Health Research Capacity Strengthening in Kenya and Malawi
The Health Research Capacity Strengthening (HRCS) initiative aims to strengthen the capacity for generating new health research knowledge within Kenya and Malawi, and to improve its use in evidence-based decision making, policy formulation and implementation.
This will be achieved by strengthening key academic research and health policy-making institutions, and facilitating the collaborative engagement of national representatives.
The Wellcome Trust and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) committed £10 million each towards health research capacity strengthening in Africa. The International Development Research Centre, Canada (IDRC) joined the initiative as an implementing partner with experience in health research programmes in East Africa, and as a funder.
An inception phase supported National Task Forces in the two countries, which over six months developed comprehensive and costed five-year workplans that document activities to support the initiative's aims.
In Kenya the programme will be implemented by a new NGO, the Consortium for National Health Research (CNHR).
In Malawi, HRCS activities will be undertaken by the existing National Research Council of Malawi (NRCM).
A mechanism for the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the initiative, HRCS Learning, has also been put in place.
For more information on the HRCS initiative, see:
- inception phase [PDF 66KB]
- implementation phase [PDF 1.41MB].