Table 1 Summary of key research capacity building activities for each PHIT country
Activities | Cooke’s domains impacted by this activity | Countries and Institutions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ghana | Mozambique | Rwanda | Tanzania | Zambia | ||
Scholarships | 1. Skills and confidence 3. Linkages/Partnerships 5. Continuity and sustainability | - Masters and PhD degrees at international (UoB, NYU, AUoB, OSU) and local universities (UoG). | - Masters and PhD at local (UEM, UCM) and international (UW) universities | - Masters and PhD degrees at a local university (UoR) | - No direct scholarships but graduate research assistantship or salary support for masters and PhD degrees (CU and BU) and additional training for junior scientists at international universities (CU). | - Masters and PhD degrees at local (UoZ), regional (UoC) and international universities (LSHTM) |
Administrative support and infrastructure | 5. Continuity and sustainability 6. Investing in infrastructure | Hiring staff - Hired research staff (postdoctoral researcher and senior research scientists), administrative staff (accounting and clerical staff) and co-financed staff salaries Building/renovating space - Built office block for project staff Procuring resources - Purchased vehicles and motor cycles which went to DHMTs/RHMT - Purchased portable computers and GIS equipment for research | Hiring staff - Hired research staff (research assistants) to work side by side with the National Institute of Health and coordinate research activities; temporary data collectors and consultant to strengthen administrative structure of CIOB Building/renovating space - Supported partial running costs of health centers and small renovations Procuring resources - Bought computers for staff both program and admin. - Covered internet costs at research center | Hiring staff - Hired research staff (data collectors, coordinators, director of research) to provide administrative and logistic support to ongoing research projects Building/renovating space - Built a physical space for Research Department | Hiring staff - Hired research staff (for full time research roles including senior demographer to support data collectors with baseline and endline study implementation Other - Supported partial running costs of IHI research services such as demographic surveillance and data entry | Building/renovating space - Built rooms/ bought container spaces/ renovated rooms at >40 health facilities to create space for improved filing of medical records Procuring resources - Installed satellite dishes in facilities to improve internet access for data transfer - Installed data servers and bought computers for data entry |
Mentorship | 1. Skills and confidence 3. Linkages / Partnerships 4. Appropriate dissemination and impact 5. Continuity and sustainability | Hiring/coordinating mentors - Local mentors from the institution provided continuous mentorship Coordinated mentorship activities - Structured mentorship through several analysis and writing workshops | Hiring/coordinating mentors - Local mentors from the CIOB provided continuous mentorship - In-country technical advisors from HAI - Teaching assistant based out of UW Supporting local universities - Teaching select courses in the Masters of Public Health at local universities (UCM and UEM) | Hiring/coordinating mentors - Local mentors from PIH/IMB provided continuous mentorship - In-country technical advisor from HMS - Local mentors through UoR partnership - Long distance mentors through HMS partnership Coordinated mentorship activities - Structured mentorship through several 2-day writing workshops Supporting local universities - Teaching select courses at UoR | Hiring/coordinating mentors - Connect project PhD demographer resident at IHI provided continuous mentoring in quantitative research to junior scientists - Local mentor from IHI provided continuous mentorship in qualitative research - Long distance mentors through CU partnership Coordinated mentorship activities - Structured mentorship through Research Writing Workshop of several months duration | Coordinated mentorship activities - Structured mentorship through week-long writing workshops - Scheduled QI mentorship activities monthly at all the sites |
Trainings | 1. Skills and confidence 3. Linkages / Partnerships 5. Continuity and sustainability | Short trainings a - Series of trainings to develop and implement baseline survey - Monthly and quarterly data officers training - Knowledge management trainings through DDCF small grants Long trainings b - Cross-country PHIT led trainings on multilevel modelling and economics | Short trainings - Annual 2-week Operations Research training Long trainings - Annual data validation study led by junior researchers with on the job training - Training by doing on select data analysis techniques (qualitative and quantitative), research grant application and abstract writing workshops | Short trainings - Trainings on Complex Survey Analysis and Time Series Analysis with support to publication - Several 2-day scientific writing workshops Long trainings - Some related projects sent for an 8Â months Operations Research training run by PIH/IMB | Short trainings - Weekly on the job trainings to develop and implement baseline survey - Trainings on qualitative and quantitative data analysis Long trainings - Research writing workshops for several months | Short trainings - Multi-level statistical modeling training through regional partnership by CUB - Semi-annual three-week training on QI - A 3-week training on leadership and management at UoA, USA Long trainings - Lean Six Sigma QI training and QI champions training through partnership with CGLUNC |
Dissemination support | 1. Skills and confidence 2. Research is close to practice 4. Appropriate dissemination and impact | Dissemination trainings - Training on dissemination to policy makers Conference/Workshops - Communications workshop Publications - Peer reviewed journals - Monthly publication on what works/what fails series | Dissemination trainings - Training on presentation for national and international audiences Conference/Workshops - Conference scholarships - Writing workshops for publication Publications - Peer reviewed journals | Conference/Workshops - Conference scholarships - Writing workshops for publication Publications - Peer reviewed journals | Conference/Workshops - Conference scholarships - Writing workshops for publication Publications - Peer reviewed journals | Conference/Workshops - Conference scholarships - Writing workshops for publication - Dissemination meetings at the Ministry of Health Publications - Peer reviewed journals |