article · International Journal of Health Policy and Management
A two-way secondment programme was conducted between Ebonyi State University and the Ebonyi State Ministry of Health in Nigeria to bridge the gap between academic research and public decision-making. Over six months, ten researchers and ten policy-makers spent up to two days each week within each other's organisations. Participating researchers contributed to health ministry policy development, advisory tasks, and evidence-use training, while policy-makers engaged in university research activities, including serving on an ethics committee. Survey evaluations indicated substantial gains in participants' knowledge of policy analysis and contextualisation following dedicated capacity-enhancement sessions. The initiative also resulted in the formation of the Society for Health Policy Research and Knowledge Translation to permanently institutionalise reciprocal collaboration.
Scientific findings frequently fail to influence public health decisions due to persistent divides between researchers and government bodies. Demonstrating a functioning two-way secondment model provides public health authorities and universities with a structured method to exchange expertise directly, enhancing institutional capacity to translate empirical evidence into real-world policies and public health actions.
Although not an intellectual property asset, this tested two-way secondment framework represents an applied organisational model ready for implementation across public health and academic sectors. Higher education institutions, health authorities, and public administration training providers could adapt this structured framework into standardised capacity-building programmes or professional consultancy services to facilitate systematic knowledge translation between researchers and government agencies.
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BACKGROUND: There is need to strengthen institutions and mechanisms that can more systematically promote interactions between researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders who can influence the uptake of research findings. In this article, we report the outcome of a two-way secondment model between Ebonyi State University (EBSU) and Ebonyi State Ministry of Health (ESMoH) in Nigeria as an innovative collaborative strategy to promote capacity enhancement for evidence-to-policy-to-action. METHODS: This study was an exploratory design with a quantitative cross-sectional survey technique. A secondment memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between heads of EBSU and ESMoH. The secondment program lasted six months with ten researchers and ten policy-makers spending up to two days per week in each other's organization. The secondee researchers got engaged in policy-making and implementation activities in ESMoH, while the policy-maker secondees got involved in research activities in EBSU. Secondees evidence-to-policy capacity enhancement meetings were held and questionnaires designed in 5-point Likert scale were used to assess their impact. RESULTS: The secondee policy-makers and researchers admitted having considerable knowledge of secondment with mean ratings (MNRs) of 3.40 and 3.74 respectively on the 5 points scale. Secondment appeared to be more common in the policy-makers' organization (MNRs: 2.80-3.07) than in the researchers' institution (MNRs: 2.58-2.84). The secondee policy-makers participated in some academic and research activities including serving in research ethics committee in EBSU and provided policy-making perspective to the activities. The secondee researchers supported the policymaking process in ESMoH through policy advisory roles, and provided capacity enhancement for staff of the ministry on the use of research evidence in policy-making. There was a noteworthy increase on knowledge of policy analysis and contextualization among the secondees ranging from 20.7% to 50.4% and 31.3% to 42.8% respectively following a training session. A Society for Health Policy Research and Knowledge Translation was established by mutual agreement of secondees as a platform to permanently institutionalize the collaboration. CONCLUSION: The outcome of this study clearly suggests that secondment has great potential in promoting evidence informed policy-making and merits further consideration.
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DOI: 10.15171/ijhpm.2017.123
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