The Remote International Mentoring Partnership Scheme

Managed by the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET), the mentorship scheme will, through a Health Partnership model, link health workers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to those in the UK. The countries eligible are: Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somaliland, Syria, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, and Zambia. There is an expectation that learning will be bi-directional in order to build, sustain and strengthen international Health Partnerships (HPs). 

The programme will run for 18 months, during which participants are expected to engage with their mentor or mentee through online platforms of their choice.  

Health Partnerships will need to recruit five or more health workers from the UK and five or more health workers from the LMIC to participate in the programme. It is expected that health workers from the UK and their health worker counterparts from LMICs will interact with each other on a one-to-one basis on at least 6 occasions. 

THET will be providing support in various ways, such as an inception webinar, quarterly mentoring workshops, and ad hoc assistance.  

From previous THET grantees’ experiences, the following benefits can generally be expected:  

• Increased capacity for participants, which can be spread throughout the organisations they work in 
• More motivation for both participants to further their careers and inter-personal skills 
• Higher job satisfaction by undertaking this voluntary activity
• Improved day-to-day performance as a result of the increased motivation and enhanced well-being 
• Offering attractive opportunities that further professional development can increase employee retention and make the organisation a more competitive workplace to work for.   

Size and Duration

The mentorship scheme will last for 18 months, with the initial 3 months after grant award being used to recruit and match UK and LMIC health workers within the mentoring scheme. The mentorship will then begin and last for 12 months. Afterwards, there will be a 3-month wrap-up period. THET will award ten grants, each worth £3,500.  

All Health Partnerships must be willing to commit to supporting a minimum of five mentoring relationships, each with a minimum of 6 one-to-one contacts that provide mentoring. 

Core Eligibility Requirements

• To be eligible, UK and LMIC institutions leading a Health Partnership must be either a health delivery institution, health training/education institution or academic institution, regulatory body, professional membership association, or non-governmental organisation (NGO).  
• Eligible countries: Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somaliland, Syria, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, and Zambia.  
• New and small partnerships are welcomed, as well as larger and more established partnerships. 

• Either the lead UK partner or the lead LMIC partner will be responsible for signing the grant contract with THET and the whole grant amount will be transferred to that institution, with them then responsible for distributing to other partners. The contract signatory must demonstrate that they have sufficient financial processes and policies in place, including counter-fraud measures, as well as completing THET’s due diligence process. This should not affect the equitable distribution of power between partners.  
• Letters of support from both lead organisations. 
• All partners are also expected to meet the reporting and monitoring requirements for the programme. THET will support institutions that are unfamiliar with these requirements.  
• The partnership demonstrates commitment to the THET Principles of Partnership. 
• The partnership has the capacity to meet the minimum engagement requirements between mentors and mentees. This includes a minimum of five pairs of mentors and mentees per partnership. 
• The partnership has evidence of appropriate buy-in to support participants and facilitate engagement for the duration of the programme.  
• Watch the pre-application webinar here. Please refer to the Q&A document here.