Adapting operational research training to the Rwandan context: the Intermediate Operational Research Training programme

ABSTRACT

Background: Promoting national health research agendas in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) requires adequate numbers of individuals with skills to initiate and conduct research. Recently, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have joined research capacity building efforts to increase research leadership by LMIC nationals. Partners In Health, an international NGO operating in Rwanda, implemented its first Intermediate Operational Research Training (IORT) course to cultivate Rwandan research talent and generate evidence to improve health care delivery.

Objective: This paper describes the implementation of IORT to share experiences with other organizations interested in developing similar training programmes.

Methods: The Intermediate Operational Research Training utilized a deliverable-driven training model, using learning-by-doing pedagogy with intensive hands-on mentorship to build research skills from protocol development to scientific publication. The course had short (two-day) but frequent training sessions (seven sessions over eight months). Trainees were clinical and programme staff working at the district level who were paired to jointly lead a research project.

Results: Of 10 trainees admitted to the course from a pool of 24 applicants, nine trainees completed the course with five research projects published in peer-reviewed journals. Strengths of the course included supportive national and institutional research capacity guidelines, building from a successful training model, and trainee commitment. Challenges included delays in ethical review, high mentorship workload of up to 250 hours of practicum mentorship, lack of access to literature in subscription journals and high costs of open access publication.

Conclusions: The IORT course was an effective way to support the district-based government and NGO staff in gaining research skills, as well as answering research questions relevant to health service delivery at district hospitals. Other NGOs should build on successful programmes while adapting course elements to address context-specific challenges. Mentorship for LMIC trainees is critical for effectiveness of research capacity building initiatives.

KEYWORDS:

• Research capacity building
• mentorship
• training
• learning by doing
• Africa
• health research
• SORT IT

Responsible Editor

John Kinsman, Umeå University, Sweden

Responsible Editor

John Kinsman, Umeå University, Sweden

Acknowledgments

We thank Partners In Health/Rwanda for funding the Intermediate Operational Research Training Program and the Partners In Health/Rwanda Innovation Grants for availing small grants for each research project in the training. We thank Anthony Harries and Rony Zachariah from MSF/TB Union and Andrew R. Ramsay from WHO-TDR, leaders of SORT IT trainings, for their review of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethics and consent

Not applicable. This was a descriptive non-research paper describing the implementation of PIH/Rwanda’s operational research training.

Paper context

Recent years have seen increased calls for national research capacity building in low-income countries, with little demonstrated success. Partners In Health/Rwanda (PIH/Rwanda) adapted the WHO/TDR Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT) training model and reports successful course implementation and outcomes. This paper highlights considerations for other countries to implement national operational research training programmes, including ways to mitigate common challenges to successful research capacity building efforts.

Additional information

Funding

We acknowledge the Global Health Delivery Partnership, especially HMS Research Core, for funding one staff and providing technical support to the training.

Notes on contributors

Bethany L. Hedt-Gauthier

BHG and CLA conceived the paper idea. JO and CLA co-led the manuscript preparation. BHG supported the development of initial drafts of the paper. All authors were engaged in the implementation of the course, provided insights into manuscript development, and reviewed and approved the manuscript for publication.