Building policy-making capacity in the Ministry of Health: the Kazakhstan experience

Abstract Background Over the last few years, increased international attention has been paid to bridging the gap between health research and policy-making. The situation analysis on evidence-informed policy-making (EIP) in Poland aims to increase understanding of interactions among a country’s research and policy-making communities, to determine where and how to best establish a knowledge translation platform (KTP), i.e. an organization or network that through its structure and functioning brings the worlds of research and policy together. Methods The methods were guided by the EVIPNet Europe Situation Analysis Manual and included a literature review, key-informant interviews and survey data analysis. Results In Poland, the existence of incentives or requirements stipulating the use of research evidence in health policy varies, depending on the type of policy. The use of evidence is a standard practice in drug policy, and in decisions related to the inclusion of services in the health benefit package. In other areas, some good practice examples of using evidence in policy can be identified. Yet these are rather individual, isolated and bottom-up initiatives, which neither occur systematically, nor routinely. Key challenges in view of strengthening a systemic approach to EIP relate to: overlapping mandates of key health system and research institutions, generally low research capacity and lack of knowledge translation skills. Conclusions Establishing and operationalizing a KTP can be an effective means of supporting sustainable EIP. Building such infrastructure, however, is a longer-term and complex process that needs to be based on the current characteristics of the country’s EIP landscape. The proposed model of a future KTP in Poland is a network with a joint secretariat within the Ministry of Health. Such form can take advantage of existing organizations’ competencies via information exchange and cooperation. Key messages Although systemic mechanisms for evidence-informed health policy are missing in Poland, its importance is recognized among major health system stakeholders. The proposed model of a future knowledge translation platform in Poland is a network with a joint secretariat within the Ministry of Health.

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Qujing (取经) as policy mobility with Chinese characteristics: A case study of ultralow-energy building policy in China

Environment and Planning A Economy and Space ◽

10.1177/0308518x20960736 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 0308518X2096073

Author(s):

Yu Zhou

Keyword(s):

Tang Dynasty ◽

Policy Making ◽

Ultralow Energy ◽

Policy Experimentation ◽

Chinese Characteristics ◽

Transnational Actors ◽

Generalized Patterns ◽

Experimentalist Governance ◽

Building Policy

This article introduces the concept and practice of qujing as a Chinese state-organized form of policy mobility. The term qujing originates in the journey of a Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang who brought Buddhism’s sutras from India to China in the 7th century; qujing has been appropriated by modern Chinese leaders to promote learning from the experiences of other regions. In post-reform China, qujing has become routinized within the Chinese bureaucracy as an integral step in its distinctive experimentalist governance. By bringing insights from the literature of China’s policy experimentation to situate trans-local learning, I challenge the disproportionate attention the policy mobility literature has paid to local and transnational actors in mobilizing policies under neoliberalism. Instead, I locate the origins, agency, and knowledge mutation of Chinese qujing within the multi-scalar policy experimentation protocols of China’s authoritarian regime. This article contrasts qujing with generalized patterns of policy mobility in the existing literature, thereby decentering political mobility research from more familiar western political contexts and actors. Using multi-year interviews and official documents, I trace China’s introduction of ultralow-energy passive building from Germany as a case-study to show the relationships between foreign learning ( qujing), local experimentation, and policy making in greening China’s built environment.

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PROVIDING A MODEL FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF GOOD GOVERNANCE IN THE HEALTH IN MINISTRY OF HEALTH (CASE STUDY AT TEHRAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES)

Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews ◽

10.18510/hssr.2021.918 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 79-95

Author(s):

Farshid Radfar ◽

Ali Reza Afsharnejad ◽

Zeinolabedin Amini Sabegh ◽

Ehsan Sadeh

Keyword(s):

Policy Making ◽

Good Governance ◽

Archival Studies ◽

Medical Sciences ◽

Ministry Of Health ◽

Effective Implementation ◽

Structure Factors ◽

Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽

Process Factors

Purpose of the study: The current paper seeks to evaluate the feasibility of good governance in the Ministry of Health (Case study at Tehran University of Medical Sciences). In this regard, good governance and providing its requirements including participation, rule of law, transparency, accountability, consensus, fairness, efficiency, and effectiveness. Methodology: The population of this study were managers at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. According to the characteristics of the population in which the number of employees and experts is unlimited and uncertain, 300 questionnaires were distributed and 267 questionnaires were collected. Main Findings: The result of the Friedman test for ranking the components of good governance showed that the highest average among good governance factors was related to the resource factor. Structure factors were placed in the second rank and process factors had the last rank among good governance factors. Applications of this study: The results of this study can be applied in the government's decision and as a result, effective management of policy-making, assistance in the implementation of general policies of the administrative system of the country, achieving the positive consequences of the effective implementation of the country's policy-making management system, helping the growth and development of the organization, managers, and employees of the organization. Novelty/Originality of this study: According to the studies and archival studies in the field of good governance, the model of good governance in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran has not been worked on before. This can lead to the expansion of knowledge and the production of science.

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Committees and the legislature

10.1332/policypress/9781447350897.003.0007 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 93-106

Author(s):

Bernadette Connaughton

Keyword(s):

Policy Analysis ◽

Policy Making ◽

Administrative Reform ◽

Reform Initiatives ◽

Legislative Performance ◽

Policy Failures ◽

Building Policy

This chapter explores the historical and contemporary role of parliamentary and other political committees in policy analysis, and the institutional supports which enable their function in policy making. While the dearth of assistance and resources available to Teachtaí Dála (TDs) has contributed to underwhelming legislative performance, developments since 2011 provide an important context for amending relative deficiencies in earlier reform initiatives and the systemic policy failures highlighted by the 2008 crisis. The agenda to introduce political-administrative reform post 2011 included building policy analysis capacity within the Oireachtas and addressing the significant imbalances in executive-legislative relations.

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