RTU – MEGA | Building capacity by implementing mhGAP mobile intervention in SADC countries https://mega.turkuamk.fi The web site is a communication channel for MEGA project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union Mon, 18 Oct 2021 11:41:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.18 Partner meeting in Riga https://mega.turkuamk.fi/partner-meeting-in-riga/ Thu, 14 Feb 2019 08:13:29 +0000 https://mega.turkuamk.fi/?p=767

The MEGA partner meeting in Riga marked the end of the 1st year of the project and many important decisions were made regarding further development of the mobile application as well as the training and data-collection phases of the project. It took place from the 14th to the 16th of November 2018 with partners from Finland, Germany, Zambia and South Africa visiting Riga Technical University (RTU) to continue working on the project that commenced in October 2017.

During the meeting the first data-collection results from South Africa were presented by the University of the Free State, marking a new stage in the MEGA project. Since then, other partners from South Africa and Zambia have commenced and implemented data-collection in their regions, providing essential data for further progress of the project.

Numerous important steps were taken in terms of the dissemination of the project activities. Informative videos were made with each partner explaining a topic relevant to the project and the first project newsletter was created and published in the MEGA project website as well as on social media. Colourful MEGA T-shirts, bags, notebooks, smartphone screen-cleaners and other promotional materials were distributed among the partners to advance the dissemination activities in all partner countries and make the MEGA logo more and more recognizable.

A very important part of the meeting was the development of the MEGA mobile application. RTU presented the current status of the app and discussions were held on the necessary adjustments and improvements that need be made. The meeting was a crucial milestone in the project development process, with many important decisions made regarding the final version of the app.

An important part of any capacity building project, such as MEGA, is the exchange of expertise among the partner countries. To inform the partners about the current situation and challenges in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry in Latvia, a presentation and discussion was delivered by Dr. Nikita Bezborodov, one of the leading child psychiatrists in Latvia. Despite the geographical location, many similar challenges and problems can be observed in Latvia, South Africa and Zambia, proving that the impact of MEGA could go far beyond the borders of the countries in question.

]]> Meet the team – RTU https://mega.turkuamk.fi/meet-the-team-rtu/ Fri, 23 Nov 2018 08:42:40 +0000 https://mega.turkuamk.fi/?p=652 Riga Technical University (RTU) is the largest science-based university in the Baltic States. RTU trademark is high quality internationally competitive engineering education based on more than a century-and-a-half old academic tradition appropriate to meet new technological challenges.

The International Projects Unit (IPU) of the International Cooperation and Foreign Students Department, RTU, is involved in numerous international initiatives, which aim to raise capacity within the field of higher education and promote the exchange of best practices between program and partner countries. MEGA is one of these initiatives and for the purposes of this project the IPU team is responsible for developing a mobile application for primary healthcare specialists in the Republic of South Africa and Zambia.

Mr Timo Turunen heads up the managerial aspects as well as monitoring the development phase of the application. Timo ensures that the RTU team is on track to meet all deliverables.

Mr Kārlis Valtiņš is in charge of research and intellectual development of the application. Kārlis makes sure that RTU team has sufficient research data to develop the application and support the development phase of the project.

Ms Ieva Kudiņa manages technical matters and the development of the application. In addition, Ieva participates in the mobile application content analysis to ensure the project delivers the best outcomes.

Ms Anete Beinaroviča is the leading analyst of the RTU team. Anete assists the RTU team to deliver the required milestones by analyzing data, processing MEGA documents and helping to develop the mobile application.

Ms Vera Lipsta is in charge of administrative matters and assists the RTU team with data collection from other MEGA partners to ensure that mobile application is being developed to suits the specific needs of both South Africa and Zambia.

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