Share-Net Report Operational Research Working Group Meeting

Posted by Kimberley Meijers on June 21, 2017 at 11:44 am



The Share-Net Netherlands working group “Operational Research” was founded in 2013 after various Share-Net member organisations were granted DGIS funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2012. This funding included a newly-added operational research component. Since that time, the working group has been meeting on a regular basis to share members’ experiences of conducting operational research. As such, the working group contributes to Share-Net Netherlands’ objective to enhance the development of evidence-informed policy and practice and societal-relevant research.

The DGIS-funded programmes finished in 2016, and various of these programmes received funding to continue. Although the concept of “operational research” was new to many Share-Net members in 2012; at present, operational research seems to have become a natural component of developing, improving and evaluating programmes. On January 9th 2017, the working group organised an evaluation meeting with the aim to discuss and document the lessons learned in the past five years from the process of conducting operational research, and the implications for future activities aimed at enhancing operational research. These lessons and implications are discussed in the
present report.

The meeting was hosted by Aidsfonds in Amsterdam. We welcomed twelve participants working at NGOs and in academia. The meeting was chaired by Billie de Haas, who works as an independent consultant and organised this meeting on behalf of the Share-Net Netherlands secretariat.

The programme was as follows:

15.00-15.15 Opening
15.15-16.30 Discuss lessons learned, including:
▪ Presentation SRHR alliance – Miranda van Reeuwijk
▪ Presentation Bridging the Gaps – Ellen Eiling
16.30-16.45 Future activities Operational Research working group
16.45-17.00 AOB and Closing

First, this report presents the most important lessons learned as discussed by Miranda van Reeuwijk and Ellen Eiling, and complemented by the other participants. Then, suggestions for future activities for the working group “Operational Research” are given, followed by a short conclusion and discussion including recommendations for Share-Net Netherlands.

Please click here for the full Share-Net report OR working group meeting in pdf.

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