Assessing innovative approaches for global health capacity building in fragile settings in the MENA region: development of the evaluation of capacity building (eCAP) program

Abstract

Background Given the magnitude and frequency of conflicts in the MENA region along with their devastating impact on health responses and outcomes, there exists a strong need to invest in contextualized, innovative, and accessible capacity building approaches to enhance leadership and skills in global health. The MENA region suffers from limited (1) continued educational and career progression opportunities, (2) gender balance, and (3) skill-mix among its health workforce, which require significant attention. Main text The Global Health Institute at the American University of Beirut incepted the Academy division to develop and implement various global health capacity building (GHCB) initiatives to address those challenges in fragile settings across low-and middle-income countries in the MENA region. These initiatives play a strategic role in this context, especially given their focus on being accessible through employing innovative learning modalities. However, there exists a dearth of evidence-based knowledge on best practices and recommendations to optimize the design, implementation, and evaluation of GHCB in fragile settings in the MENA region. The present paper describes the development of the evaluation of capacity building program (eCAP), implemented under the Academy division, to assess the effectiveness of its initiatives. eCAP is composed of 3 phases: (1) a situational assessment, followed by (2) production of multiple case studies, and finally (3) a meta-assessment leading to model development. The goal of eCAP is not only to inform the Academy’s operations, but also to synthesize produced knowledge into the formation of an evidence-based, scalable, and replicable model for GHCB in fragile settings. Conclusion eCAP is an important initiative for researchers, educators, and practitioners interested in GHCB in fragile settings. Several lessons can be learned from the outcomes it has yielded so far in its first two phases of implementation, ranging from the situational assessment to the production of evaluation case studies, which are expanded on in the manuscript along with pertinent challenges.

Maternal health outcomes in the context of fragility: a retrospective study from Lebanon

“…Such interventions may subsequently correct any existing misinformation that the women may have had about ANC and increase the uptake of ANC services among them. One example of these interventions is the implementation of the Mobile University of Health (MUH)-Women’s Health capacity building initiative by the Global Heath Institute (GHI) Academy, where disadvantaged women from the Lebanese community and Syrian refugees were trained on different health topics -including women’s health- to address health concerns of the surrounding community members (family members, neighbors or friends)[ 52 ]. These women were referred to as Community Health Workers (CHWs) applying their knowledge and skills gained from the MUH certificate to spread awareness about women’s health and improve access to healthcare services [ 52 ].…”

Evaluating a research training programme for frontline health workers in conflict-affected and fragile settings in the middle east

“…The present study followed a qualitative longitudinal design with the aim of exploring in-depth the experiences of fellows throughout the course of the programme, while utilizing the Kirkpatrick model of programme evaluation (which conceptualizes evaluation of such programmes at the levels of reaction, learning, behavior, and results) as a guiding model to inform the current approach. Since very few initiatives have been conducted to improve the research skills of health workers in conflict settings, and because even fewer evaluations are available in peerreviewed journals, it was very important for this present work to follow a longitudinal design [32]. The five fellows were contacted throughout the programme including during: (1) the inception phase of their research projects where they designed their data collection tools, (2) their application to the IRB, (3) their data collection phase, (4) their data management and data analysis phases, and (5) the write-up and dissemination phase.…”

Evaluating a Research Training Programme for Frontline Health Workers in Conflict-Affected and Fragile Settings in the Middle East

“…Since very few initiatives have been conducted to improve the research skills of health workers in con ict settings, and because even fewer evaluations are available in peerreviewed journals, it was very important for this present work to follow a longitudinal design. 37 The ve fellows were contacted throughout the program including during: (1) the inception phase of their research projects where they designed their data collection tools, (2) their application to the IRB, (3) their data collection phase, (4) their data management and data analysis phases, and (5) the write-up and dissemination phase. Each data collection point symbolized a key milestone in their research journey.…”