|
WHO Collaborating Centre Fellows
These colleagues help support the mission of the WHO Collaborating Centre at KU.
Logic Model for the WHO Collaborating Centre at KU
This outlines the activties, outputs, and intended outcomes of the Centre.
Mission and Objectives:
The mission of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre at KU is to:
Promote community health and development through capacity building, participatory research, and co-learning in a global community.
The WHO Centre at the University of Kansas has two primary objectives:
- Build capacity for community health and development globally, including through translation/ cultural adaptation of the Internet-based Community Tool Box (CTB).
- Use participatory research methods to extend the evidence base for community efforts to promote health and development.
This work is being accomplished in collaboration with colleagues at WHO (World Health Organization), PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) and other WHO Regional Offices, and partners in participating communities and collaborating centres globally.
Building Capacity:
To help build capacity for community health and development, we draw on the vast resources of the existing Internet-based Community Tool Box (CTB) http://ctb.ku.edu/. Developed by KU researchers, the CTB contains over 7,000 pages of practical information for skills related to community improvement efforts (e.g., community assessment, strategic planning, evaluation, advocacy, sustaining the effort). Used by millions worldwide—from Kansas to Kenya—the CTB helps to enhance skills of professionals and local leaders working to improve community health and development. Although the structure of the CTB supports multiple languages, content is currently available in English (with some Spanish).
Need/Opportunity: As financial resources and partners become available, we are translating and culturally adapt priority sections of the 7,000 page CTB. An early priority is to develop a culturally-adapted and Spanish language (and Portuguese) version for those working in the Americas. We are also planning an Arabic translation/ cultural adaptation with colleagues at the American University in Beirut. Other anticipated cultural and language adaptations of the CTB include those for: Africa (Swahili), Russia and its former Republics (Russian), India (Hindi) and China (Mandarin Chinese). All translated resources will be freely available on the CTB.
Eventually, we envision a global constellation of “tool boxes” through which a world community can share its practical wisdom about how to create conditions that promote community health.
Expanding the Evidence Base:
Since 1990, the KU Work Group has used a common method system of participatory research to examine two core research questions: a) What factors or processes affect change in communities and systems and b) Under what conditions are community/system changes associated with improvements in population-level outcomes (e.g., lower rates of substance abuse or higher rates of childhood immunizations). To make this work easier, we have developed an Online Documentation and Support System (ODSS) that permits: a) Documentation of community and system change (i.e., new or modified programs, policies and practices related to local or regional efforts), b) Analysis of the contribution of community/system changes to population-level outcomes (e.g., amount of change by goal, sector, strategy, place), and c) Real-time feedback on progress (e.g., time-series graphs of the rate of change; pie charts of changes by goal or sector). To date, this research on community processes and outcomes has been largely limited to research investigators in North America.
Need/Opportunity: As financial resources and partners become available, we are working with university researchers and other collaborators to document case studies of change and improvement efforts. For instance, we are working with colleagues at the American University of Beirut on a participatory evaluation of an adolescent health project in a Palestinian refugee camp in south Beirut. By collaborating with different efforts locally and globally, together we can expand the evidence base for how (and under what conditions) people are able to effect changes in communities and systems and related improvements in population-level outcomes (e.g., in rates of childhood immunizations; physical activity; violence).
Contributing to Global Health and Development:
Taken together, the WHO Collaborating Centre at KU offers integrated capabilities for:
- Building capacity (e.g., learning skills for the work of community health and development)
- Documentation and participatory research (e.g., on-line documentation, graphing, analysis of contribution, and reporting)
- Co-learning and adjustments (e.g., participatory evaluation).
In collaboration with partners, we hope to contribute to local and global efforts to promote change and improvement in community health and development. |
