Stap, opportunities for nurses and midwives ( opportunities for nurses and midwives).
By contributing to nurses and midwives education in Kenia, Tanzania and Uganda, the foundation wants to promote
StAP was founded on July 10, 1989. It was a parting gift that Anna Poot, director of the Valerius clinic in Amsterdam (later GGZ InGeest) received when she retired after working in various positions in psychiatry for no less than forty years. Anna Poot herself became chairman of the foundation.
She decided that StAP would aim to promote the training of nurses in developing countries. This is done both by financially supporting individuals who want to follow a nursing education and by materially supporting training institutes. Anna Poot was chairman until 2004, after which the presidency was taken over by others. She stepped down from the board in 2015. The thirtieth anniversary was celebrated with a symposium in the Hogeschool Utrecht Department of Health Care, entitled: 30 years of the Anna Poot Foundation: “A StAP in the future, from the past, present to the future”.
Since its foundation, StAP has provided more than 800 scholaships to students in obstetrics and nursing in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It also aims to stimulate cooperation between Dutch and African students, teachers, training courses and professionals in the field of nursing and obstetrics through dialogue. In this way, care providers can get to know each other, share their vision and perspective on and experiences with the field and learn from each other. Equality is the core value and starting point.
StAP cooperates with ten schools and hospitals in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda that offer nursing and/or obstetrics training and are recognized as training institutes by the Ministry of Health of their country. In some cases, StAP offers teacher training support for nursing or midwifery teachers. Students who cannot finance their study program may apply for a grant through the head of the study programme. They have to pay for the first year of study themselves, and their transition certificate, showing that they have successfully completed their first year, is a condition for applying for a scholarship. The grant includes tuition fees for the remainder of their study, an average of 700 euros per academic year.
The StAP board maintains contact with the heads of the schools, and every five years a number of board members visit the sites. During these visits, we also talk to the teachers, principals, students and ex-students.
