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(IDRC - IDRIS DATA BASE) [Project value: Quoted in Canadian dollars not deflated]
Methods and Tools for Policy Assessment
This project builds on initiatives proposed by research centres,
policymakers, local governments, and practitioners in Chile, Kenya,
and Canada to capture expected and unexpected results of social policy
reforms. Project participants will implement a research program with
a focus on the development of methods and tools for the assessment
of reforms. Specifically, researchers will systematize, develop, test,
and disseminate selected methods and tools for the assessment of social
policies, implemented as a result of reform measures and addressed
to overcome extreme poverty. The research program will produce
a database on methods and tools for policy assessment (PA); a series
of social indicators for policy assessment; a model for the evaluation
of poverty programs; a manual and training materials to support the
model; and a reference system on PA methods and tools, which will
be accessible through Internet. The project will be conducted in Chile
in response to the needs of the Ministry of Planning and Cooperation
(MIDEPLAN) to develop a methodology for social policy assessment,
and in Kenya and Canada to identify and test complementary methods.
http://www.idrc.ca/lacro/foro/projects/tools-s.htm
Decentralization and Social Policies
Decentralization is becoming a general institutional, political, and
social phenomenon in Latin America. However, local governments,
including municipalities, are not well prepared for their new responsibilities
nor do they have the tools or resources to bear these responsibilities.
Lessons from the decentralization of social policies are difficult
to draw because of the difficulties of evaluating the process. This
project will provide support to carry out an integrated set of research
activities to consolidate policy‑relevant knowledge on social
policy decentralization and local government. The project will
permit a number of institutions to collaborate around a common agenda
that includes the preparation of policy papers synthesizing research
results and policy recommendations; the organization of meetings
(including the use of electronic means); the production of policy
papers and a regional newsletter; and the provision of technical advice.
In this task, a large number of institutions across the region and
in Canada will be involved. Special efforts will be made to involve
African researchers and institutions as well. The project will increase
regional capacity in Latin America to share and exchange information
by strengthening a network on research and action in local development.
http://www.idrc.ca/lacro/foro/networks/decsoc-s.htm
Regional Research Program on Social Policy Assessment Phase II
Phase I of this project identified national research priorities in
social policy in selected Latin American countries. Building on the
results and recommendations of phase I, this project will support
the consolidation of a regional research network mechanism to assess
social policy reform processes in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The project supports a program of research, training, information,
and dissemination of research results on social policy. Under
the direction of a regional Coordination Unit and an Executive Committee,
a network of institutions throughout the region will collaborate to
develop a program of research on social policy analysis; promote public
debate and discussion on policy options for decision‑making at the
national and regional levels; identify training and information needs
for social policy-making and analysis; and enhance institutional capacity
to carry out research, training, and information activities in support
of national and local government's decisions and impact assessments
of social policy reforms. The program will identify institutions and
human resources working in social policy analysis; produce research
reports and position papers assessing cases of social policy reform;
organize international seminars, electronic conferences, and a regional
newsletter to evaluate and disseminate research results; implement
information systems on human and institutional resources for policy‑making;
and prepare and disseminate selected materials, methods, and tools
for training and information exchanges on social policy analysis.
http://www.idrc.ca/lacro/foro/networks/rrp-s.htm
Research Network on Health Systems and Policies in Central America
and the Caribbean
In the 1980s, the rebuilding of health care systems in the war-ravaged
countries of Central America seemed to signal a new era in regional
cooperation and integration. The decade's economic crises, however,
relegated health care to a lower priority. Governments adopted
structural adjustment programs, which were accompanied by an increase
in poverty and a drop in public health care spending. Health services
could not keep pace with demand and the quality of care was compromised.
In the 1990s, countries in the region have embarked on a process of
health care reform as part of an integrated program of democratisation
and economic renewal. There is, however, a lack of research information
to support the reform process and to help develop solutions to the prevailing
health care problems. This project will create a research network aimed
at generating a better understanding of the characteristics and effects
of reform on the health sector in Central America and the Caribbean.
The network will function around a series of focal points -- one in
each country as well as a central coordinating unit. Through the establishment
of the network, the project will: create links among researchers working
on themes of national and regional interest; forge links between universities
and teaching programs in public health and those institutions and organizations
providing health care services; strengthen the research capacity of
the public, private, and community institutions that influence
the decision-making process in the health sector; develop and implement
research protocols on specific research themes, including accessibility,
quality of care, models of health care, and financing; update scientific
and methodological aspects of research on health systems and services;
and publish and disseminate scientific information. This project will
generate proposals for health care reform at the regional and national
levels. The research results will help decision-makers to understand
problems with reform initiatives and to introduce corrective measures
for better policy formulation and more effective and efficient implementation.
Specific outcomes include national and regional workshops, regular bulletins
and reports, several databanks of resources and a Central American and
Caribbean Congress for the dissemination of project results. The final
stage of the project will produce evaluations of research results and
of the network's progress.
http://www.idrc.ca/lacro/foro/networks/healthcari-s.htm
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