The Diploma of Global Citizenship in Global Health – Maternal Health, Midwifery & Newborn Care is an immersive 6 or 12-week Academy experience based in Zanzibar, Tanzania, combining practical maternal-health experience, community outreach, Global Citizenship learning, personal development, cultural immersion and travel.

Think of it as travel, an international healthcare internship and learning all rolled into one.

For 6 or 12 weeks, Zanzibar becomes home. You'll live alongside an international Academy cohort while spending your weekdays learning alongside local midwives, nurses and healthcare professionals, gaining insight into maternal and newborn healthcare within a completely different health system.

Your experience extends beyond the hospital too. Regular community maternal-health outreach gives you the opportunity to explore health education, prevention and the wider social and cultural factors influencing pregnancy, birth, postnatal health and newborn wellbeing.

Around all of that, you'll experience everything that makes Zanzibar an extraordinary place to live: white-sand beaches, the Indian Ocean, Swahili culture, tropical island life, local food, snorkelling, Stone Town, weekend adventures and social life with your Academy cohort.

And your experience doesn't stop at the island. You'll also journey across to mainland Tanzania, travelling through the Usambara Mountains and northern Tanzania before experiencing one of the country's greatest adventures — safari.

Alongside the Academy, you'll work towards a Level 3 Diploma in Global Citizenship in Global Health, giving you an internationally recognised academic outcome alongside your practical experience.

The Academy takes inspiration from the Scandinavian folk school concept: bringing young people together to live, learn, travel and grow through shared real-world experiences rather than making education something that only happens inside a classroom.

We've adapted that philosophy to international internships and Global Health in Tanzania.

Healthcare doesn't exist in isolation. Maternal and newborn outcomes can be influenced by access to healthcare, education, economics, geography, family structures, culture, beliefs, nutrition, health literacy and available resources.

That's why the Academy doesn't simply send you into a hospital each morning.

Through structured Global Citizenship and Global Health learning, you'll explore the wider context surrounding what you're observing, question assumptions and consider why approaches that may be familiar at home cannot simply be transferred into another healthcare system without understanding its context.

The goal isn't to tell you what to think. It's to help you observe, question, understand and learn from the healthcare professionals and communities around you.

At the heart of your Academy is practical experience within maternal and newborn healthcare in Zanzibar.

You'll learn alongside local midwives, nurses and other healthcare professionals supporting women through pregnancy, labour and birth, postnatal recovery and newborn care.

Depending on your background, placement schedule, hospital requirements and appropriate supervision, your experience may take you through areas such as antenatal services, maternity wards, labour and delivery, postnatal care and other areas of women's and newborn health.

Exactly what you're able to observe or participate in will depend on your qualifications, experience and permitted scope of practice. Participants are there to learn alongside and support local professionals — never to replace them.

This creates an opportunity to understand not only clinical maternal care, but how healthcare is delivered when resources, patient volumes, cultural expectations and health systems may differ significantly from those you're familiar with at home.

One of the most valuable parts of this internship is the opportunity to experience maternal health from both clinical and community perspectives.

Alongside your regular hospital placement, you'll have opportunities to participate in community maternal-health outreach, generally around once or twice each week depending on the local schedule and needs.

These initiatives can focus on areas such as pregnancy health, antenatal care, preparation for birth, postnatal wellbeing, breastfeeding, newborn health, nutrition, recognising warning signs and accessing appropriate healthcare.

Rather than arriving with a predetermined message, you'll work alongside local professionals and community partners who understand the needs, beliefs and realities of the women they're supporting.

It allows you to see another side of Global Health: not only treating health problems when someone reaches hospital, but strengthening knowledge, prevention and access within the wider community.

Global Health in the Real World:

Throughout your Academy, you'll participate in practical Global Citizenship and Global Health sessions exploring the bigger questions surrounding healthcare and international engagement.

Why do maternal-health outcomes vary so significantly around the world? How do poverty, geography and education affect access to care? What role do culture, family and beliefs play in pregnancy and birth? What happens when healthcare systems operate with fewer resources? And how can international participants contribute responsibly without assuming their own healthcare system provides the only solution?

These aren't traditional lectures.

They're designed to connect directly with what you're experiencing in Zanzibar — allowing something you observe in hospital or during outreach to become the starting point for deeper discussion and reflection.

As your understanding develops, you'll work collaboratively towards your Legacy Project.

Rather than arriving with assumptions about what a hospital or community needs, you'll first spend time listening, observing and learning from local healthcare professionals.

Your cohort can then work alongside local partners to develop something they identify as genuinely useful.

Within maternal and newborn health, this could involve patient education resources, antenatal or postnatal information, newborn-care materials, community-health education, workshop resources or other locally identified priorities.

The objective isn't to create something impressive for your CV.

It's to contribute something practical, culturally appropriate and sustainable that remains useful after your cohort leaves.

