A Meeting of Hearts and Minds: A Critical Reflection on Expanding Global Partnerships

Saturday, 27 July 2019: 9:05 AM

Sara Horton-Deutsch, PhD
Graduate School, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
Gisela Van Rensburg, PhD
Department of Health Studies, University of South Africa, Tshwane, South Africa

The aim of this presentation is to engage in a critical reflective dialogue regarding the evolution of a global partnership in order to generate, deepen and document learning through a purposeful and strategic process where we describe, examine and articulate our learning (Ash & Clayton, 2009; Horton-Deutsch & Sherwood, 2017). The goal of this dialogue is to illuminate a process for building, enhancing and sustaining global partnerships as a guide for others. Through this iterative and reflective process we deconstruct our learning and identify personal experiences, knowledge, understandings, biases, ethics and shared values that support the ongoing development and evolution of our partnership (Lavine, 4021; Watson, 2018). According to Upvall & Leffers (2018) this process is vital for building trust and prepares global health partners for further engagement. Through ongoing examination we discover ways to enhance our partnership that include negotiating and formalizing partner roles and establishing a clear action plan for meeting research and educational goals. We also discover ways to deepen our learning and understanding of one another through ongoing communication, attending and presenting annually at international conferences, and reading literature together that helps us to further appreciate and understand one another’s cultures (Kathrada, 2017; Nepo, 2018; Nolte & Downing, 2018) . These aspects of our partnership lead to the discovery of innovative pedagogical approaches, research related to global nursing education, and ongoing collaborative projects. Finally, a commitment to discern ways to continue to nurture and sustain the partnership occurs through an appreciation for the need to manage polarities within and across our cultures and apply complexity science for development of an expanded world view (Berger & Johnson, 2015; Lavine, 2014). We will summarize an articulation of what we have learned to further guide, expand, and deepening our learning for ourselves and others who seek to create and sustain meaningful global partnerships. Finally, we will conclude with a call-to-action for raising consciousness through global nursing collaborations.