R4D Palestine

Eliciting policymakers' and stakeholders' opinions to help shape health system research priorities in the Middle East and North Africa region

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 05:15 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: El-Jardali, F.; Makhoul, J.; Jamal, D.; Ranson, M. K.; Kronfol, N. M.; Tchaghchagian, V.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: El-Jardali, F.; Makhoul, J.; Jamal, D.; Ranson, M. K.; Kronfol, N. M.; Tchaghchagian, V. Eliciting policymakers' and stakeholders' opinions to help shape health system research priorities in the Middle East and North Africa region. Health Policy and Planning (2010) 25 (1) 15-27. [DOI: 10.1093/heapol/czp059]

Summary: Evidence-informed decisions can strengthen health systems. Literature suggests that engaging policymakers and other stakeholders in research priority-setting exercises increases the likelihood of the utilization of research evidence by policymakers. To our knowledge, there has been no previous priority-setting exercise in health policy and systems research in countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This paper presents the results of a recent research priority-setting exercise that identified regional policy concerns and research priorities related to health financing, human resources and the non-state sector, based on stakeholders in nine low and middle income countries (LMICs) of the MENA region. The countries included in this study were Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen. This multi-phased study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research techniques. The overall approach was guided by the listening priority-setting approach, adapted slightly to accommodate the context of the nine countries. The study was conducted in four key phases: preparatory work, country-specific work, data analysis and synthesis, and validation and ranking. The study identified the top five policy-relevant health systems research priorities for each of the three thematic areas for the next 3–5 years. Study findings can help inform and direct future plans to generate, disseminate and use research evidence for LMICs in the MENA region. Our study process and results could help reduce the great chasm between the policy and research worlds in the MENA region. It is hoped that funding agencies and countries will support and align financial and human resources towards addressing the research priorities that have been identified.

Women in Gaza

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:05 GMT

Document Type: Magazine/Newsletter
Creator: Jad, I.

Production Year: 2009

Citation: Jad, I. Women in Gaza. Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK (2009) 1 pp.

Summary: Islah Jad, a partner in the Pathways of Women's Empowerment Research Programme Consortium (of which IDS is the lead partner), gives a personal view on how the current conflict in Gaza is affecting Palestinian women.

Islamism and Secularism: Between State Instrumentalisation and Opposition Islamic Movements

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:39 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Jad, I.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Jad, I. Islamism and Secularism: Between State Instrumentalisation and Opposition Islamic Movements. IDS Bulletin (2010) 42 (1) 41-46. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1759-5436.2011.00199.x]

Summary: In Palestine, a reassertion of the 'secularist' identity of the 'Palestinian national project' is taking place against a deeply divided political society characterised by a Palestinian authority in conflict with Hamas. This article argues that the instrumentalisation of religion by the state has backfired leaving secular feminist activists in an unenviable position – without a constituency or a socially legitimate framework through which to address gender and social justice issues. At the same time, a reassertion of the 'secularist' identity is taking place against a deeply divided political society characterised by a Palestinian authority in conflict with Hamas. This conflict accompanying the 'secularisation process' resulted in crushing the very structure of the notion of citizenship and the figure of the secular citizen subject itself.

Pathways Middle East Synthesis Report 2006-2011

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:00 GMT

Document Type: Report
Creator: Pathways Middle East

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Pathways Middle East. Pathways Middle East Synthesis Report 2006-2011. Pathways Middle East, Cairo, Egypt (2011) 36 pp.

Summary: This report provides highlights of some of the activities and research undertaken over the past five years. The initial projects undertaken by Pathways in Egypt and Palestine were selected for their promise and potential to impact the lives of women. Legal reform, welfare and social protection, access to paid work, cultural and political representation, and the burgeoning forces of new feminisms were and still are the idioms of a gender justice language and the interventions proposed by policymakers and activists. Relevance, significance, and potential for impact were the three conditions that researchers agreed to meet in their selection of research, communication, and advocacy projects and activities. The notable achievement of pathways in the Arab region has been its contribution towards creating a cadre of highly regarded scholars whose work is well received in policy and activist circles. The work of pathways has been adopted by the Ministry of Social Solidarity in Egypt, by feminist NGOs and by the National Council for Women. The artistic work such as the feminist storytelling project has attracted the public, and the media has taken an interest in the projects and photographs from Pathways and featured this work in newspapers and on television.

Quotas: Add women and stir?

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 04:14 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: Tadros, M.; Costa, A.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: IDS Bulletin (2010) 41 (5) IDS, Brighton, UK, 120 pp.

Summary: This IDS Bulletin presents country case studies from Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and the UK which offer insights into the pathways of increasing women's decision-making power and the underlying assumptions about gender, power and politics as well as the the policy issues for consideration.

Women's stories from Palestine and Brazil

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 04:09 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: Mansoor, K.; Tervo, P.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Real World Scheme DVD

Summary: A DVD featuring two documentary films: A Vida Politica, Directed by Kat Mansoor - looking at activism Brazilian-style through the eyes of four women engaged in struggles for abortion rights, political representation, sex worker rights and racial empowerment. Thorns and Silk, Directed by Paulina Tervo - showing four women who are doing jobs that many regard as a male preserve negotiating empowerment in their everyday lives in a context dominated by the experience of the Israeli occupation. The films were developed under the Real World scheme set up by Pathways of Women's Empowerment and Screen South.

