Management of the Global Fund aid programme in Botswana: challenges and prospects for health services delivery.

This paper examines the institutional management of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) in Botswana. We analyse the often contested roles of the state and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as recipients of GFATM and partners in extending public health service provision to communities. Of importance is that Botswana's first GFATM grant had to be administratively closed, and the country was not awarded any other grant (especially for HIV/AIDS) until over a decade later. Following this, it is of interest to understand the ways in which institutions manage grant programmes. This article concludes that the "big brother" relationship of the state in relation to NGOs is crippling the critical and constructive effects of these organisations to deliver needed community-based health services in Botswana. GFTAM represents a window of opportunity for creating an effective civil society whose local activities will not be seen as being led covertly by the state. This article contributes to both theory and practice within the scholarship of development aid in Africa. Qualitative research methods were used, including in-depth interviews with public sector policy makers, all GFATM principal and sub-recipients, members of the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) and NGOs.

Post-doctoral research fellowship as a health policy and systems research capacity development intervention: a case of the CHESAI initiative.

BACKGROUND: Building capacity in health policy and systems research (HPSR), especially in low- and middle-income countries, remains a challenge. Various approaches have been suggested and implemented by scholars and institutions using various forms of capacity building to address challenges regarding HPSR development. The Collaboration for Health Systems Analysis and Innovation (CHESAI) - a collaborative effort between the Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape Schools of Public Health - has employed a non-research based post-doctoral research fellowship (PDRF) as a way of building African capacity in the field of HPSR by recruiting four post-docs. In this paper, we (the four post-docs) explore whether a PDRF is a useful approach for capacity building for the field of HPSR using our CHESAI PDRF experiences. METHODS: We used personal reflections of our written narratives providing detailed information regarding our engagement with CHESAI. The narratives were based on a question guide around our experiences through various activities and their impacts on our professional development. The data analysis process was highly iterative in nature, involving repeated meetings among the four post-docs to reflect, discuss and create themes that evolved from the discussions. RESULTS: The CHESAI PDRF provided multiple spaces for our engagement and capacity development in the field of HPSR. These spaces provided us with a wide range of learning experiences, including teaching and research, policy networking, skills for academic writing, engaging practitioners, co-production and community dialogue. Our reflections suggest that institutions providing PDRF such as this are valuable if they provide environments endowed with adequate resources, good leadership and spaces for innovation. Further, the PDRFs need to be grounded in a community of HPSR practice, and provide opportunities for the post-docs to gain an in-depth understanding of the broader theoretical and methodological underpinnings of the field. CONCLUSION: The study concludes that PDRF is a useful approach to capacity building in HPSR, but it needs be embedded in a community of practice for fellows to benefit. More academic institutions in Africa need to adopt innovative and flexible support for emerging leaders, researchers and practitioners to strengthen our health systems.