Within the strategic plan for St. Luke’s College of Nursing is the element of research and development. St. Luke’s College has a research committee that was established to undertake all research-related activities at the college. The college has a research centre that serves as a focal point and a resource of expertise, training, data collection and analysis. This acts as a centre for research for the Christian Association of Malawi (CHAM) colleges. It is an integral part of the research strategies for all the colleges and reinforces those activities envisaged within their strategic plan as well as in the National Integrated Research Programmes.
It has been established that there is no research centre in all CHAM colleges. Therefore, this centre works in collaboration with other CHAM colleges to come up with a vibrant and well-coordinated research centre.
The main aim of the centre is to conduct health-related researches and consultations that contributes to the wellbeing of the Malawian population. The centre also supports the government and other stakeholders in developing effective programmes by identifying areas of opportunity and areas needing immediate attention by sharing information, providing research and analysis. The areas of intervention for the centre are as follows:
- Capacity-building through training and provision of technical support
- Research and support to national expertise; and
- Information sharing and collaboration
The Centre was established to improve data collection and sharing of information. It undertakes a thorough assessment and diagnosis of trends in its respective thematic areas of research in Malawi and the Sub-Sahara region as well as in the development of well-focused, balanced and targeted technical assistance programmes to combat and prevent health-related problems in these regions. Furthermore, it also aims to serve as a centre of reference for health research in Malawi.
Research Centre closely works together with other stakeholders, relevant authorities, and academic institutes that provide strategic vision and direction and have a genuine interest and concern to reduce and prevent health-related problems in Malawi.
Areas of intervention for the Research Centre
The Research Centre focuses on three main areas of intervention:
- Capacity-building through training and provision of technical support
Training and Training of trainers
- Training is the first corollary in the activities conducted within the framework of the Research Centre on Health-related issues. A focus is placed on training professionals who will then act themselves as trainers within the framework of a specialized network of trainers placed under the umbrella of the Research Centre. Trained trainers receive accreditation by the Research Centre to deliver its training course. In order keep the accreditation, the trainer will need to take whenever required a refreshment/development course.
- Training of Trainers courses developed by the Research Centre in consultation with relevant authorities focus on the strengthening of knowledge of trainees as well as on the enhancement of their training skills/methods.
- Direct training is also delivered to professionals at the Centre or in already existing training facilities in the country, subject to agreement between Research Centre and different government/private counterparts.
- Research and support to national expertise
Research and threat assessments
- Duplication with universities and colleges will be avoided as the Research Centre undertakes only applied research activities. The primary focus of research activities is on the regional dimension, though national studies may also be undertaken upon request of governments and other stakeholders.
Monitoring, analysis and strategy development
- The Research Centre acts as a policy think tank, and develops an advisory capacity in health issues. In particular, the Research Centre offers the following services: undertaking gap analysis; support to the development of strategies; operational support in the implementation of strategies; support to the evaluation of public policies; and undertaking policy impact analysis.
Generation of information / statistics
- The Research Centre is a unique repository of information in Malawi on Nursing and other health-related issues. With the methodology support of other stakeholders, it progressively develops standardized statistics tools to measure health-related problems. Possibilities of a joint annual statistics report may be envisaged in the mid-term. Strong coordination is sought with other key organizations and training institutions.
- The Research Centre relies on information provided by relevant organizations and National Statistics Office (NSO) in addition to information it collects
- Information sharing and cooperation
- The Research Centre plays a pivotal role in the sharing of knowledge and expertise on Nursing and other health-related issues. Soon, it will include a documentation centre, both in situ and online. A strong emphasis will be placed on the development of online resources to support all the CHAM colleges and other training institutions. Online resources will include publications from the Research Centre, relevant recent global, regional and national reports, online journals, access to databases and other electronic resources. The possibility of developing a newsletter will also be reviewed. As such it will facilitate access to key information to all the relevant stakeholders in Malawi and beyond i.e. government agencies, NGOs, academia, and the private sector.
- The Research Centre also organizes an annual conference/workshop drawing together all the relevant actors involved in health research.