Autor/a:
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Käser, Michael; Maure, Christine; Halpaap, Beatrice M. M.; Vahedi, Mahnaz; Yamaka, Sara; Launois, Pascal; Casamitjana, Núria
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Abstract:
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Between August 2012 and April 2013 the Career Development
Fellowship programme of the Special Programme for Research and
Training in Tropical Diseases (World Health Organization)
underwent an external evaluation to assess its past performance
and determine recommendations for future programme development
and continuous performance improvement. The programme provides a
year-long training experience for qualified researchers from low
and middle income countries at pharmaceutical companies or
product development partnerships. Independent evaluators from
the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and the Barcelona
Institute for Global Health used a results-based methodology to
review the programme. Data were gathered through document
review, surveys, and interviews with a range of programme
participants. The final evaluation report found the Career
Development Fellowship to be relevant to organizers' and
programme objectives, efficient in its operations, and effective
in its training scheme, which was found to address needs and
gaps for both fellows and their home institutions. Evaluators
found that the programme has the potential for impact and
sustainability beyond the programme period, especially with the
successful reintegration of fellows into their home
institutions, through which newly-developed skills can be shared
at the institutional level. Recommendations included the
development of a scheme to support the re-integration of fellows
into their home institutions post-fellowship and to seek
partnerships to facilitate the scaling-up of the programme. The
impact of the Professional Membership Scheme, an online
professional development tool launched through the programme,
beyond the scope of the Career Development Fellowship programme
itself to other applications, has been identified as a positive
unintended outcome. The results of this evaluation may be of
interest for other efforts in the field of research capacity
strengthening in LMICs or, generally, to other professional
development schemes of a similar structure. |