The WCO Advocacy and Leadership course, Looking Towards the Future: Optometry Program in Advocacy and Leadership 2022 (OPAL), enables future eye health leaders to use advocacy and leadership strategies to effect change at the policy and practice levels. The goals of this course are to equip the course participants with knowledge and skills to lead the profession forward through advocacy, public health initiatives, and leadership within the health care sector while at the same time supporting the WCO strategic plan.
The original advocacy course was conducted face-to-face with participants in Mozambique, Nigeria and Lebanon. In order to bring the workshop more participants, the decision was made to offer a virtual course in 2019. This 3-month course included virtual modules and required the development of a capstone project by all the participants. Many of the capstone projects have come to fruition following the successful completion of the course.
This year’s program will be delivered online from August 1 – October 17 with an expected time commitment of around 3-5 hours per week for 12 weeks. We are looking to have a class of 18 candidates. Applications to take advantage of this no-cost member benefit must be submitted no later than May 31, 2022, 11:59 p.m. CDT.
Link To Apply: https://bit.ly/WCO_OPAL_Application
Password: OPAL2022
Past participants have praised the course as helpful and beneficial in advocating for our profession. WCO looks forward to another successful year of training the advocates and leaders of tomorrow!