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ZAMFOHR’S Knowledge Translation Fellowship Programme
ZAMFOHR, with the assistance of the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research (CCGHR), is striving to build Zambian capacity in research-to-action. The KT Fellowship program thus has been designed to assist deliverers of health care, decision-makers and health researchers to build their knowledge and skills in KT. This group, known as the ‘KT Fellows’, have received basic training in KT and are now working towards developing a KT curriculum to further their own learning, and the learning of other Zambians working within the public health community. Each Fellow will also be sent for external specialized training in a particular area of KT, including:
- Systematic reviews
- Policy dialogues/briefs
- Context mapping
- Monitoring and evaluation
- Research syntheses
- Communications Strategies
At present, ZAMFOHR is developing a KT Curriculum to teach its Fellows - who will in turn become the teachers of the curriculum. This curriculum aims to give Fellows a sound overview of major themes and concepts in knowledge translation (KT). It is primarily intended for self study, though certain aspects of it will be delivered by a relevant expert or experts. It will balance theory with innovative practice in KT. Each module will feature a literature component, with questions to guide a fuller understanding of the literature; fellows will apply this theoretical learning to developing tools and approaches grounded in the Zambian context. Literature for each module chapter will be provided.
Taught skills will enable Fellows to teach, advise, utilize, and influence routine connections between the research and policy process. At the conclusion of the curriculum, the fellows will be expected to lead continued development of the curriculum, as well as teaching select aspects of it to future cohorts. It is expected that some fellows will publish peer-reviewed papers in applying lessons and approaches learned in the Zambian context and/ or their particular area of study.
The curriculum will be composed of the following units:
- Introduction to KT: an overview of the major concepts, approaches and tools in connecting research and policy processes; an overview of the other modules in the curriculum.
- Context Mapping: a tool-based look at means for understanding policy environments, forces for and against change, and relevant stakeholders per issue. This module will also explore means for facilitating stakeholder involvement in research process (meeting methodologies, concept mapping, etc).
- Priority Setting: a review of concepts in setting priorities for the health research agenda-bringing policy concerns into research.
- The Evidence Base: understanding different types of evidence, the hierarchy of evidence, where to find evidence, searching databases, finding, understanding and using systematic reviews, understanding the strategy of accessing, assessing, adapting and applying.
- Integrated Policy Briefs: a review of key literature analysing policy-maker involvement in the research process, followed by the tool development of a policy brief that is refined and discussed at a national policy dialogue.
- Evaluation: an overview of major approaches in evaluation (from logframes to Outcome Mapping), along with core evaluative thinking tools and concepts.
- Partnering and Networking: An investigation into the Canadian Coalition's Partnership Assessment Tool, and an overview of social networking tools.
- Learning, mentoring and leadership.
The KT Fellows also work to facilitate “Research-to-Action Groups” (RAGs). Each RAG is composed of users and producers of research , and specializes in a particular area of health. Together, RAG group members work to produce and translate knowledge in their specified field within the Zambian context. ZAMFOHR currently facilitates four RAGs, specializing in the following areas: