Community Partners International, 81 University Avenue Road, Shwe Taung Gyar Ward (1), Bahan Township, Yangon, Myanmar.
Department of Mental Health, Global Mental Health Research Group, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Baltimore, MD, United States of America.
Health Res Policy Syst. 2021 Dec 28;19(1):153. doi: 10.1186/s12961-021-00806-x.
Globally, policy-makers face challenges to using evidence in health decision-making, particularly lack of interaction between research and policy. Knowledge-brokering mechanisms can fill research-policy gaps and facilitate evidence-informed policy-making. In Myanmar, the need to promote evidence-informed policy is significant, and thus a mechanism was set up for this purpose. This paper discusses lessons learned from the development of the Knowledge Broker Group-Myanmar (KBG-M), supported by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Applied Mental Health Research Group (JHU) and Community Partners International (CPI).
Sixteen stakeholders were interviewed to explore challenges in formulating evidence-informed policy. Two workshops were held: the first to further understand the needs of policy-makers and discuss knowledge-brokering approaches, and the second to co-create the KBG-M structure and process. The KBG-M was then envisioned as an independent body, with former officials of the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) and representatives from the nongovernmental sector actively engaging in the health sector, with an official collaboration with the MoHS.
A development task force that served as an advisory committee was established. Then, steps were taken to establish the KBG-M and obtain official recognition from the MoHS. Finally, when the technical agreement with the MoHS was nearly complete, the process stopped because of the military coup on 1 February 2021, and is now on hold indefinitely.
Learning from this process may be helpful for future or current knowledge-brokering efforts, particularly in fragile, conflict-affected settings. Experienced and committed advisory committee members enhanced stakeholder relationships. Responsive coordination mechanisms allowed for adjustments to a changing bureaucratic landscape. Coordination with similar initiatives avoided overlap and identified areas needing technical support. Recommendations to continue the work of the KBG-M itself or similar platforms include the following: increase resilience to contextual changes by ensuring diverse partnerships, maintain advisory committee members experienced and influential in the policy-making process, ensure strong organizational and funding support for effective functioning and sustainability, have budget and timeline flexibility to allow sufficient time and resources for establishment, organize ongoing needs assessments to identify areas needing technical support and to develop responsive corrective approaches, and conduct information sharing and collaboration between stakeholders to ensure alignment.
在全球范围内，政策制定者在将证据应用于卫生决策方面面临挑战，特别是研究与政策之间缺乏互动。知识中介机制可以填补研究政策之间的差距，并促进循证决策。在缅甸，促进循证政策的必要性非常重要，因此为此目的建立了一个机制。本文讨论了在约翰霍普金斯大学彭博公共卫生学院应用心理健康研究小组（JHU）和社区合作伙伴国际（CPI）的支持下，知识经纪人小组-缅甸（KBG-M）发展过程中吸取的经验教训。
对 16 名利益攸关方进行访谈，以探讨制定循证政策所面临的挑战。举办了两次研讨会：第一次是为了进一步了解政策制定者的需求，并讨论知识中介方法；第二次是共同创建 KBG-M 的结构和流程。然后，设想 KBG-M 是一个独立的机构，前卫生部和体育部（MoHS）官员和非政府部门的代表积极参与卫生部门，并与 MoHS 建立正式合作关系。
成立了一个发展工作队，作为咨询委员会。然后，采取步骤建立 KBG-M 并获得 MoHS 的正式认可。最后，当与 MoHS 的技术协议几乎完成时，由于 2021 年 2 月 1 日的军事政变，该进程停止，现在无限期搁置。
从这一过程中吸取的经验教训可能有助于未来或当前的知识中介工作，特别是在脆弱、受冲突影响的环境中。经验丰富且有承诺的咨询委员会成员加强了利益攸关方的关系。响应式协调机制允许对不断变化的官僚环境进行调整。与类似举措协调避免重叠，并确定需要技术支持的领域。继续 KBG-M 本身或类似平台工作的建议包括以下内容：通过确保多样化的伙伴关系，增加对背景变化的适应能力；保持在决策过程中有经验和影响力的咨询委员会成员；确保有强大的组织和资金支持，以实现有效运作和可持续性；具有预算和时间表的灵活性，为建立提供足够的时间和资源；组织正在进行的需求评估，以确定需要技术支持的领域，并制定响应性纠正方法；以及在利益攸关方之间进行信息共享和协作，以确保一致性。
