Nossal Institute for Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Level 4, 161 Barry Street, Carlton, Victoria 3010, Australia.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2011 Jul 28;9:31. doi: 10.1186/1478-4505-9-31.
There is increasing interest in building the capacity of researchers in low and middle income countries (LMIC) to address their national priority health and health policy problems. However, the number and variety of partnerships and funding arrangements can create management problems for LMIC research institutes. This paper aims to identify problems faced by a health research institute in Bangladesh, describe two strategies developed to address these problems, and identify the results after three years of implementation.
This paper uses a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data collected during independent annual reviews of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) between 2006 and 2010. Quantitative data includes the number of research activities according to strategic priority areas, revenues collected and expenditure. Qualitative data includes interviews of researchers and management of ICDDR,B, and of research users and key donors. Data in a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (MEF) were assessed against agreed indicators.
The key problems faced by ICDDR,B in 2006 were insufficient core funds to build research capacity and supporting infrastructure, and an inability to direct research funds towards the identified research priorities in its strategic plan. Two strategies were developed to address these problems: a group of donors agreed to provide unearmarked pooled core funding, and accept a single common report based on an agreed MEF. On review after three years, there had been significant increases in total revenue, and the ability to allocate greater amounts of money on capacity building and infrastructure. The MEF demonstrated progress against strategic objectives, and better alignment of research against strategic priorities. There had also been changes in the sense of ownership and collaboration between ICDDR,B's management and its core donors.
The changes made to funding relationships supported and monitored by an effective MEF enabled the organisation to better align funding with research priorities and to invest in capacity building. This paper identified key issues for capacity building for health research in low and middle income countries. The findings have relevance to other research institutes in similar contexts to advocate and support research capacity strengthening efforts.
越来越多的人对培养中低收入国家（LMIC）的研究人员的能力以解决其国家重点卫生和卫生政策问题产生了兴趣。然而，合作伙伴关系和供资安排的数量和种类可能会给 LMIC 研究所的管理带来问题。本文旨在确定孟加拉国一个卫生研究机构所面临的问题，描述为解决这些问题而制定的两项战略，并在实施三年后确定成果。
本文使用了 2006 年至 2010 年期间对国际腹泻病研究中心（ICDDR，B）进行的独立年度审查期间收集的定量和定性数据的混合数据。定量数据包括根据战略优先领域开展的研究活动数量、所收收入和支出。定性数据包括对 ICDDR，B 的研究人员和管理人员以及研究用户和主要捐助者的访谈。监测和评价框架（MEF）中的数据根据商定的指标进行评估。
2006 年，ICDDR，B 面临的主要问题是核心资金不足，无法建立研究能力和支持基础设施，也无法将研究资金用于其战略计划中确定的研究优先事项。为了解决这些问题，制定了两项战略：一组捐助者同意提供未指定用途的 pooled 核心资金，并接受基于商定 MEF 的单一共同报告。三年后进行审查时，总收入有了显著增加，而且有能力将更多资金用于能力建设和基础设施。MEF 展示了在战略目标方面的进展，以及更好地将研究与战略重点保持一致。ICDDR，B 的管理层与其核心捐助者之间的所有权和合作关系也发生了变化。
通过有效的 MEF 支持和监测供资关系的变化，使该组织能够更好地将资金与研究优先事项保持一致，并投资于能力建设。本文确定了中低收入国家卫生研究能力建设的关键问题。这些发现与其他类似背景的研究机构具有相关性，可以为倡导和支持研究能力建设工作提供依据。
