ABOUT ECHOES
Two nurses turning lived experience into responsible clinical placements
ECHOES was founded by two nurses with first-hand experience of global health placements and a shared belief that such placements can be thoughtfully designed, carefully supervised, and shaped around both student learning and local priorities.
Co-founder & Programme Director
Maja Johanne Pedersen
Maja is a Danish nurse whose first real exposure to global health came through her own clinical placement in Uganda and Zanzibar in 2024, as part of her studies at UCL University College in Odense. Her interest in global health - and the place itself - has only grown since then. During her studies and after completing her nursing degree, she worked in neurology, but the pull to return kept bringing her back to Zanzibar, where she has worked with student placements, most recently over the past six months. It is this combination of experience and connection that shaped her vision for this programme.
At ECHOES, she leads internal operations and is responsible for the practical foundation of every placement, making sure every student arrives prepared and completes a placement that holds up to clinical and academic standards.
Reach Maja directly: maja@echoesclinicalplacements.com
Co-founder & Partnerships Director
Synne Iversen
Synne is a Norwegian nurse whose interest in global health grew out of her own clinical placement in Tanzania. She completed her nursing degree at the University of Stavanger in 2020. She later earned a Master’s in global health at NTNU in Trondheim, building a foundation in both clinical practice and global health.
Her first clinical placement at Haydom Lutheran Hospital in 2019 shaped her understanding of both the value and the responsibility of international clinical practice and global health learning, and she has since returned regularly to Tanzania for further study, fieldwork, and collaboration. Over the past year, she has been working specifically with student placements in Zanzibar.
At ECHOES, she leads external relationships, programme development, and communication with students and home institutions.
Reach Synne directly: synne@echoesclinicalplacements.com
MISSION & VISION
Work alongside local clinicians in hospital and community settings on Pemba Island. Each placement combines supervised clinical exposure, community health work, and one defined deliverable that supports the host health system after the placement is over.
Two goals,
held in balance
OUR MISSION
ECHOES exists to offer supervised placements where students can learn through real clinical and community experience, while also ensuring their presence makes a lasting contribution beyond the placement itself.
Each placement is built around two commitments. The first is structured learning: supervision, defined learning outcomes, and guided exposure to everyday clinical practice. The second is local value: work that responds to real needs identified by the hospital or community, rather than being created only for the visiting student.
A portion of every student fee is reinvested in local health initiatives on Pemba.
We want to show that international clinical placements can be academically credible, well supervised, and respectful of local priorities at the same time. ECHOES is our attempt to build that model carefully, in partnership with the setting that hosts it.
Learning that is real, not only observational
Students take on supervised responsibility within their scope of practice and work towards clear learning outcomes. The aim is not simply to watch, but to learn through active participation, careful guidance, and reflection.
Learning and contribution, side by side
HOW WE HOLD BOTH
A contribution that outlasts the placement
Each student completes work linked to a real need identified locally - work that remains with the hospital or community after the placement ends. Combined with reinvested fees, this helps keep ECHOES accountable to the place that hosts it.
WHY PEMBA
Why we chose this island
Choosing Pemba was not accidental. It offers students a local placement environment, a busy health system, and a setting where thoughtful support can still make a meaningful difference.
Because Pemba is largely untouched by tourism, students step into everyday community and coastal life, where the pace and relationships feel genuinely different from more developed parts of the region. Here, global health is lived rather than theoretical: referral pathways, resource constraints, and community health realities are all part of daily clinical work.
What we wanted to build
WHY WE STARTED ECHOES
ECHOES grew out of our own experiences as students and health professionals working across different placement settings. We wanted to create a programme that brings together structured learning, close supervision, and a model of participation designed with both the student and the host setting in mind.
From the beginning, we have aimed to build a considered and credible programme: clear learning outcomes and placements designed around the real clinical and community contexts of Pemba.
We are starting deliberately, with small cohorts, direct support, and a structure we can stand behind.