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PROPEL Health held  a  training  workshop on ‘Health Systems Research, Ethics and Protocol Development for District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) in Kasane Botswana from 20 -24 November 2023  in Kasane, Botswana. The training was  conducted jointly by African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), PROPEL Health Botswana and Health Policy Research and Development, Ministry of Health and Wellness, Botswana.The participants hailed  from three referral hospitals (Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital, Princess Marina Hospital & Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital)Tand 15 District Health Management Teams (DHMTs) (Chobe, Gaborone, Greater Selibe Phikwe, Tutume, Kweneng, Okavango, Ghanzi, Kgalagadi North, , Ngami, Greater Lobatse, Southern, Kgatleng, Mahalapye, Serowe/Palapye). Of the 65participants, 28 and 37 were men and women respectively. The aim of the training was to impart the DHMTs knowledge and skill to develop sound health systems research protocols that are geared to solve health service delivery challenges as well as building research capacity of the DHMTs.

The opening session of the training was graced by Deputy Permanent Secretary Moses Keetile, who reiterated the need for skill development for the DHMTs to conduct research to improve health systems function in their districts. The training workshop was also graced by Marlene Nkete, the Country Director, PROPEL Health. She highlighted the role of PROPEL Botswana in the facilitation of the training and emphasized their role in advancing the country’s health agenda The overarching goal of the training was for each District team to develop a comprehensive and competitive research protocol that meets society’s needs. It was also envisaged that the team, by the end of training, was to develop research protocols that have a bearing on health system research. Specifically, the training was tailored towards providing theory to participants on health systems research, ethics, and protocol development to aid them in understanding the nature and structures of health systems and protocol development; guiding participants on how to construct problem statements, and research objectives and conduct a literature review that is relevant to the research;  providing theory on methodology, study design, and sampling, and guide participants on how to choose the appropriate methodology for their research protocols as well as guide them on how to construct the budget and work for the proposed research area; reviewing protocols developed by participants given their selected priority areas and where the participants have not yet selected priority areas, to guide them and review the chosen priority areas and guiding participants in designing the monitoring, evaluation, and learning in the proposed research area.

The facilitator for the workshop were Dr. Moses Muriithi (Department of Economics and Development Studies, University of Nairobi), Dr. Naomi Setshegetso (Department of Economics, University of Botswana), Dr. Scholastica Odhiambo (African Economic Research Consortium; and Abia Sebaka, Kgomotso Motlhanka, Banyana Sekwati and Lesego Oduetse from HPRD, Ministry of Health and Wellness, Botswana.