scholarly journals Monitoring and evaluating capacity building activities in low and middle income countries: challenges and opportunities

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Schneider ◽  
T. van de Water ◽  
R. Araya ◽  
B. B. Bonini ◽  
D. J. Pilowsky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Grant Applications ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Building Activities ◽  
Training And Support ◽  
Global Population

BackgroundLower and middle income countries (LMICs) are home to >80% of the global population, but mental health researchers and LMIC investigator led publications are concentrated in 10% of LMICs. Increasing research and research outputs, such as in the form of peer reviewed publications, require increased capacity building (CB) opportunities in LMICs. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) initiative, Collaborative Hubs for International Research on Mental Health reaches across five regional ‘hubs’ established in LMICs, to provide training and support for emerging researchers through hub-specific CB activities. This paper describes the range of CB activities, the process of monitoring, and the early outcomes of CB activities conducted by the five research hubs.MethodsThe indicators used to describe the nature, the monitoring, and the early outcomes of CB activities were developed collectively by the members of an inter-hub CB workgroup representing all five hubs. These indicators included but were not limited to courses, publications, and grants.ResultsResults for all indicators demonstrate a wide range of feasible CB activities. The five hubs were successful in providing at least one and the majority several courses; 13 CB recipient-led articles were accepted for publication; and nine grant applications were successful.ConclusionsThe hubs were successful in providing CB recipients with a wide range of CB activities. The challenge remains to ensure ongoing CB of mental health researchers in LMICs, and in particular, to sustain the CB efforts of the five hubs after the termination of NIMH funding.

scholarly journals Developing capacity-building activities for mental health system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries for service users and caregivers, service planners, and researchers

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Semrau ◽  
A. Alem ◽  
J. Abdulmalik ◽  
S. Docrat ◽  
S. Evans-Lacko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health System ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Mental Health System ◽  
Health System Strengthening ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Building Activities ◽  
Low And Middle Income

There is increasing international recognition of the need to build capacity to strengthen mental health systems. This is a fundamental goal of the ‘Emerging mental health systems in low- and middle-income countries’ (Emerald) programme, which is being implemented in six low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda). This paper discusses Emerald's capacity-building approaches and outputs for three target groups in mental health system strengthening: (1) mental health service users and caregivers, (2) service planners and policy-makers, and (3) mental health researchers. When planning the capacity-building activities, the approach taken included a capabilities/skills matrix, needs assessments, a situational analysis, systematic reviews, qualitative interviews and stakeholder meetings, as well as the application of previous theory, evidence and experience. Each of the Emerald LMIC partners was found to have strengths in aspects of mental health system strengthening, which were complementary across the consortium. Furthermore, despite similarities across the countries, capacity-building interventions needed to be tailored to suit the specific needs of individual countries. The capacity-building outputs include three publicly and freely available short courses/workshops in mental health system strengthening for each of the target groups, 27 Masters-level modules (also open access), nine Emerald-linked PhD students, two MSc studentships, mentoring of post-doctoral/mid-level researchers, and ongoing collaboration and dialogue with the three groups. The approach taken by Emerald can provide a potential model for the development of capacity-building activities across the three target groups in LMICs.

scholarly journals Evaluation of capacity-building strategies for mental health system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries for service users and caregivers, policymakers and planners, and researchers

BJPsych Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Evans-Lacko ◽  
Charlotte Hanlon ◽  
Atalay Alem ◽  
Jose Luis Ayuso-Mateos ◽  
Dan Chisholm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health System ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Mental Health System ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Health System Strengthening ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Building Activities ◽  
Short Courses

Background Strengthening of mental health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) requires the involvement of appropriately skilled and committed individuals from a range of stakeholder groups. Currently, few evidence-based capacity-building activities and materials are available to enable and sustain comprehensive improvements. Aims Within the Emerald project, the goal of this study was to evaluate capacity-building activities for three target groups: (a) service users with mental health conditions and their caregivers; (b) policymakers and planners; and (c) mental health researchers. Method We developed and tailored three short courses (between 1 and 5 days long). We then implemented and evaluated these short courses on 24 different occasions. We assessed satisfaction among 527 course participants as well as pre–post changes in knowledge in six LMICs (Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda). Changes in research capacity of partner Emerald institutions was also assessed through monitoring of academic outputs of participating researchers and students and via anonymous surveys. Results Short courses were associated with high levels of satisfaction and led to improvements in knowledge across target groups. In relation to institutional capacity building, all partner institutions reported improvements in research capacity for most aspects of mental health system strengthening and global mental health, and many of these positive changes were attributed to the Emerald programme. In terms of outputs, eight PhD students submitted a total of 10 papers relating to their PhD work (range 0–4) and were involved in 14 grant applications, of which 43% (n = 6) were successful. Conclusions The Emerald project has shown that building capacity of key stakeholders in mental health system strengthening is possible. However, the starting point and appropriate strategies for this may vary across different countries, depending on the local context, needs and resources. Declaration of interest S.E.L. received consulting fees from Lundbeck.

scholarly journals Evaluating capacity-building for mental health system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries for service users and caregivers, service planners and researchers

