Articulating the ultimate objectives of research capacity strengthening programmes: Why this is important and how we might achieve it.
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2024-08
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PubMed Central
Abstract
‘Research capacity strengthening’ (RCS) is an umbrella term that can be used to describe a wide variety of activities conducted in support of diverse objectives premised upon distinct, potentially opposing, views. Despite this, the ultimate objective of RCS activities is rarely made
explicit which can be problematic when diverse objectives are possible. By ‘ultimate’ objective we are referring to the overarching
(often long-term) goal an RCS initiative is intended to contribute towards (e.g. better population health) as opposed to the more
immediate ‘proximate’ (often short-term) objectives of any such activity (e.g. improved capacity to undertake infectious disease
research). We argue a need for those funding, designing and implementing RCSinitiatives to make clear statements as to the ultimate objective that they foresee their respective initiative contributing towards as well as the proposed pathway and associated assumptions that underlie their
approach. Examples of distinct ultimate objectives for RCS initiatives are presented alongside fictitious examples of how they may be
transparently reported from both a funder and implementor perspective. Such transparency should be routine within the scope of funding calls
for RCS activities (even when such activities are only a minor component of the call), subsequent applications to those calls and any
description of an applied RCS activity/ies and/or the associated outcomes thereof. The process of determining one’s ultimate
objective will further cause funders and actors to think through their respective initiatives more thoroughly and make informed choices
Description
This article is ever published by PubMed Central, 2024, and is also available at https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.153447.1
Keywords
Citation
National Library of Medeicine , 2024