For the third series of the NCD Diaries, we are seeking to support and promote NCD Diaries that highlight the impact of healthcare providers on one’s NCD journey.

The relationship between people living with NCDs and their health providers is a key component of NCD care delivery. Healthcare providers range from those working in the community, such as Community Health Workers, to those working in hospital services, such as specialist doctors. People living with NCDs may have long-term conditions that require interactions with healthcare providers over a long period of time, and many interact with healthcare providers across multiple levels of care throughout the care journey. As articulated by an Our Views Our Voices advocate from Kenya “With this condition which is a lifetime condition you should have a very good and close relationship with your doctor so that you are able to ask questions where you don’t understand.” In hospitals, clinics and in the community, the health workforce needs the skills and capacity to provide people living with NCDs with the necessary timely and sustainable medical and psychosocial support to ensure effective, efficient, and quality care.

This theme will engage Diarists to shed light on this very foundational relationship between people living with NCDs and their healthcare providers. Diarists will be encouraged to explore key relationships in their care journey (celebrating positive experiences as well as highlighting challenges), noting the support received from their health providers, including patterns of communications between healthcare providers and people living with NCDs such as ensuring that the individual’s concerns, values, needs, and preferences are catered to during their care path.

The focus of this series of the NCD Diaries comes at a critical time. As countries strive towards Universal Health Coverage, a skilled and motivated health workforce that can deliver care through an respectful and reciprocal relationship with people living with NCDs is an essential building block as we shift away from health systems designed around diseases towards health systems designed for people.

We encourage individuals from all backgrounds and global regions, with experience of living with and/or actively caring for those living with a range of NCDs and affiliation to the NCD Alliance membership to apply to this series. Amplifying the voices of and meaningfully involving people living with NCDs is the only way to truly drive significant and lasting change within our health systems.

Selection Criteria

Motivation for becoming an NCD Diarist

Statements of motivation which align well with the objectives of the NCD Diaries – compelling documentation of one’s lived experience; providing recommendations/calls to action to strengthen the NCD response and inspiring other people living with NCDs to share their stories.

Creativity of the NCD Diaries concept

The NCD Diaries uses in-depth, audio-visually rich and immersive approaches to share lived experiences to drive change. Applicants will be encouraged to share their two preferred Diary formats and their most creative ideas on creating their Diaries in compelling and engaging way. Prior experience of communications campaign and social media/media activities is a bonus. The NCD Diaries Practical Guide and published NCD Diaries are available as a reference.

Relevance to thematic focus of the NCD Diaries series

Applicants will be encouraged to demonstrate alignment of their NCD Diary concept with the thematic focus of the NCD Diaries series and a clear reflection of their local context.

NCD advocacy experience

Demonstrated experience in advocacy, campaigning on NCDs, and activities relevant to the ​Our Views, Our Voices​ initiative.

Representativeness

We would like Diarists to be as representative as possible of a broad range of factors, including age, gender, NCD condition, geographic location, etc.

Time commitment

Following selection, Diarists will be involved with the NCD Diaries project over a span of four months, which will include onboarding and training; content creation and publication; and promotion efforts aligned with advocacy and communications opportunities. We would encourage the Diarists to be committed for the entire duration of the NCD Diaries series.

Time Commitment for Diarists

Following selection​, the NCD Diarists’ commitment/involvement as part of Series Three will span four months (end March – mid-July 2022).

Diarist onboarding​ over two weeks, which involves introductory online training sessions by NCD Alliance and external trainers. These sessions will cover a range of information, including the NCD Diaries process itself, the theme for the series (My healthcare providers’ impact on my NCD journey), guidance on each Diary format, how best to craft your stories and convey your advocacy messages in the most impactful way. During this stage, Diarists will also develop a personal Diary plan. As the NCD Diaries is a digital project, Diarists will receive personal login information for the NCD Diaries microsite, which will be used for communications with NCD Alliance, uploading and review of content and final submission of Diary entries.

Creating NCD Diaries​ over the course of three months (end March – mid-July 2022).

• Text format:​ three separate written entries of 300-400 words in length. Each entry will be published approximately one month apart (Entry 1: week commencing May 2nd; Entry 2: week commencing May 30th; Entry 3: week commencing July 4th).

• Visual format:​ capturing five images with accompanying captions of 50-70 words that will comprise a photo essay (5 entries total), over a span of four months. Through this format, you will publish all 5 entries (images) together in the week commencing July 4th.
  *Note: kindly ensure that you are prepared to take your own photographs with a phone, camera, or other device during the course of the series.

• Audio format:​ three separate podcast entries (episodes) of 10-15 minutes in length. Each entry will be published approximately one month apart (Entry 1: week commencing May 2nd; Entry 2: week commencing May 30th; Entry 3: week commencing July 4th.
  *Note: time commitment for this format includes the creation of a script to finalise content for each episode prior to recording.

Promotion of NCD Diaries​ after project completion (July 2022 onwards for visual, audio and text formats).

Attend a wrap-up reflection session​ and participate in an evaluation process (July 18th 2022 - Date TBC).

Expressing your interest in becoming a Diarist

If you are interested in pursuing this opportunity, please use the form below to ​submit your expression of interest by 17 March 2022 - 12:00 GMT​.

Selection Process

Expressions of interest will be evaluated by a review panel. All individuals who express interest in the NCD Diaries will be contacted directly regarding the outcome of the process.