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Hanlon ◽  
M. Semrau ◽  
A. Alem ◽  
S. Abayneh ◽  
J. Abdulmalik ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Health System Strengthening ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Building Activities ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Efforts to support the scale-up of integrated mental health care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) need to focus on building human resource capacity in health system strengthening, as well as in the direct provision of mental health care. In a companion editorial, we describe a range of capacity-building activities that are being implemented by a multi-country research consortium (Emerald: Emerging mental health systems in low- and middle-income countries) for (1) service users and caregivers, (2) service planners and policy-makers and (3) researchers in six LMICs (Ethiopia, India, Nepal, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda). In this paper, we focus on the methodology being used to evaluate the impact of capacity-building in these three target groups. We first review the evidence base for approaches to evaluation of capacity-building, highlighting the gaps in this area. We then describe the adaptation of best practice for the Emerald capacity-building evaluation. The resulting mixed method evaluation framework was tailored to each target group and to each country context. We identified a need to expand the evidence base on indicators of successful capacity-building across the different target groups. To address this, we developed an evaluation plan to measure the adequacy and usefulness of quantitative capacity-building indicators when compared with qualitative evaluation. We argue that evaluation needs to be an integral part of capacity-building activities and that expertise needs to be built in methods of evaluation. The Emerald evaluation provides a potential model for capacity-building evaluation across key stakeholder groups and promises to extend understanding of useful indicators of success.

scholarly journals A novel prison mental health in-reach service in Somaliland: a model for low-income countries?

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 61-64
Author(s):  
Jibril I. M. Handuleh ◽  
Ronan J. Mclvor
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Independent State ◽  
International Agencies ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Assessment And Treatment ◽  
Local Agencies

Prison in-reach mental health services are reasonably well developed in advanced economies, but virtually nonexistent in low-and middle-income countries. We describe the development of a small prison in-reach project in Somaliland, a self-declared independent state which has experienced conflict and poverty in equal measure. After careful planning and cooperation with local agencies, the service provides sessional input to a regional prison, including assessment and treatment of a wide range of psychiatric conditions. The project has had some unexpected benefits, which are described. The success of the project reflects the effectiveness of collaboration between local stakeholders and international agencies, and could be used as a model for the development of in-reach services in other low-income countries.

scholarly journals How child mental health training is conceptualized in four low- and middle-income countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Panos Vostanis ◽  
Seyda Eruyar ◽  
Sadiyya Haffejee ◽  
Michelle O’Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
Child Mental Health ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Mental Health Training ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Low And Middle Income

AbstractThe objective was to establish how stakeholders in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) conceptualize child mental health impact. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 stakeholders from disadvantaged urban communities in Kenya, South Africa, Turkey and Brazil. Participants represented education, welfare and health care agencies; as well as community and religious groups. Data were analysed through a thematic approach and three related themes were identified. Impact was defined as a process of change, with child-centred outcomes and measures that were broader than mental health symptoms improvement. Beneficiaries were identified at child, family, community and service level. Participants wished to see strategies that ensured sustainability of impact, namely child mental health policy, stakeholder engagement, interdisciplinary working, and capacity-building for all stakeholder groups. Child mental health service transformation in LMIC, especially in areas of deprivation, needs to build on existing resources and strengths by co-producing psychosocial outcomes with a range of professional and community stakeholders. Impact on children’s mental wellbeing can be achieved through a co-ordinated strategy that involves designated policy, capacity-building, and interdisciplinary networks with meaningful community involvement.

scholarly journals Research, education and capacity building priorities for violence, abuse and mental health in low- and middle-income countries: an international qualitative survey

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roxanne C. Keynejad ◽  
Abigail Bentley ◽  
Urvita Bhatia ◽  
Oliva Nalwadda ◽  
Fikru Debebe Mekonnen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Voluntary Sector ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Priorities ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Research Education ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Abstract Purpose Despite the World Health Organization and United Nations recognising violence, abuse and mental health as public health priorities, their intersection is under-studied in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). International violence, abuse and mental health network (iVAMHN) members recognised the need to identify barriers and priorities to develop this field. Methods Informed by collaborative discussion between iVAMHN members, we conducted a pilot study using an online survey to identify research, education and capacity building priorities for violence, abuse and mental health in LMICs. We analysed free-text responses using thematic analysis. Results 35 senior (29%) and junior researchers (29%), non-government or voluntary sector staff (18%), health workers (11%), students (11%) and administrators (3%) completed the survey. Respondents worked in 24 LMICs, with 20% working in more than one country. Seventy-four percent of respondents worked in sub-Saharan Africa, 37% in Asia and smaller proportions in Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Respondents described training, human resource, funding and sensitivity-related barriers to researching violence, abuse and mental health in LMICs and recommended a range of actions to build capacity, streamline research pathways, increase efficiency and foster collaborations and co-production. Conclusion The intersection between violence, abuse and mental health in LMICs is a priority for individuals with a range of expertise across health, social care and the voluntary sector. There is interest in and support for building a strong network of parties engaged in research, service evaluation, training and education in this field. Networks like iVAMHN can act as hubs, bringing together diverse stakeholders for collaboration, co-production and mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and skills.

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