Newcomers are at the center of our CCIRH research and education design.

Our Design with Communities program offers scoping reviews, community consultations, knowledge mobilization, and deliberative workshops.

Please contact bsmith@uottawa.ca for more information.

Dr Franklin Rikikamirera is our leader in co-design and participatory health research and education. Franklin brings leadership experience from working with one of the world most renowned global health leader, Partners in Health Dr Paul Farmer. We are fortunate to have his global and public health experience guiding several of our ‘design with communities’ working groups, including the Montfort Virtual Mental Health Project and the Power of Newcomer Stories e-Learning.

Franklin is an international medical graduate from Rwanda. Born and raised as Rwandese refugee in Tanzania before relocating back to Rwanda after the aftermath of genocide in 1994. He holds a Master of Public Health from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium. Franklin is a fellow of a prestigious Hubert Humphrey fellowship program in public health policies and management at Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, USA. He has a background in digital health care working as medical director for Babylon Health in Rwanda. Franklin worked for Partners In Health in Rwanda as women’s health program director and is one of the proud scholars of Dr. Paul Farmer.

Franklin, as new immigrant with experience and passion in community and digital health, Franklin leads our Design with Communities program, working with existing agencies and community partners in improving challenges faced by newcomers to Canada.  His approach draws on diverse cultural and linguistic background to facilitate cross-pollination of integration skills through impactful stories. Franklin speaks English, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi and many other vernacular languages used in the great lakes’ region of Africa.

Health Equity Impact Assessment: Immigrant Supplement

The Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) is designed to improve policies, programs and decisions. Systematic research showed migrants were rarely considered in these processes. In collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, Public Health, and Local Immigrant Partnerships, we have created a unique HEIA Immigrant Supplement to support decision makers and communities in including immigrant populations in evidence informed policy processes.

HEIA Supplement Template Peer Reviewed Publication:

Kevin Pottie, Branka Agic, Douglas Archibald, Ayesha Ratnayake, Marcela Tapia, Joanne Thanos.(2018). HEIA tools: inclusion of migrants in health policy in Canada, Health Promotion International, day016, https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/day016

Migrant Equity Lens: Adapting the Immigrant Supplement

  1. Migrant Considerations
    • Identifying migrant subgroups
    • Status affects access to services
  2. Migrant Community Engagement
    • Identifying migrant communities of interest
    • Engage, consult and collaborate
  3. Local Resources for Migrants
    • Identify local migrant resources
    • Use existing migrant data resources
  4. Project Planning for Migrant Inclusion
    • Know your human resources capacity and budget for migrant inclusion
  5. Policy Method Resources