The Consortium for Health Policy and Systems Analysis in Africa (CHEPSAA) will be in Manila, Philippines, next week to participate in a conference session that will explore the approaches, experiences and lessons of low- and middle-income country focused consortia that have sought to build capacity in health policy and systems research. The session, entitled The network approach to strengthening health systems research capacity: experiences from the global South, will include participants from CHEPSAA, Future Health Systems - Africa Hub,  ARCADE and KEYSTONE, which work across various countries in Africa and Asia.

The panel discussion will be structured to resemble a television talk show and will touch on topics such as:

• The governance structures and processes of the different consortia;
• Approaches to priority setting for capacity building;
• The advantages and challenges of working in consortia / large networks;
• The inclusion of Northern and Southern partners in networks and how this affects resources, power relations and the achievement of mutual benefit;
• The role of donors in the functioning of capacity building networks; and
• Achieving the long-term sustainability of these capacity building initiatives.

The session forms part of the Global Forum on Research and Innovation For Health (Forum 2015) conference, which has the theme of People at the Centre of Health Research and Innovation.

If you are attending the conference, please join us for the discussion: 26 August 2015, Meeting Room 4, 16:30-17:45.