Evaluating institutional capacity for research ethics in Africa: a case study from Botswana
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Date
2013
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC Medical Ethics
Abstract
The increase in the volume of research conducted in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC), has
brought a renewed international focus on processes for ethical conduct of research. Several programs have been
initiated to strengthen the capacity for research ethics in LMIC. However, most such programs focus on individual
training or development of ethics review committees. The objective of this paper is to present an approach to
institutional capacity assessment in research ethics and application of this approach in the form of a case study
from an institution in Africa.
Methods: We adapted the Octagon model originally used by the Swedish International Development Cooperation
Agency to assess an organization along eight domains in research ethics: basic values and identity; structure and
organization; ability to carry out activities; relevance of activities to stated goals; capacity of staff and management;
administrative, financing and accounting systems; its relations with target groups; and the national context. We used a
mixed methods approach to collect empirical data at the University of Botswana from March to December 2010.
Results: The overall shape of the external evaluation Octagon suggests that strengths of the University of Botswana
are in the areas of structure, relevance, production and identity; while the university still needs more work in the areas
of systems of finance, target groups, and environment. The Octagons also show the similarities and discrepancies
between the 'external' and 'internal' evaluations and provide an opportunity for exploration of these different
assessments. For example, the discrepant score for 'identity' between internal and external evaluations allows for an
exploration of what constitutes a strong identity for research ethics at the University of Botswana and how it can be
strengthened.
Conclusions: There is a general lack of frameworks for evaluating research ethics capacity in LMICs. We presented an
approach that stresses evaluation from both internal and external perspectives. This case study highlights the
university's rapid progress in developing research ethics capacity and points to some notable areas for improvement.
We believe that such an empirically-driven and participatory assessment allows a more holistic measurement and
promotion of institutional capacity strengthening for research ethics in LMICs.
Description
Keywords
Africa, Botswana, Research ethics, Bioethics, Capacity development
Citation
Hyder et al.: Evaluating institutional capacity for research ethics in Africa: a case study from Botswana. BMC Medical Ethics 2013 14:31. doi:10.1186/1472-6939-14-31