Thematic Working Group on Teaching and Learning Health Policy and Systems Research

Audio Consultation Minutes Wednesday, December 11, 2014; 8:00 am Eastern Standard Time; 1 pm UTC

Co-chairs: David Peters, Dina Balabanova, Prea Gulati

1. Welcome & Overview and Objectives of the Thematic Working Group

 The Thematic working group (TWG) proposal and agenda for the call were presented.  Co-chairs of the TWG were introduced.

 A question raised regarding the proposal was whether will former LMIC countries and High Income countries be included.

o Though the proposal focuses on LMIC countries – there will be no exclusion material on HPSR from any countries.

2. Discussion around the Initial Proposed Activities for the TWG

a. Mapping exercise of teaching in HPSR  Identify which schools and institutions are providing training in HPSR, what kind of curricula and course syllabi they have, availability of materials (e.g. open source, etc.), and institutional capabilities. The purpose would be to create a functional database of members and activities in Teaching and Learning HPSR, and to form the basis for a repository of educational materials.

Comments from members on what additional activities should be included were:

 There is a need to better need to define the field; what are our boundaries o At this initial stage there was consensus that we should keep the mapping and scoping exercises as broad as possible and gather as much information that one can.

 Members were unanimous in their agreement that materials where possible should be shared, including lectures, slides, case studies, how to teach o It was emphasized that materials when used again should be properly acknowledged o The sharing of materials would be voluntary and up to contributors to decide if they want their materials shared; and in what formats.

1 (Contributors would also need to check with their own institutions to identify if there are any limitations on what can be shared)

 Members agreed that both the mapping exercise and having a shared/open access repository should be our aim o Namely a database of members and what they are doing, syllabi, institutional capabilities to teach, see what policies are to share information  It was brought up the materials on how the trainings are being evaluated should also be collected.  The TWG should also be aware of the need to have the materials and trainings produced in different languages; and collect material that already exists in other languages.  The issue was raised of the range of audiences needing HPSR training and if the TWG can help in tailoring trainings to the different groups  It was also raised that we may want to conduct a historical assessment to both help contextualize and conceptualize the mapping (Aftab has volunteered to help on this  It was agreed that an outline of the mapping data collection tool will be sent out to all the members for their comments and inputs

b. Cape Town Symposium session for TWG  The focus of the discussion was to determine what topics members would like to have discussed during the organized session.  Volunteers are also sought to help prepare the abstracts. Deadline for organized sessions is January 15, 2014

The suggestions for topics for the organized session included:

 Members agreed that the findings from the mapping exercise should be one of the organized sessions. o Interested to see the variation across regions, programs, and stakeholders

Other suggestions for organized sessions were:

 Competencies for learning HPSR/Minimum Criteria – that may include developing a process to learn HPSR and define it? What qualifies that you have a good level of learning in HPSR? o As there are multiple levels of training programs this may have to be defined for each level  Sharing and presentations on pedagogical models – How do you best teach the concepts and theories? o Sharing good case studies (Claudio has volunteered) o E-learning, distance learning are gaining a lot of popularity – a training on how does one do that well would be valuable – especially given donor interest in funding open access.

2  An issue was also raised if we would have time to discuss all of the topics proposed in the same session or if we could submit proposals for multiple sessions o No restriction on the number of sessions. But we need volunteers on who would do this

 It was also raised that we could share materials prior to the session and after the session.

c. Cape Town Symposium satellite session  A satellite session could also be organized which will be an opportunity to have an indepth discussion on topics of particular interest.  We would need to submit a proposal for funding for such a session

o The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research was discussed as a possible funder  It was suggested that this could be the place to discuss the core competencies and minimum criteria for HPSR  Another suggestion was to have a “clinic” – a hands on session at how you put a program together – and see where the gaps are and build a strategy  On the HSG website we will have a place where people can keep contributing their thoughts and ideas – and get volunteers for particular roles

3. Discussion – What do members want from this group?

 A venue for both research and funding community on what is needed and what the gaps are and where money needs to be invested  An opportunity to share request for proposals – a place where members of the TWG can be beneficiaries of funding  Position paper – to stimulate further discussion – elaborate what the working group is about as a way to bring in more members and ideas  May have more webinars, and place on website – so members can give comments.  Will be working out of the HSG website – which will be moderated and regularly updates  Future webinars will be recorded and shared

4. Any other business  A call was made for volunteers to assist in the organization of the sessions o Jean-Paul, Aftab– willing to volunteer.