TDR Results 2014 Report Measuring for improvement For research on diseases of poverty UNICEF • UNDP • World Bank • WHO TDR/STRA/15.2 Copyright © World Health Organization on behalf of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases 2015 All rights reserved. The use of content from this health information product for all Mention or depiction of any specific product or commercial non-commercial education, training and information purposes is enterprise does not imply endorsement or recommendation by encouraged, including translation, quotation and reproduction, WHO, including TDR, the authors or any parties cooperating in in any medium, but the content must not be changed and full the production, in preference to others of a similar nature not acknowledgement of the source must be clearly stated. 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Achieving TDR’s scientific and technical objectives ........................................................... 9 3.1 Outcome: Infectious disease knowledge, solutions and implementation strategies translated into policy and practice in disease endemic countries ...................................................................................... 9 3.2 Main output: New and improved solutions and implementation strategies that respond to health needs of disease endemic countries developed ...................................................................................... 10 3.3 Feeder output: High quality intervention and implementation research evidence produced .................. 12 3.4 Feeder output: Enhanced research and knowledge transfer capacity within disease endemic countries ................................................................................................................................................. 15 3.5 Feeder output: Key stakeholders in disease endemic countries engaged in setting the research agenda and ensuring research reflects their needs ................................................................................. 17 4. Applying TDR core values to our work ............................................................................ 18 4.1 Socio‐economic and gender equity ......................................................................................................... 18 4.2 Effective partnerships ............................................................................................................................. 24 4.3 Sustainability of outcomes ...................................................................................................................... 24 4.4 Quality of work ........................................................................................................................................ 24 5. Management performance ............................................................................................. 25 5.1 Effective resource mobilization ............................................................................................................... 25 5.2 Effective management ............................................................................................................................ 25 6. Continuous performance improvement: learning from success and failure ..................... 27 7. Annexes .......................................................................................................................... 28 Annex 1. List of TDR‐supported peer‐reviewed publications 2014 ................................................................... 28 Annex 2. Progress on the TDR’s current portfolio of expected results – Status as at 31 December 2014 ......... 45 Annex 3. Tools and strategies developed or contributed by TDR and that have been in use for at least 2 years ..................................................................................................................................................... 46 Annex 4. Estimate leverage in 2014 ................................................................................................................. 50 Annex 5. 2014 contributions to the 2014‐15 biennium .................................................................................... 51 4 TDR RESULTS | 2014 REPORT 1. Summary The year 2014 represented a solid step forward towards achieving TDR’s goals and delivering new tools, solutions and strategies against infectious diseases of poverty. The vast majority of the expected results are on track despite a challenging environment that led to a number of TDR’s staff dedicating time and effort to fighting the Ebola outbreak. This report shows progress made on various performance indicators related to three overarching categories: technical expected results, application of organizational core values, and managerial performance. Projects in research capacity strengthening made significant progress. The number of individual training grants increased greatly in 2014 compared to previous years, with 103 new grants awarded addressing global and regional priorities. The School of Public Health at the University of Ghana in Accra was selected as the TDR Regional Training Centre in the African region and will develop training programmes based on both the Implementation Research Toolkit developed by TDR and the School’s own courses in implementation research. TDR’s network of Regional Training Centres is now disseminating training courses in a geographical area expanded to include the Western Pacific, South‐East Asia and European WHO regions, in addition to the Americas, its inception point. TDR trainees’ career tracking showed that 88% of respondents still worked in health research, they returned to their regions (and countries) of origin following completion of their education, they were twice more likely to manage teams and three times more likely to be in permanent posts than their European counterparts. This information came from a European Science Foundation survey of grantees from several institutions, including TDR. TDR trainees rated the importance of support by their sponsor much higher, indicating a higher level of appreciation. The number of peer‐reviewed publications supported by TDR in 2014 increased significantly from 120 to 227compared to the previous year. The proportion published in open or free access was 88%, a significant increase compared to previous years, and a reflection of recent policies of both TDR and WHO on open‐access publications. First authors came from 54 DEC (disease endemic country) and 18 non‐DEC countries from all WHO regions. The proportion of women as first author reached an all‐time peak of 47% of TDR‐supported publications. The proportion of contracts awarded to women in 2014 was 43%, the highest in recent years. Reflecting the Programme’s focus on gender equity as a core value, TDR initiated a project to identify and gather solutions to roadblocks that affect the careers of women researchers. New research evidence, summarized in this report, contributed to innovative tools, strategies and solutions likely leading to improved prevention, diagnosis and treatment, with a positive impact on beneficiaries in disease endemic