American University of Beirut

K2P Center Competitively Selected to Lead a 1.15 million Dollar Mentorship Program to Develop Sustainable Institutional Capacity for Evidence-Informed Decision-Making in Health in Low and Middle Income Countries

We are pleased to announce that the Knowledge to Policy (K2P) Center has been competitively selected as a lead mentor institute for developing sustainable institutional capacity for evidence-informed decision-making in health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This international recognition from the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research at the World Health Organization (WHO) is a demonstration of the strategic role that K2P Center plays in developing capacity for promoting evidence-informed decision-making in the health and social sectors at national, regional and international levels.

Through this innovative program of work, K2P Center will develop the capacity of six mentee institutions, one from each WHO region, with a budget of $US 1.15 million over a period of three years. The program will build a cadre of policymaking and research/knowledge institutions that champion the use of evidence in decision-making in health in each region. This initiative constitutes the first and only arrangement of its kind in LMICs for promoting sustainable capacity-development in evidence-informed decision-making in health.   

The six mentee institutions have been carefully selected from each WHO region, as follows:  

  • Region of the Americas: Caribbean Health Policy and Systems Research Centre, University of the West Indies, Jamaica

  • European Region: Curatio International Foundation (CIF), Georgia

  • South-East Asia Region: Center for Policy and Health Management, Faculty of Medicine, University of Gajah Mada

  • Western Pacific Region: National Institute of Public Health, Cambodia

  • African Region: Health Policy and Systems Institute, Ebony State University, Nigeria

  • Eastern Mediterranean Region: Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, Dubai

Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Dr. Iman Nuwayhid, hailed the achievement and considered it a critical turning point for K2P Center, re-positioning it as a global reference center for capacity development in evidence-informed policymaking in health. Founding Director of K2P ​Center, Fadi El-Jardali, affirmed the significance of this program, further adding: “Through this work, we aim to create a shift in culture, mindsets and people's thinking when it comes to evidence-informed decision-making in health. The selected mentee institutions will build bridges to the ecosystem of supports to policymaking and play transformational roles in strengthening ​evidence-informed decision-making in health and social policies. We look forward to planting the seeds that will pave the path to lasting health and societal impacts at the global level."  

K2P Center is established at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the American University of Beirut with seed funding from International Development Research Centre (IDRC). K2P Center is a forerunner in synthesizing evidence, contextualizing knowledge and engaging stakeholders to impact health and social policy and action in Lebanon, the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) and beyond. It has been designated as a WHO Collaborating Center for Evidence informed Policy and Practice, making it the only WHO Collaborating Center of its kind in Lebanon and the region, and the second globally after the McMaster Health Forum in Canada.

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