Accelerator can help you create change. The question is: What change do you want to create?

Your journey can begin Monday.

Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025

References

Sadki, R., 2022. Learning for Knowledge Creation: The WHO Scholar Program. https://doi.org/10.59350/j4ptf-x6x22

Umbelino-Walker, I., Szylovec, A.P., Dakam, B.A., Monglo, A., Jones, I., Mbuh, C., Sadki, R., Brooks, A., 2024. Towards a sustainable model for a digital learning network in support of the Immunization Agenda 2030 –a mixed methods study with a transdisciplinary component. PLOS Global Public Health 4, e0003855. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0003855

Watkins, K.E., Sadki, R., Kim, K., Suh, B., 2019. Changing Learning Paradigms in a Global Health Agency, in: Evidence-Based Initiatives for Organizational Change and Development. IGI Global, pp. 693–703. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-6155-2.ch050

Watkins, K.E., Sandmann, L.R., Dailey, C.A., Li, B., Yang, S.-E., Galen, R.S., Sadki, R., 2022. Accelerating problem-solving capacities of sub-national public health professionals: an evaluation of a digital immunization training intervention. BMC Health Services Research 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08138-4

#attribution #continuousLearning #healthOutcomes #impactAccelerator #leadership #learnByDoing #newLearning #peerLearning #genevaLearningFoundation

RT @DigitalScholarX: India's Scholar Network: Revolutionizing HPV Vaccines
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RT @DigitalScholarX: Ghanaian Nurse Saves Patient Using Geneva Learning Skills
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