058: Evaluating a Complex Capacity-Building Intervention in an International Development Context: Reflecting on the African Institutions Initiative Evaluation

Cochrane, Gavin; Marjanovic, Sonja; Robin, Enora; Chataway, Joanna

doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-forum2015abstracts.58

Cited by 4 publications

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“…Impact on career success would be a useful outcome, despite the difficulty of measuring it reliably (Cochrane et al . 2014). Evaluation plans were described here for qualitative and quantitative assessment; these will be reported separately when complete.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accordingly, there is also a great need to strengthen local research capacity and support early-career researchers from LMICs to be competitive for international research grants (Cochrane et al . 2014). Research training enables LMIC researchers to produce high-quality research, impact their local and national health systems, develop sustainable careers to mitigate ‘brain drain’ out-migration of talented researchers and help build strong healthcare and research institutions (Hagopian et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Positioning for success: building capacity in academic competencies for early-career researchers in sub-Saharan Africa

et al. 2019

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Background. Capacity building is essential in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to address the gap in skills to conduct and implement research. Capacity building must not only include scientific and technical knowledge, but also broader competencies, such as writing, disseminating research and achieving work–life balance. These skills are thought to promote long-term career success for researchers in high-income countries (HICs) but the availability of such training is limited in LMICs. Methods. This paper presents the contextualisation and implementation of the Academic Competencies Series (ACES). ACES is an early-career researcher development programme adapted from a UK university. Through consultation between HIC and LMIC partners, an innovative series of 10 workshops was designed covering themes of self-development, engagement and writing skills. ACES formed part of the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI), a multi-national LMIC-led consortium to recruit, train, support and network early-career mental health researchers from four sub-Saharan African countries. Results. Of the 10 ACES modules, three were HIC-LMIC co-led, four led by HIC facilitators with LMIC training experience and three led by external consultants from HICs. Six workshops were delivered face to face and four by webinar. Course attendance was over 90% and the delivery cost was approximately US$4500 per researcher trained. Challenges of adaptation, attendance and technical issues are described for the first round of workshops. Conclusions. This paper indicates that a skills development series for early-career researchers can be contextualised and implemented in LMIC settings, and is feasible for co-delivery with local partners at relatively low cost.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positioning for success: building capacity in academic competencies for early-career researchers in sub-Saharan Africa

et al. 2019

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“…Over recent years, more direct efforts at building research capacity building have been made (Cochrane et al, 2014;Ghaffar et al, 2008;Marjanovic et al, 2013). However, building research capacity is itself prone to overly narrow targeting.…”

Section: Emerging Diseasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Targeting research to address societal needs: what can we learn from 30 years of targeting neglected diseases?

Coburn¹,

Yaqub²,

Chataway³

2023

Handbook of Public Funding of Research

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Neglected diseases have been characterised as a misalignment in the research system because so little research is directed towards such a large burden of disease. By focusing on one of the most extreme cases of misalignment, we highlight opportunities and potential pitfalls of targeting research towards specific social outcomes more generally.We trace how the category of neglected diseases came to prominence, largely framed as a problem to be addressed by scientific research. This mobilised R&D investment but there have been unintended consequences, particularly for broader health system strengthening and research capacity building efforts.These developments may contribute to a 'tragedy of the evaluation commons', where the effectiveness of broad remit research programs remain poorly characterised. This exacerbates a lack of evidence, relative to targeting specific diseases where the evaluation challenge is narrower. Research targeting then, is intimately tied to evaluation practice.A new research and policy agenda oriented towards broader research evaluation may support further investments not just for biomedical R&D in high-income countries, but also for researchers in other countries, for interdisciplinary, applied and social sciences, and ultimately, for poor patients.

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“…A final report assessed progress against individual consortia objectives and for the overall initiative over its lifespan (Cochrane et al, 2014). To do so, it drew learning from the annual assessments and validation at a final initiative-wide meeting.…”

Section: Evaluating the African Institutions Initiative As A Complex mentioning

confidence: 99%

“… 2. For discussions on this point related to the initiative, see Marjanovic et al (2013) and Cochrane et al (2014). …”

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confidence: 99%

Evaluating a complex research capacity-building intervention: Reflections on an evaluation of the African Institutions Initiative

et al. 2017

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Increasing policy demand for realist evaluations of research and capacity-building programmes reflects a recognition of the management, governance and impact gains that can result from evaluation. However, the evidence base on how to successfully implement realist evaluations of complex interventions in international development efforts is scarce. We know little about the associated merits, limitations and ways to mitigate challenges. There is a need for reflective work which considers the methodology in context. This paper shares learning from the experience of conducting a realist, theory-of-change driven evaluation of the African Institutions Initiative, a Wellcome Trust funded programme which aimed to build sustainable health research capacity in Africa at institutional and network levels, across seven research consortia.We reflect on the key challenges experienced throughout the evaluation and recommend ways of managing them, highlight opportunities and critical success factors associated with this evaluation approach, as well as elaborate on alternative evaluation approaches.

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058: Evaluating a Complex Capacity-Building Intervention in an International Development Context: Reflecting on the African Institutions Initiative Evaluation

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Positioning for success: building capacity in academic competencies for early-career researchers in sub-Saharan Africa

Positioning for success: building capacity in academic competencies for early-career researchers in sub-Saharan Africa

Targeting research to address societal needs: what can we learn from 30 years of targeting neglected diseases?

Evaluating a complex research capacity-building intervention: Reflections on an evaluation of the African Institutions Initiative

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