Dilemmas of evaluation: health research capacity initiatives

Dilemmas of evaluation: health research capacity initiatives Donald C Cole, Garry Aslanyan, Alison Dunn, Alan Boyd & Imelda Bates a Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Health Sciences Building room 676, 155 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 3M7, Canada. b World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. c Write Space, Brighton, England. d Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, Manchester, England. e Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, England. Correspondence to Donald C Cole (email: [email protected]). (Submitted: 21 May 2014 – Revised version received: 23 September 2014 – Accepted: 1 October 2014 – Published online: 10 October 2014) Strengthening health research capacity in lowand middle-income countries (LMIC) is a recognized way to advance health and development. Numerous approaches to strengthening capacity exist at different levels, including training for individuals, improving research systems within institutions, and international collaborations among national health research agencies. 1 Systematic evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches remains limited, as their complexity and diversity make monitoring and evaluation difficult. Assessing returns on investments on research capacity strengthening has been challenging, since many funders have given low priority to rigorous monitoring and evaluation.