Division of Research and Related Capacity Strengthening, African Population and Health Research Center, Nairobi, Kenya.
School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Glob Health Action. 2023 Dec 31;16(1):2240153. doi: 10.1080/16549716.2023.2240153.
Several research capacity strengthening (RCS) initiatives have been established in Africa over the past decade. One such initiative is the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) that has gained traction over the years and has been proven as an effective multidisciplinary approach to strengthen research capacity to address public and population health in Africa. In this article, we document the experiences and management-related interventions that cushioned the CARTA programme and enabled it to remain resilient during the COVID pandemic. We further make recommendations on the enablers of resilience and optimal performance of such RCS initiatives during crises and beyond. : We used routine information gathered by the CARTA secretariat from consortium correspondence, meeting minutes, reports and other related documents produced in the year 2020 in order to consolidate the experiences and interventions taken by the programme at programmatic, institutional and fellowship levels. We identified a series of management-related cyclic phases that CARTA went through during the pandemic period, which included immobilisation, reflection, brainstorming, decision-making, intervening and recovery. We further identified strategic management-related interventions that contributed to the resilience of the programme during the pandemic including assessment and monitoring, communication management, policy and resource management, making investments and execution. Moreover, we observed that the strength of the leadership and management of CARTA, coupled with the consortium´s culture of collaboration, mutual trust, respect, openness, transparency, equitability, ownership, commitment and accountability, all contributed to its success during the pandemic period. We conclude that RCS initiatives undergo a series of phases during crises and that they need to promptly adopt and adapt appropriate management-related strategic interventions in order to remain resilient during such periods. This can be significantly realised if RCS initiatives build a culture of trust, commitment and joint ownership, and if they invest in strong management capacity.
在过去的十年中，非洲已经建立了几个研究能力加强（RCS）计划。其中一个倡议是非洲高级研究培训联合协会（CARTA），该倡议多年来一直受到关注，并已被证明是一种有效的多学科方法，可加强研究能力，以解决非洲的公共和人口健康问题。在本文中，我们记录了在 COVID 大流行期间为缓冲 CARTA 计划并使其保持弹性而采取的经验和管理相关干预措施。我们进一步就弹性的促成因素以及此类 RCS 计划在危机期间和其他时期的最佳表现提出建议。我们使用 CARTA 秘书处从联盟通信、会议记录、报告和 2020 年制作的其他相关文件中收集的常规信息，以整合该计划在计划、机构和奖学金层面采取的经验和干预措施。我们确定了 CARTA 在大流行期间经历的一系列与管理相关的周期性阶段，其中包括僵化、反思、集思广益、决策、干预和恢复。我们进一步确定了有助于该计划在大流行期间保持弹性的战略管理相关干预措施，包括评估和监测、沟通管理、政策和资源管理、投资和执行。此外，我们观察到 CARTA 的领导力和管理的优势，加上联盟的合作文化、相互信任、尊重、开放、透明、公平、所有权、承诺和问责制，都为其在大流行期间的成功做出了贡献。我们的结论是，RCS 计划在危机期间会经历一系列阶段，并且它们需要及时采取和适应适当的管理相关战略干预措施，以在这些时期保持弹性。如果 RCS 计划建立信任、承诺和共同所有权的文化，并投资于强大的管理能力，这可以得到显著实现。
