Skills gained and opportunities afforded
The first part of the electronic word table examined the skills and opportunities participants had gained during TROPIC. Many participants indicated that they had increased their skills in acquiring, accessing, adapting and applying evidence. All participants gave examples of specific analytical strategies, including how and where to source evidence, how to use groups to effectively support learning as in critical appraising other policy briefs, and providing feedback on a series of policy drafts. One of the respondents said:
I think in the civil service, we don’t really have a lot of people that are policy inclined in terms of writing skills. It’s something that has to be developed, people could have passion but they might not have the abilities … it sure justifies the reason to have a lot more people involved [in TROPIC] due to the skills that have been acquired from such a great package.
Many participants felt that the reports or discussion papers that they had previously prepared were unsound because they focused primarily on perceptions and anecdotal evidence and seldom drew on evidence. Some participants, particularly those who had searched and used sound evidence, that is, evidence derived from reputable studies or surveys that are relevant for the Pacific to support their policy brief arguments, felt that TROPIC was a good learning opportunity:
….it’s like an eye opener…, so it has really instilled a passion to search [for evidence]…what message to give out to change the behavior …I look at the literature to support that, so it takes longer to actually come out with things but it’s a good learning experience.
Some high-level decision-makers from government organizations felt that TROPIC provided more opportunities to collaborate and improve networking with other partner organizations. However representatives from the non-government organizations differed in that advocacy and networking has always been part of their organization’s core business. An interviewee from a relatively small organization commented that they could only send one staff member, thus limiting the capacity building opportunity that TROPIC afforded. Another interviewee reported that while they had pre-existing links with organizations that engaged in policy and/or programme development to increase healthy nutrition and physical activity, the opportunities for networking and collaborative policy development provided by TROPIC had strengthened those relationships. Some participants, in particular high-level decision makers, acknowledged the importance of having good research and communication skill. Other participants noted the potential to network with other experts in advocating for policy intervention in the commercial market or public sectors in order to achieve better health.
.. I am required to have good research skills as well as advocacy skills. The skills I learnt in TROPIC have helped me enhance my research skills and also look at ways of linking and backing advocacy with credible research to make it more effective and most of all how to draft good policy papers. All these [skills] will and have definitely helped me enhance my professional skills.
The improved skills in accessing and utilizing evidence as well as in the writing of policy briefs were seen to be connected not only to the writing of policy briefs, reports and academic papers, but also to committees outside their workplace whom they served.
The skills that I learned are not only utilized in the workplace; I have written a few other papers apart from the two policy briefs that has helped me ….and ….also in our community, I was able to write up a few papers on financial procedures for running a school and other policy papers that …. will guide those who are involved in the running of the schools where I am a committee member. The skills and knowledge were acquired from this TROPIC workshop [initiative] and I’m very thankful to that.
One of the advantages of TROPIC is that participants were able to present evidence-based arguments to higher-level officers. This required a high level of written and presentation skills.
TROPIC gave me an opportunity to market my policy topics to the intended audience, meaning that it was the first time to present such policy briefs to a high level authority.
About 45% of participants attended at least one workshop, but did not complete the 12-18 months intervention, citing the following reasons for non-completion: heavy work-loads, taking up postgraduate scholarships, resignation from their post, and in the case of a number of participants, relocation either within different sectors in Fiji or overseas. A fellow participant described this as a “missed opportunity”:
This program has been a missed opportunity for most of our staff [that did not complete the package]. As they move up the hierarchy they will tend to focus more on management and …part of it is about reviewing or maybe developing a new policy, so it is a missed opportunity for them.
Challenges of completing policy briefs
Whilst the majority of participants believed that they had gained multiple skills on evidence use from TROPIC, many of them felt that they had limited opportunities in accessing evidence due to lack of access to internet or libraries. Some participants felt that they had insufficient access to either full papers (vs. abstracts) or papers from high quality journals.
….we [organization] need access [to library and internet] and in particular to the good literature that requires us to pay ….and we cannot afford to subscribe to every different journal.
Some participants described the difficulty in accessing information either from different departments within their organisation or from other organizations because of the different policy making systems. Because of limited networking opportunities, many participants tended to draw on the information they had immediate access to rather than approaching other organizations:
Certain challenges exist within different departments in the same organization and other organizations like they expect us to fill the form describing the information needed and [we] expect to hear back after a number of days. [Now] I am thankful with the networking that TROPIC started as we meet and [know] the people that we [usually struggled] to see within the Ministry and those outside the Ministry and is not a challenge any more.
The World Health Organization program provides health-related literature [
55]. However, some participants believed that there is overall lack of access to research tools and good evidence:
There is overall lack of access to research tools. The unavailability of good journals or access to HINARI [WHO database] and other research articles [fees], lack of studies or research carried out in Fiji, unavailability of local data. Lastly far away distance – in isolation and difficult to contact or liaise with TROPIC from the western division, at times there’s problem with the network and getting access to a computer or internet.
Many participants stated that they had limited time for accessing and utilizing evidence including local evidence from health divisions:
I am very passionate about research and while I understand the importance of research and the impact it can have, that evidence-based research will help me draw up better cabinet papers, but one of the challenges is the time. The time factor on how many, how much we do in a week, how much we get to do the research in order to enhance our work, and in terms of accessibility to the database and latest statistics. We have challenges in that, sometimes our work colleagues in the division don’t realize how important databases are and in fact most of our work comes from grassroots level and they need to be providing us with updated information from the divisions, how well they communicate with our staff at headquarters in terms of ensuring that the database is updated on a timely manner….
Effectiveness of engagement strategies
Many participants acknowledged the importance of flexibility in the TROPIC initiative and explained how it influenced their learning:
[We have] certain time frames set by the [TROPIC] team that we need to meet. The flexibility of the program and the team made it possible for us to achieve the target we set despite our or their busy schedules and work programs that clashes with our meeting time …
The various forms of motivating strategies employed by the TROPIC knowledge-brokering team included both face-to-face group workshops and group meetings, both of which focused on critical appraisal of other policy briefs. However, the one to one meetings were the preferred method for most participants. Many participants commented on the reliability of the TROPIC team:
[The] motivating strategies have been good ……… when we are stuck in our policy writing….., they always come in and assist… and make sure that we keep on moving…
Participants generally reported that the TROPIC workshops offered a supportive learning environment:
The learning environment was relaxed and provided an avenue for easy understanding of issues. This is important for adult learning because as adults our cognitive skills become slower and we need to learn in relaxed environment rather than classroom style teaching.
The practical sessions used during the workshop and one-to-one mentoring also encouraged learning, as the following quote illustrates:
The best thing about TROPIC was the emphasis on practical work with theory rather than being only based on theory. We were taught the research skills and then were told to identify a problem and write a policy paper. This was great because people learnt by doing things practically and also could easily relate to what they were doing.
For some, it is stepping stone to further their studies and career path:
The knowledge and skills learnt [from TROPIC] helped me to improve my Masters Research project and career option as a Policy Writer.