Capacity Strengthening of Local Institutions to Accelerate the Ouagadougou Partnership Research Agenda
Since 2011, the Ouagadougou Partnership (OP) has united various stakeholders to enhance modern contraception access, lower maternal and infant mortality, and improve health for women and children in nine (09) countries of Francophone West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. Participating countries have set specific goals to expand family planning services and improve sexual and reproductive health outcomes. These efforts have doubled the contraceptive prevalence rate in many countries and provided modern contraception to over four million people.
To build on achievements and address remaining challenges, the OP has developed a “Beyond 2020 Strategy”, which includes a focus on investment in research in the region. Based on this Strategy, a 2022 Research Agenda has been developed and is in its first iteration, working with 5-10 research institutions to generate evidence to inform investment in FP/SRH programs and policy efforts in OP countries. As a member of the OP Research Advisory Board, USAID/West Africa (USAID/WA) has committed to catalyzing support to the Ouagadougou Partnership Coordination Unit (OPCU) through a collaboration with Agency for All to provide tailored capacity building to the selected research institutions.
Implemented by the Agency for All consortium partners (EVIHDAF, the Center on Gender Equity and Health (GEH) at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), Makerere University and Sambodhi), this is a 02-year project funded by UDAID West Africa Regional Office. , – – to support research capacity building for 10 selected beneficiaries of the OP’s Research Agenda as part of its ‘Beyond 2020’ strategy.
Goal and objectives
This initiative aims to enhance the OPCU Research Agenda by co-creating a work plan that strengthens the capacity of grantees. It focuses on conducting research to improve evidence on effective FP/RH and MNCH strategies, ultimately leading to better health outcomes and knowledge application for health-system strengthening. Its vision: ensuring that in all OP member countries, decisions are based on evidence produced by research institutions. This vision is supported by the following objectives:
- Assess and document existing research capacities of grantees to provide a comprehensive understanding of research capacity gaps and needs.
- Foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among participating organizations creating a robust network that facilitates sharing best practices, expertise, and resources.
- Establish sustainable mechanisms for ongoing mentorship and support, ensuring that the capacity-building efforts have a lasting impact beyond the project duration.
- Package findings to translate learnings into policy and practice to support future OPCU research-related activities.
Approach
The proposed technical scope of work for the project is organized around Phases:
Phase 1 – Objective: begin relationship building with research grantees, OPCU, USAID/WA, and regional projects, followed by the development of a guiding framework for capacity building, the Baseline Capacity Assessment of partners and the co-creation and design of activities with grantees.
Phase 2 – Objective: develop core content and modules as well as tailored capacity building plans for each grantee.
Phase 3 – Objective: implement capacity strengthening initiatives for the grantee organizations.
Phase 4 – Objective: conduct the endline assessment, document the lessons learnt, dissemination and knowledge transfer.
To access the Agency for All project website, click here.
Snapshot
Study area: West Africa / OP Countries (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo)
Duration: 2023-2025
Consortium Partners: Center on Gender Equity and Health, UC San Diego; EVIHDAF; Makerere University; Sambodhi
Funder: UDAID West Africa Regional Office
Other Partners: Ouagadougou Partnership Coordination Unit
Targets: (1) 10 local research institutions’ in OP countries enhanced capacities to generate new/strengthen evidence on effective strategies to improve family planning, reproductive health, and maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes; and (2) elevated leadership and expertise of these local institutions in bridging research-policy gaps.
Ongoing Projects
