Greetings from the new COPASAH Global Secretariat. The last edition (8th) of the COPASAH Communiqué (Newsletter) was made to coincide with the 3rd Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (GSHSR) in Cape Town, and we are happy to report that all COPASAH products were very well received during the Symposium. The focus of the 3rd GSHSR was on people centred health system and was attended by many our members and our stall became a focal point for members to congregate informally and share their take-away lessons. The Steering Committee of COPASAH has had the opportunity to meet twice in the short period between this and our last publication and prepared a dynamic plan for COPASAH to strengthen its exchanges. It noted that the interest in Social Accountability has grown considerably in the last couple of years, and COPASAH is strategically located to influence the field through its experience focussed learning and exchange of knowledge and information.
In the last three years we have been able to share over thirty short case studies and 8 in-depth case studies from all across the globe. The ninth edition of the COPASAH Communique which is out now, includes six such stories from countries as widely dispersed as Guatemala, Macedonia, Tanzania and Pakistan. We encourage our readers to continue sharing their experiences through this platform.
The ninth edition of the newsletter can be read on http://www.copasah.net/uploads/1/2/6/4/12642634/issue_9_copasah_communiqué_.pdf
The COPASAH Secretariat after being hosted by CEGSS in Guatemala in its initial years has now moved to Centre for Health and Social Justice (CHSJ) in India, which earlier functioned as the communications hub and Walter Flores from CEGSS Guatemala has handed over the baton of Convenor to Abhijit Das (CHSJ, India). We hope this transition will continue to sustain the growth of COPASAH as a platform for learning and sharing. We have planned a new set of activities which includes facilitating learning through a new eLearning platform which we will introduce shortly. We also plan more face to face meetings among colleagues in Africa and Latin America to give impetus to the work there. We plan to start thematic work groups and soon we expect the facilitators to make their call to all of you for joining the workgroup of our interest. In addition to the case studies that many of you have contributed to writing, COPASAH also plans to draw upon the insights of its members to prepare short think pieces. Please stay tuned