Nonhlanhla Nxumalo (pictured), a participant in the CHEPSAA Emerging Leaders Programme and researcher with the Centre for Health Policy at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, has recently written a blog about health policy and systems research (HPSR) capacity in Africa and some of the efforts to develop the HPSR leaders of the future, including key challenges faced by these leadership development initiatives. She argues that we need more systematic mentorship models and mechanisms to support the growth of emerging researchers and future leaders in HPSR in Africa.

Click here to read the full article, which was published by Research Professional.

The CHEPSAA Emerging Leaders Programme was launched in July 2013 and has 26 participants from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa. The overall goal of the programme is to contribute to capacity development for health policy and systems research and analysis in Africa by building a critical mass of future leaders who are committed to working in this field and equipped with the necessary skills and capabilities.

The Emerging Leaders Programme has influenced the thinking and practice of its participants and has recorded some early successes. These include:

• Helping to inspire people in Kenya and to energize a community-based social support movement;
• Supporting teamwork and leadership in Tanzania; and
• Fostering networking between colleagues in West and East Africa to solve research-related problems.

Click here to read the full stories.

The participants in the Emerging Leaders Programme (ELP) of the Consortium for Health Policy and Systems Analysis in Africa (CHEPSAA) will gather in Cape Town in the coming weeks (6-11 July 2014) for their second capacity development workshop.

This capacity development workshop will coincide with the piloting of two open-access, Master's-level courses designed by CHEPSAA: Introduction to Complex Health Systems and Introduction to Health Systems Research. The courses are being piloted as part of the Winter School Programme of the University of the Western Cape.

With its 26 participants, mostly educators and researchers from South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, the CHEPSAA ELP is a unique initiative that seeks to contribute to building a critical mass of future leaders in the field of health policy and systems research and analysis (HPSR+A) who are committed to working in this field in Africa and equipped with the necessary skills and capabilities.

The design of this programme is underpinned by a set of key competencies developed by CHEPSAA and understood to be key for successful functioning and growth in the HPSR+A field. These competencies include health policy and systems teaching and research, personal and communication skills, and networking skills. One of the distinct features of the initiative is that it emphasises the development of "soft" skills as much as "hard" skills.

The first ELP capacity development workshop took place in July 2013 and was strongly focused on leadership, communication and interpersonal skills. The participants also used this workshop to begin their work on certain HPSR+A issues or questions that they have continued to work on for the duration of the programme.

This year, the participants' attention will very much be focused on the Introduction to Health Systems Research course, in which they will all participate. In addition, the participants will use this opportunity to catch up with each other, reflect on the experiences of the first capacity development workshop in 2013 and plan ahead for future ELP activities.

"During our participation in this course, we will focus specifically on a number of key competencies, including teaching skills, curriculum development skills and broadening and deepening our understanding of research approaches relevant to HPSR+A," said Dr Nonhlanhla Nxumalo, a participant in the ELP who has also been involved in shaping and coordinating the programme. The roles of the ELP participants will range from attending the course and reviewing certain sessions in the course to facilitation of small group discussions and plenary sessions.

The CHEPSAA ELP participants will have one more meeting in September 2014, which has been timed to link to the 3rd Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, which will take place in Cape Town from 30 September to 3 October. After their meeting, the ELP participants will attend the symposium, where they will present an organised session entitled Emerging Leaders in Health Policy & Systems Research - Assuming leadership in Health Policy & Systems Research: Personal reflections and lessons.

CHEPSAA is a European Union-funded consortium of African and European universities that seeks to increase African capacity to produce and use high-quality HPSR+A. In addition to CHEPSAA's own funding, the CHEPSAA ELP is also supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

The work of the Consortium for Health Policy and Systems Analysis in Africa (CHEPSAA) to define and build core competencies for health policy and systems researchers and educators in Africa will this week be featured in Pattaya, Thailand through a poster presentation at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference.

The poster, entitled Core competencies for health policy and systems researchers and educators in Africa: development and curriculum design, was developed by Nonhlanhla Nxumalo (middle), Marsha Orgill (left) and Lucy Gilson. Nonhlanhla works at the Centre for Health Policy, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, while Marsha and Lucy are with the Health Policy and Systems Division, University of Cape Town.

