University of Malawi: Institutional Grant

DIFD/Wellcome Trust initiative on capacity building in Kenya and Malawi. The initiative for this proposed programme stems from an agreement between Mark Walport of the Wellcome Trust and Mark Lowcock of DFID early in 2004 to seek closer working in areas of common interest in global health research. Such collaboration reflects more general moves towards greater coordination of UK research funding in global health, most clearly marked by the recent establishment of the UK Funders Forum for Health (presently comprising DFID, Wellcome Trust and the MRC). With the establishment of 'centres of excellence' featuring within the strategies of both WT and DFID, it was agreed that the initiative should build upon existing investments and track-record: leading to the decision that the programme should begin its work in Kenya and Malawi. IDRC has a mission to support development through research, and has a track- record in strengthening health systems through enhancement of research capacity and the utilisation of research. This includes implementation of the Tanzanian Essential Health Interventions Project (TEHIP), which demonstrated clear health impacts on District level services of improved knowledge utilisation. Given this track-record, what was initially conceived of as a Wellcome Trust-DFID partnership is now planned as a tripartite venture, with IDRC providing capacity for local implementation and technical support for the initiative. The initiative is conceived of as a single programme that will be implemented in two components; the two components matched to the distinct needs and opportunities in Kenya and Malawi respectively. In Kenya, for example, the Regional East African Community Health (REACH) Policy initiative, provides a unique opportunity for the programme to link with and support a regionally-owned initiative in getting research into heath policy and practice. In Malawi, SWAp implementation and major external investments in human resources and malaria control, provide a differing range of opportunities and needs. Although the two programme components should be coherent with each other in terms of analysis of research capacity issues, the strategies adopted will be distinctive to the extent that they fit with local circumstances.

Programme: HRCS Masters Fellowship

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