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COLLABORATION & CAPACITY-BUILDING INDICATORS
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No.
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Area 1: Collaboration
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27
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Number of instances of products or services developed or disseminated with partners
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28
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Number of instances of South-to-South or South-to-North information sharing
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Area 2: Capacity Building
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29
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Number and type of capacity-building efforts
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Collaboration and capacity building contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of public health interventions and associated health outcomes. Collaboration enables partners to share ideas, leverage resources, and jointly develop innovative solutions. Capacity building strengthens organizations and communities and plays a crucial role in the development of sustainable health programs. Both are powerful tools that can mobilize individuals, organizations, communities, and government entities to solve problems faster and generate long-lasting improvements.
Indicator 27:
Number of instances of products or services developed or disseminated with partners
Definition: Cooperatively developed products or services are those that have been planned, designed, and/or prepared with a collaborating partner (FHI, 2006). Jointly disseminated products or services are those in which two or more entities work together, each with a role in improving awareness and ensuring targeted distribution of health information products and services.
Data Requirements: Names of partners involved, resources committed (from each partner); purpose, objectives, and anticipated or actual outcomes of the collaboration.
Data Source(s): Memorandum of understanding, concept proposals, work plans, administrative records, annual reports, results reports.
Purpose and Issues: Collaborating with others to develop or disseminate health information products and services generally increases synergy and reduces overall cost. At the same time, it should be recognized that coordination itself takes time and thus entails a cost. It is important to capture and demonstrate the degree to which each partner contributes to the jointly planned activity (FHI, 2006). Joint financial support for printing and distribution is one type of collaboration.
Examples:
Two examples of collaboration appear below. To quantify this indicator, one would count the instances of collaboration. Adding descriptions of the activities and their results can create a strong evidence-based narrative.
More than 30 technical assistance and service delivery organizations, working under the aegis of WHO and coordinated by WHO and the INFO Project, jointly developed the follow-on to INFO's Essentials of Contraceptive Technology handbook. Development of the new book, Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers, has engaged technical experts from USAID, WHO, numerous USAID Cooperating Agencies (CAs), and other organizations in building consensus on appropriate, evidence-based guidance on the delivery of major family planning methods and on related health topics. The new book is one of WHO's Four Cornerstones of Family Planning Guidance and also has received the endorsement of dozens of technical assistance and health care professionals' organizations, many of whom have contributed to printing and are participating in dissemination.
Members of HIPNET coordinated a collaborative mass mailing of 133 publications, contributed by 18 organizations, to 433 libraries in developing countries. Consolidated shipping led to a savings of more than US$53,000.
Indicator 28:
Number of instances of South-to-South or South-to-North information sharing
Definition: South-to-South andSouth-to-North information sharing includes exchange of expertise, information, products, or services among individuals or organizations at the local, regional or global level. Information sharing occurs when individuals or organizations exchange publications or participate in networks and communities of practice (online or face-to-face), study tours, training events, meetings, or workshops (FHI, 2006).
Data Requirements: Countries, organizations, individuals participating in exchange, objectives, description and duration of information sharing activity, technical area or topic of exchange.
Data Source(s): Administrative records, reports, email or other communication documenting the information sharing, volume of message traffic, and number of participants in a network or community of practice.
Purpose and Issues: Today, more than ever, individuals and organizations have increased opportunities for information sharing across geographic boundaries. Information sharing can occur face-to-face or through Internet technology. South-to-South and South-to-North information sharing facilitates individual and organizational learning and can enhance activities, outputs, and outcomes. Information sharing exchanges can also save time and resources (CTA, KIT, IICD, 2005). In addition, the innovations and solutions that are developed in one setting may be adaptable to similar settings elsewhere (FHI, 2006).
Internet technologies can facilitate information sharing through listservs, discussion forums, chat rooms, and the like. While the Internet provides new opportunities for South-to-South and South-to-North information sharing, it also has its drawbacks. Internet connectivity is still scarce and expensive in much of the South.
Example:
An example of information sharing among individuals from the North and the South appears below. To quantify this indicator, one could count the instances of such information sharing that occurred in a time period. Providing descriptions of the activities and their results can produce an even stronger report on results.
The INFO Project, YouthNet, and the Implementing Best Practices Initiative sponsored a month-long discussion forum on issues concerning youth and then launched an online community on youth reproductive health. More than 650 people in 86 countries joined the forum.
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Area 2: Capacity Building
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Indicator 29:
Number and type of capacity-building efforts
Definition: Capacity building is defined as a “process or activity that improves the ability of a person or entity to ‘carry out stated objectives’” (LaFond et al., 2002). Capacity building can occur at any level of the system: organization, health personnel, community, or individual.
Outcomes of capacity building efforts can be measured on a continuum (see IR 3.3 of USAID Office of Population and Reproductive Health Results Framework,p. 51):
· implementing with significant technical assistance (TA),
· implementing/replicating with limited TA,
· implementing/replicating independently,
· serving as a resource for others/leveraging resources.
Data Requirements: Description of capacity-building effort, including scope and scale; description of entities or individuals assisted.
Data Sources: Administrative records, annual reports, trip reports, work plans, budgets, financial statements.
Purposes and Issues: Capacity building in the area of provision of information products and services may relate to building capacity to use information and communication technologies such as computers, telephones, cell phones, and more. It may also relate to strengthening the ability to share knowledge through online discussion forums, blogs (a Web log or journal), wikis (collaborative Web site that can be edited by anyone), and communities of practice or to access knowledge through the Internet or to search for information. Organizations that provide information products and services also may offer training to use new guidelines or manuals or to implement curricula.
Capacity building is an integral part of international health and development work. Indeed, a major goal of foreign assistance is to strengthen local ability to develop sustainable solutions and thus decrease reliance on foreign investment and technical assistance. The purpose of this indicator is to count and describe capacity building efforts and, where known, their results. While capacity building is generally seen as important, there is less agreement on exactly what constitutes capacity building and how to best measure the effects of capacity-building efforts on performance. Information products or services can be used as part of larger capacity-building efforts, or they may have effects on their own.
Example:
In February 2006 regional health officials in Nairobi launched the scale-up of an IUD service delivery model at two new sites. In partnership with FHI Kenya staff, they trained 35 health care personnel at the two sites to apply the model.
