Snapshot of Needs Assessment Findings
In 2014 RinGs conducted an online survey with its RPC partners as a needs assessment to review their demand and capacity to incorporate gender and ethics considerations into health systems research. Over seven weeks (July-August), 71 RPC members participated in the needs assessment from a diverse range of countries; 18 from Future Health Systems, 18 from ReBUILD, and 35 from RESYST.
This report summarises key findings in relation to: the demand and capacity for gender and ethical analysis, resources used and needed to incorporate gender and ethical analysis, suggested literature review topics, preferred medium of communication, and community of practice membership.
All RPCs made efforts to mainstream gender analysis into their work. However, capacity for this work within the three RPCs was mixed, with large majorities of respondents reporting modest, low, or very low capacity to conduct analysis incorporating gender or ethics. Overall, respondents felt that they had more capacity with regards to gender analysis than ethics.
A number of barriers were found to be preventing gender and ethical analysis, the most significant being a lack of
knowledge, expertise, or capacity to conduct gender and ethical analysis. In contrast to ethical issues within health
systems research, more respondents were likely to report lack of relevance, focus or interest as a reason for
not undertaking gender analysis.
At the same time, it was encouraging that several respondents noted the importance of gender and ethical
analysis in health systems research.
More needs to be done to build on the experiences and resources that do exist in the RPCs and beyond, to build
capacity and to facilitate dialogue on the relevance of gender and ethical analysis to health systems research.
The needs assessment, while only a brief online survey, provides a good indication of how gender and ethical
analysis is incorporated into health systems research by the three RPCs, and what additional resources are needed to
encourage gender and ethical analysis.
People identified the need for: training; frameworks on ethics and gender; direct experience; and dialogue to build
capacity and broaden understanding of the relevance of gender and ethical analysis in health systems research. Key
issues of interest included gender and ethical concerns in relation to human resources, health financing, and equity/
vulnerable groups.