I hold :
- a Master's degree in communications (the subject of which analyzed
medical interviews at an emergency telephone service)
- a graduate diploma in development and international cooperation
from the University of Ottawa (the subject of which was to find no-cost or
low-cost solutions to the problems of lack of motivation of health workers,
and of availability of vaccines and basic medical supplies in Cameroonian
medical centers)
- and a Ph.D. in communications and development.
I am interested (and this was the subject of my Ph.D. thesis) in
technology transfer projects. This covers the conditions for the
technology itself to be appropriate (hardware-software-energy source etc.),
as well as all aspects of the project itself (problem and resource
identification, development of strategies including communications,
training, implementation, evaluation).
I have developed a large analysis grid which so far I applied to
(1) transfer of medical expert systems to Cameroon, (2) development of
communicational strategies for the Ministry of Health, Population and
Nutrition in the Congo, (3) creation of a community access center to
information technologies in a rural area of Canada (4) developing a
project proposal for similar centers in Africa.
Although I have been mostly active in African settings, the Caribbean is
not unknown territory to me. My first husband (1970 until his death in
1985) was Jamaican and we spent a lot of time there; I am still involved in
the West Indian community here and hope that eventually a development
project will come up which will allow me to return to the Islands.
Thanks for your interest.
Francine Houle