The Academy isn't only about what you can contribute to your placement.

It's also about what happens to you when you move to a tropical island off the coast of East Africa and build a life somewhere completely different from home.

For some participants, this will be their first significant experience travelling independently or living away from home. You'll navigate a different culture, build relationships with people from completely different backgrounds, solve problems independently and experience situations that challenge your expectations and perspectives.

Weekly personal growth, self-awareness and reflection sessions give you space to process that journey.

Through workshops, group discussions and your Global Impact Journal, you'll explore topics such as confidence, independence, identity, values, resilience, communication, leadership, relationships, assumptions, cultural adjustment and future direction.

You won't simply finish the program having experienced a lot.

You'll have been encouraged to think about what those experiences actually taught you.

Living in Zanzibar gives you the opportunity to experience the island far beyond the perspective of a typical visitor.

You'll learn practical Swahili, experience local food and traditions, participate in cultural workshops and learn from healthcare professionals, community partners and guest speakers.

You'll also experience how culture, religion, family and community can intersect with healthcare, particularly in areas as personal as pregnancy, birth and women's health.

Over time, Zanzibar starts feeling less like somewhere you're visiting and more like somewhere you're actually living.

And while the Academy has genuine educational and community-development foundations, we haven't forgotten one very important thing:

You're spending your gap year in Zanzibar.

Your Academy home base places you on Zanzibar's beautiful east coast, with the Indian Ocean, beaches and island life becoming part of your everyday experience.

Travel and adventure are built into the Academy.

Across your program, you'll head out on Adventure Days and experiences that may include Stone Town, snorkelling and ocean adventures, Jozani, beaches, local food and cultural experiences, island exploration and plenty of opportunities to enjoy Zanzibar with your Academy cohort.

But we don't want you to travel all the way to Tanzania and experience only one side of the country.

Your Academy therefore also includes a major journey to mainland Tanzania.

During the 6-week Academy, you'll travel by ferry from Zanzibar to the mainland and journey through the Usambara Mountains towards Arusha and northern Tanzania, before experiencing an unforgettable safari through Tarangire National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater.

The 12-week Academy gives you time to take that adventure even further, with an extended overland experience through mainland Tanzania and some of the country's most extraordinary landscapes and wildlife destinations, including Kilimanjaro day trips, Mwanza & Lake Victoria.

You won't have to choose between doing something meaningful and having the adventure you dreamed about when you decided to take a gap year.

The two are intentionally built together.

A huge part of the Academy is the people you'll share it with.

Unlike our regular rolling volunteer programs, Academy participants join on set intake dates, meaning you'll arrive and progress through the experience alongside your cohort.

You'll live together at our Academy home base in Zanzibar, close to the beach on the island's east coast, while participants complete different internship pathways across community development, health and other fields.

Everyone's placement experience may be different, but you'll come together throughout the week for workshops, cultural activities, adventures and social events.

There'll be shared meals, beach afternoons, games and movie nights, free time, weekend adventures, spontaneous plans and regular social events.

Thursday evening is generally our main debrief and social night, giving everyone a chance to catch up on the week before heading out or enjoying an event together at home.

And you'll still have independence.

There is downtime built into the program, particularly on Friday afternoons and Sundays, giving you time to head to the beach, explore the island, meet friends, relax, organise your own activities or occasionally do absolutely nothing.

Because living abroad shouldn't feel like a school excursion where every minute is scheduled for you.

Alongside your practical experience, you'll complete the academic components of your Level 3 Diploma in Global Citizenship in Global Health.

The qualification is Ofqual-regulated at Level 3 and carries 16 UCAS Tariff points in the UK. Depending on the specific qualification and recognition arrangements, it may also correspond to approximately 20–21 ECTS credits in Europe. Recognition and credit transfer can vary between countries and institutions, so participants should confirm how the qualification may be recognised by their own university or education provider.

Subject to successfully completing the academic requirements, you'll graduate with this qualification alongside practical international experience in maternal health, midwifery, newborn care and community health.

You'll also develop broader skills in cross-cultural communication, teamwork, adaptability, healthcare education, critical thinking, cultural awareness, responsible international practice and understanding health through a global lens.

For participants studying or considering careers in midwifery, nursing, medicine, public health, maternal health, women's health, neonatal care or related healthcare fields, the internship provides particularly relevant international exposure.

Boresha Global Academy gives you 6 or 12 weeks to learn from another healthcare system, experience maternal health inside and outside the hospital, challenge yourself, travel across Tanzania and build friendships with people from around the world.

It's not just a hospital placement. It's not just a course. And it's definitely not just a holiday.

It's a Global Health, travel and learning experience all in one — combining practical maternal-health exposure, community outreach, the adventure of living in Zanzibar and the future value of an accredited Global Citizenship qualification.