This was the theme for the Children’s Nursing Educators Forum held on the 15th March 2023. An online meeting brought together twenty members from across the continent, to connect and listen to three speakers discuss and unpack the 2022 Children’s Nursing Workforce Observatory Report.

Natasha North discussed, the Children’s Nursing Workforce Observatory development, how it started, what it is and why it is important. Beatrix Collard unpacked the data, giving a live demonstration of how to navigate the dashboard and access and use the data. Minette Coetzee then facilitated conversations among the members on the importance of this data and how it can be utilised in their specific setting.

It was wonderful for members, who had contributed to this project, see the data presented so clearly on the live interactive dashboard. Meeting the objective of the project, which was to identify as far as possible the capacity of the Children’s Nursing Workforce in African Countries. Once again it was stressed, the importance of this being “our” data which can easily be accessed on the Open Science Framework.

In order to achieve the WHO Sustainable Development Goal 3 Target 3.C, we need, as nurses to start by improving availability and quality of data on nursing workforce. Our contribution being for Children’s Nursing.

Members left the Forum exited to be more connected through the social media platform of WhatsApp. This will allow members to connect with each other on a more regular basis than what the formal meetings allow.