CHEPSAA, a European Union-funded consortium of African and European universities, is a partnership whose overall purpose is to increase African capacity to produce and use high-quality health policy and systems research and analysis (HPSR+A). Among CHEPSAA’s specific objectives are the development of African HPSR+A educators and researchers, as well as strengthening the development of courses provided to a range of professionals for the primary purpose of strengthening health systems.

The poster highlights a process that CHEPSAA embarked on to develop, through consultation and the involvement of a range of experts, a set of core competencies and capabilities for HPSR+A educators and researchers. The set of core capabilities and competencies that were developed formed an important input into the first capacity development workshop of the CHEPSAA Emerging Leaders Programme.

The Emerging Leaders Programme, which kicked of in July 2013, is a capacity development programme that aims to contribute to building a critical mass of future leaders who are committed to working in this field in Africa and equipped with the necessary skills and capabilities. It will run for about 2 years and include two rounds of capacity development workshops, mentoring during the workshops and in the periods between workshops, and hopefully also participation in the 3rd Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, which will be held in Cape Town in 2014. Twenty-six people, including Nonhlanhla and Marsha, from Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Ghana are participating in the programme.

The poster also includes participants’ reflections on this first capacity development workshop of the Emerging Leaders Programme. One of the key lessons was that capacity-building focusing on leadership needs a balance between the individual technical skills / competencies required to flourish in the HPSR+A field and the collective ‘soft skills’ that enable relationships.

In future, the set of core capabilities and competencies developed will be used to structure the remaining part of the Emerging Leaders Programme, as well as to inform the development of open-access Master’s-level courses by CHEPSAA and a scoping exercise for an African doctorate degree in public health that CHEPSAA plans to undertake.

Click here to view the full poster.

Twenty-six professionals, mostly educators and researchers, from five African countries will this week gather in Cape Town, South Africa for the launch of the Emerging Leaders Programme of the Consortium for Health Policy and Systems Analysis in Africa (CHEPSAA).

The Emerging Leaders Programme is a unique initiative that seeks to contribute to the goal of building a critical mass of future leaders in the field of health policy and systems research and analysis (HPSR+A) who are committed to working in this field in Africa and equipped with the necessary skills and capabilities. 

HPSR+A is an emerging field, the value of which is increasingly being recognised. However, African capacity to conduct and use HPSR+A is very limited. Challenges include relatively little funding for research in this field, few African scientists working in this area, the limited availability of relevant training programmes in African universities and policy-makers who are often unaware of relevant research.

The Emerging Leaders Programme will begin with a capacity-building workshop this week (1-7 July 2013). This will be followed by a period of peer support, which will lead into a second capacity-building workshop in mid-2014. The programme will culminate in a third and final event linked to the 3rd Global Symposium on Health Systems Research taking place in Cape Town in September 2014, where the participants will put into practice some of the core capabilities developed over the course of the programme.

For this first week of the programme, the participants have been asked to identify a health policy and systems research or leadership issue that they would like to work on during the week and beyond, with the intention of supporting them both to conceptualise the issue that concerns them and to plan for addressing that issue in future. In addition to this, they will participate in various facilitated sessions seeking, among other things, to build their leadership capabilities and strengthen their leadership practices, improve their communication skills, and strengthen their project and time management skills.

Over the past year or so, CHEPSAA has, through a collaborative and consultative process, developed a set of core capabilities that it believes educators, researchers and analysts in the field of HPSR+A require to grow and be successful in the field. These have been organised into the themes (with more specific skills captured under each theme) of personal skills, writing skills, project management skills, networking skills, understanding and knowledge of HPSR+A, understanding of the health system, teaching skills, and research skills. These core capabilities underpin the design and activities of the Emerging Leaders Programme and the goal is to use the programme to realise them progressively over time according to the needs, strengths and weaknesses of each participant.

Using a screening process that collected information on issues such as work experiences, interests and career goals, the initial group of programme participants were selected from the CHEPSAA partner organisations in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, as well as a broader group of nominees from organisations working closely with the CHEPSAA partners. In addition, a limited number of participants from other academic and research organisations and NGOs will also participate.

CHEPSAA is a European Union-funded consortium of African and European universities which seeks to increase African capacity to produce and use high-quality HPSR+A. In addition to CHEPSAA’s own funding, this programme is also supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.