Empowerment as resistance: conceptualizing Palestinian women's empowerment

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:03 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: Kuttab, E.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Development (2010) 53 (2) 247–253 [doi:10.1057/dev.2010.22]

Summary: Eileen Kuttab contextualizes empowerment historically in Palestinian practices of mobilization and resistance. She draws on interviews and focus group discussions to explore the meanings the term has come to acquire in the Palestinian context. Kuttab examines alternative ways of understanding empowerment that go beyond instrumentalism to recapture some of the original associations the term had with power and resistance.

Changing Lives: Making Research Real : Phase 2

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:54 GMT

Project Status: Current
Project Background: This project aims to raise the profile of research in the media in Africa and Asia. It does this by working with seasoned journalists to uncover the human interest stories within often complex research programmes funded by DFID and others. Stories are posted on the IPS wire service and have been used by commercial radio and print media throughout Africa and Asia to stimulate awareness and debate on development issues. This second phase build on the success of a trial phase one, and will expand the programme to include radio production and a South-South learning component to test the programme in Asia.

Project Objectives:

The specific objectives are:

To raise awareness of research by generating quality editorial content that highlights the impact and value of research for distribution to mainstream and community media;

To increase media uptake of news on research and create an understanding of the conditions necessary to support such increased use;

To develop evidence-based best practices for South-South learning by creating opportunities for interaction with Asian reporters.

Intended Outputs:

The programme will deliver the following outputs:

72 printed features
24 radio stories
6 radio programmes
monthly and quarterly newsletters
All stories will be profiled on a dedicated IPS multi-media platform and will reach audiences identified as DFID's key stakeholders, including the media (who subscribe to IPS features - 400 in Africa alone).
Building the capacity of southern journalists to report science, utilising an established network of IPS journalists

Actual Outputs: Programme products included:
1. Updated mini-site entitled “Changing Lives: Making Research Real” linked to the IPS Africa web-page with links to various research organizations;
2. 60 African online feature stories;
3. Twelve thematically linked feature stories from Asia;
4. Columns produced by southern researchers;
5. Twenty-four radio stories a month;
6. Selected online stories rewritten for radio "rip and read";
7. At least six radio programmes during the project period;
8. Weekly distribution to media on the continent;
9. Monthly html newsletter distribution;
10. Quarterly eight-page newsletter;
11. Updated branding and branding materials including pamphlets;
12. Marketed distribution to media in Africa;
13. Specific partnership drive to ensure IPS Africa can harness regional events to improve journalistic coverage of research;
14. Evaluation meeting with best practices guidelines developed.

id21 education highlights 5. Conflict.

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 03:46 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: id21

Production Year: 2008

Citation: IDS, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, 2 pp.

Summary: This issue contains the following short articles: Rebuilding education in Afghanistan; How donors fail to educate children in conflict-torn states; Education in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and Learning from south Sudan's ongoing tragedy.

Routines in facility-based maternity care: evidence from the Arab World.

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:57 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: K Khalil, H Sholkamy, N Hassanein, M Cherine, A Elnoury, L Mohsen, M Breebaart, T Kabakian-Khasholian, R Shayboub, R Khayat, OMR Campbell, H Osman, R Mourtada, R Hafez, D Sinno, N Mikki, L Wick, L Wick. H Bashour, A Abdulsalam and S Sheikha

Production Year: 2005

Citation: BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology 112 (9) 1270-1276 [doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2005.00710.x]

Summary: Objectives: To document facility-based practices for normal labour and delivery in Egypt, Lebanon, the West Bank (part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory) and Syria and to categorise common findings according to evidence-based obstetrics. Design: Three studies (Lebanon, West Bank and Syria) interviewed a key informant (providers) in maternity facilities. The study in Egypt directly observed individual labouring women. Setting: Maternity wards. Sample: Nationally representative sample of hospitals drawn in Lebanon and Syria. In the West Bank, a convenience sample of hospitals was used. In Egypt, the largest teaching hospital's maternity ward was observed. Methods: Shared practices were categorised by adapting the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2004 classification of practices for normal birth into the following: practices known to be beneficial, practices likely to be beneficial, practices unlikely to be beneficial and practices likely to be ineffective or harmful. Main outcome measures: Routine hospital practices for normal labour and delivery. Results: There was infrequent use of beneficial practices that should be encouraged and an unexpectedly high level of harmful practices that should be eliminated. Some beneficial practices were applied inappropriately and practices of unproven benefit were also documented. Some documented childbirth practices are potentially harmful to mothers and their babies. Conclusion: Facility practices for normal labour were largely not in accordance with the WHO evidence-based classification of practices for normal birth. The findings are worrying given the increasing proportion of facility-based births in the region and the improved but relatively high maternal and neonatal mortality ratios in these countries. Obstacles to following evidence-based protocols for normal labour require examination.