Fellowship Organization Rotations

Owned by Christine Gichuki
Last updated: Nov 01, 2022 by Nikesh Balami
2 min read

What are fellowship rotations?

Rotations aim to 

  1. Give fellows an opportunity to apply knowledge & skills gained during their fellowship to real life OpenMRS development and deployment situations.

  2. Expose the organization to community products, frameworks, processes, and/or practices that they might extend and adopt.

  3. Exposes the community to field experiences and requirements.

How do rotations support a fellow’s learning plan?

Rotations must align with the fellow’s learning goals and fellowship areas. It may offer fellows the opportunity to develop additional skills that complement their fellowship experience, however, core learning goals must be met in order for the fellow to continue receiving their fellowship stipend.

How long are rotations?

Rotations with organizations can be 5 - 6 months long and may overlap with the final months of a fellow’s core fellowship period.

How much does it cost?

OpenMRS fellows receive a monthly stipend for 50% of their time for the duration of their fellowship. The monthly stipend is based on their fellowship stage at the start of their fellowship.

If an organization rotation overlaps with the fellow’s core fellowship period, OpenMRS will continue to provide the monthly stipend and expects the fellow to dedicate 50% of their time to core fellowship work. The organization is expected to fund the other 50% of the fellow’s time at (at least) a comparable rate. In this situation, the fellow is expected to dedicate 100% of their time, split between their core fellowship & the rotation.

How do rotations support host organization?

The organization hosting the fellowship rotation will get

  • Community exposure in various phases of the OpenMRS Fellowship Program.

  • Additional human resources who better understand the OpenMRS products, frameworks, processes, and more.

  • Chance to propose the Fellowship Capstone Projects and provide mentorship.

How does this work?

Organizations interested in hosting a fellowship organization rotation:

  • Fill out the Organization Application and submit your interest in hosting fellowship organization rotation by specifying your interest in the type of fellows.

  • Work with Fellowship Program Administrators to define the scope of work and activities or tasks that correspond to the fellow’s core learning goals.

  • Review the fellowship application with OpenMRS to select the fellows that fit the scope.

  • OpenMRS approaches the fellow to gauge interest and finalize.

  • If all agree, OpenMRS modifies the fellow’s fellowship agreement to reflect the rotation expectations, and all parties sign.

Complete the Organization Application form if you are interested in supporting .

For more information about how you or your organization can get involved with the OpenMRS Fellowship Program, please contact @Jennifer Antilla  and @Nikesh Balami.