In 2017 the Canadian IDRC concluded a six-year programme supporting research organisations in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lebanon, Peru and Vietnam in the development and testing of solutions to strengthen health systems through information technology. The programme under the title ‘Strengthening Equity through Applied Research Capacity building in eHealth’ (SEARCH) set out four objectives: (i) strengthen, redesign and improve health system processes; (ii) support key health system operations essential for equity, (iii) generate evidence for decision-making, and (iv) increase social participation, accountability and transparency. The results of six SEARCH studies were published in December 2018 in a supplement of the Journal of Public Health.

From 2014 to 2016, hera accompanied the SEARCH programme with a learning evaluation which, among other objectives, observed and documented the pattern and intensity of networking among the seven research teams. While South-South cooperation is a core modality of IDRC work, it is usually managed by programme officers or by institutions that are commissioned and supported to maintain research networks. But internet technology has profoundly changed the way institutions are collaborating. Networks are expanding seemingly without moderators or managers. Where better to examine this than among a group of researchers in eHealth that spans the globe with studies that were selected under a set of common objectives?

The result of hera’s network analysis is published in the journal supplement.  Read the full article by clicking the green ‘Download’ button.