The K2P Mentorship Program adopts a multifaceted approach to develop sustainable capacity for evidence-informed decision-making in health in low and middle-income countries.
Overview of Peer Mentee Institution
So far, nine institutions from eight countries across the six WHO regions are involved in the K2P Mentorship Program.
Round one of the K2P Mentorship program encompassed six institutions, strategically selected from each WHO region to develop sustainable institutional capacity for increased demand and use of (research) evidence for health systems strengthening:
- WHO European Region: Curatio International Foundation (Georgia)
- WHO African Region: Health Policy and Systems Institute (Ebonyi State University -Nigeria)
- WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region: Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (Dubai-UAE)
- WHO Region of the Americas: Caribbean Health Policy and Systems Research Center (University of West Indies - Trinidad & Tobago)
- WHO Southeast Asia Region: Center for Policy and Health Management (University of Gajah Mada - Indonesia)
- WHO West Pacific Region: National Institute of Public Health (Cambodia)
Round two of the K2P Mentorship Program encompassed three additional institutions to develop sustainable institutional capacity on evidence-informed decision-making for Tobacco Control:
- WHO Southeast Asia Region: Development and Policies Research Center - DEPOCEN (Hanoi - Vietnam)
- WHO Southeast Asia Region: Ateneo School of Government through the Ateneo Policy Center (Phillippines)
- WHO African Region: Center for the Study of Economies of Africa - CSEA (Abuja, Nigeria)

Phase 1: Needs assessments

The first phase of the K2P Mentorship Program consists of a comprehensive baseline assessment of individual and institutional capacity and needs to promote evidence-informed decision-making and action. A key feature of this phase is that both producers and users of research will be involved in the assessment.
This phase leverages a range of high-quality state-of-the-art tools that have been developed and pilot-tested by K2P Center in several high-, middles and low-income countries.
This phase is critical for the following reasons:
- It will lead to the development of a customized capacity building ‘plan of action’ that fits the needs of the institution and that is appropriate to the local and regional environment.
- It will generate a baseline scorecard for monitoring and evaluation purposes.
Phase 2: Delivery of customized training, curricula, and capacity development

This phase involves the delivery of customized training, curricula, and capacity development activities to enhance knowledge, skills, and institutional capacity to support evidence-informed decision-making and action. It aims to design a context-specific capacity development 'plan of action' that is appropriate and tailored to the needs of each institution. Flexibility will be provided in terms of the program modalities and delivery options.
Check here for more information on how you can customize your Mentorship Program
Phase 3: Post-training coaching and mentorship
This phase will build on the momentum gained during Phase 2 to ensure the institution as a whole is able to support and work towards institutionalizing the use of evidence in decision-making and action.
Expected outputs
- Institutions that have the right systems, processes, and incentives to support and facilitate evidence-informed decision-making and action
- Researchers who understand the policymaking process and who have the skills and competencies to provide relevant, context-sensitive, and timely evidence to inform decision-making and action
- Policymakers who recognize the role of evidence in informing different stages of the policymaking process and who have the motivation and capacity to access, appraise and use evidence to inform decision-making and action