Evaluation Criteria | Illustrative Challenges | Proposed Solutions |
---|---|---|
Access to resources | Financial – contract and payment delays Human – timely recruitment of qualified staff Technical – diverse set of unfamiliar online tools; lack of internet connectivity | - Time for recruitment, reflection, and pre-testing. - Technical training. - Permissions to utilize JHU tools (e.g. library access). |
Expectation setting | Lack of detailed description of task details. Communication approaches to altered tasks and timelines. Managing expectations of in-country stakeholders. | - Pre-proposal submission meeting with all team members. - Protocol development for communicating adaptations and iterations. |
Organizational context | Competing priorities for time and effort. Staff turnover and lengthy hiring processes. Coping capacity with delays. | - Provision of one coordinator for each country team. - Integration of project activities with doctoral program requirements in academic institutions. |
External context | Outbreaks (circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus and Ebola) National Elections Ongoing insecurity | - Flexibility in project targets. - Formal communication between JHU and country stakeholders. |
Quality of information | Too much vs. insufficient data collection (complexity of processes and tools). Reliability between researchers. | - Flexibility in tool modification and deliverable timelines. - More focused and precise tools. |
Relationship building | Trust and weak networks between country-team institutions and external stakeholders. | - Leverage JHU name to facilitate networks. - Conduct stakeholder meetings prior to project launch. |
Transparency | Lack of early engagement in decision-making for establishing processes, developing tools, and publication. | - Co-developed procedure for data analysis and establishing authorship criteria. |
Motivation | Researcher fatigue due to lengthy, detailed processes and tools. | - Rapid publication of results. - Additional time for planning and training. |
Scheduling | Frequent timeline adjustment due to holidays, delays, time zones, differing working-day schedules and other external context. | - Regular review (quarterly) of timelines. |
Adaptation | Misunderstandings about adapted timelines and work streams. | - Hire additional staff and engage students. - Early planning and engagement with teams on tool and process development. |
Communication and engagement | Confusion on who to contact within teams for different streams of work. Onerous communications through different modes. | - Additional one-on-one meetings. - Clarity on roles and responsibilities. - Development of externally facing website. |
Capacity building | Limited familiarity with diverse set of tools and approaches | - Additional training on tools. - Engaging student researchers. - Increased south-south collaboration. |