Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) is a United States-based non-profit that collaborates with over 80 universities and health institutions around the world to send volunteer health professionals to provide continuing education, train the trainer courses, professional support, and consultation on academic programs and curricula development. By establishing mutually beneficial partnerships, HVO is able to deliver effective models of collaborative education that contribute sustainable solutions to strengthen health workforce capacity in resourcescarce countries-ultimately improving health outcomes and the quality of life for millions throughout the world. This paper provides an overview of HVO, outlines the role of international partnerships within HVO's structure, describes the processes used to select partners, and analyzes lessons learned around the key indicators of how to establish and maintain successful international partnerships in education and health worker capacity building.Keywords: global health, health workforce, partnership, Health volunteers Overseas, health worker capacity building iNtrODUctiON Health Volunteers Overseas (HVO) is a United States-based non-profit that collaborates with over 80 universities and health institutions around the world to send volunteer health professionals to provide continuing education, train the trainer courses, professional support, and consultation on academic programs and curricula development. By establishing mutually beneficial partnerships, HVO is able to deliver effective models of collaborative education that contribute sustainable solutions to strengthen health workforce capacity in resource-scarce countries-ultimately improving health outcomes (Anand and Bärnighausen, 2004;Frenk et al., 2010) and the quality of life for millions throughout the world.This paper provides an overview of HVO, outlines the role of international partnerships within HVO's structure, describes the processes used to select partners, and analyzes lessons learned around the key indicators of how to establish and maintain successful international partnerships in education and health worker capacity building.

Objective: Our goal was to compare the perceptions of overseas orthopaedic volunteers and their hosts in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) regarding the role of international volunteerism. We also sought to determine if differences in perception exist between trainee and fully trained orthoapedic surgeon volunteers. Methods: Surveys with similar multiple-choice and open-ended questions were administered to 163 Health Volunteers Overseas orthopaedic volunteers (response rate 45%) and 53 members of the host orthopaedic staff (response rate 40%). Fifty-four volunteers and 20 hosts also contributed open-ended responses. Quantitative responses were analyzed for significance using Mantel-Haenzel x 2 tests. Open-ended responses were coded using thematic analysis.Results: Both the international volunteers and their LMIC hosts agreed that volunteers learned new skills while volunteering. Both groups believed that international volunteerism had a positive overall impact on the local practice, but hosts viewed these benefits more favorably than volunteers did. LMIC staff believed that, besides altruistic reasons, volunteers were also motivated by professional gains, diverging from volunteer responses. In open-ended responses, hosts desired longer term commitments from volunteers and had some concerns regarding volunteers' qualifications. Between volunteer trainees and fully trained surgeons, trainees were more likely to be motivated by personal benefits. Conclusion:Efforts must be made to further align the expectations and goals of volunteers and their hosts in LMICs. Certain measures such as predeparture orientations for volunteers and developing a more longitudinal and bidirectional experience may enhance the impact of orthopaedic volunteerism in LMICs. Further studies are needed to explore the impact of international orthopaedic volunteerism on the host population.

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