What level of government did you target to translate your research into policy and why did this make the most sense?
This is an important topic for our team currently. Sirina mentioned the county-oriented nature of the new decentralized government. This shift to a more decentralized government was implemented through a revision of the Kenyan constitution during the time that both Sirina and I were doing our fieldwork to develop and implement earlier versions of our respective projects. Previously, our team engaged the local district ministry of health in our project, mostly to get buy-in and to share credit with them for our successes. This was adequate for our pilot phase, but it is no longer adequate as we refine our intervention and expand implementation across a broader area - due to both the shifting landscape of Kenyan politics and to the larger scale of our intervention.
What level of government makes the most sense for you to translate your research into policy and why?
We are now working on targeting the county ministry of health for translation of our research into policy. Ultimately, the target of actual policy change must be at the national level, but as we build a broader base of evidence we first plan to engage with county officials. The more ownership that these officials feel of our project, the more likely we will be to translate successful findings to a broader policy level.
What strategies did you use to reach policymakers?
We are using existing connections at the local district MOH offices, as well as contacts within the FACES program (a UCSF-Kenya Medical Research Institute partnership that delivers HIV care and treatment throughout the region) to reach out to county officials. We plan to have an initial meeting between the county MOH, our research manager/co-investigator in the field, our local FACES co-investigator and the district MOH officials. Ideally, we will make subsequent site visits to the clinics included in our study with a county MOH official to further increase buy-in and credit sharing, as well as meaningful engagment in our project.
After implementation of our project, and assuming that the intervention proves effective, we plan to use these connections at the county-level MOH offices to reach out to national MOH officials. Allowing county MOH officials to co-present findings with us will hopefully increase motivation within the MOH to adopt policies that the MOH already supports and gets credit for.
What steps are available to you to reach policymakers?
Other connections within UCSF and the Kenya Medical Research Institute are also available to reach out to policy makers as our intervention matures and evidence for effectiveness accumulates.