Chapter: Canada Archives

Global Health/Global Justice Conference at Ryerson University: Toronto, May 7-8, 2015

2015-03-25 By ASAP Global

Ryerson-University-1

Global Health/Global Justice 2015:

Making New Medicines Accessible to All

Ryerson University, Toronto
May 7, 8:45am–7:00pm: RCC204, Eaton Lecture Theatre (Rogers Communication Ctr)
May 8, 8:30am–7:00pm: Cara Commons (Ted Rogers School of Management)
(Campus map of Ryerson University)
Sign up for this event here

In the last twenty years, extensive and uniform protections of intellectual property rights (IPRs) have been incorporated into the global trading system through initiatives such as the WTO’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. Under this IPR regime, the development of new medicines is driven by the reward of high prices facilitated by temporary market exclusivity. While this method of incentivizing research has produced important innovations, it has also engendered unfortunate consequences. When a new medicine is protected from generic competition, its profit-maximizing price inevitably excludes a large proportion of the world’s population, even in affluent countries such as Canada. As a result of this system of incentives, people suffer and die needlessly as the medicines they need are out of their reach, and research is focused on medicines that can be sold at high prices, rather than on those that would lead to the greatest improvements in human health.

Our two-day conference will examine the challenges presented by the IPR regime to improving health and access to medicines in both Canada and beyond. It will also explore methods of meeting these challenges through existing policy initiatives and through a new mechanism for incentivizing pharmaceutical innovation – the Health Impact Fund (HIF).

Funded by governments and other donors, the proposed HIF would support the development and delivery of new medicines through a pay-for-performance mechanism. Any pharmaceutical firm would have the option of registering a new medicine with the HIF, thereby agreeing to provide it at cost anywhere it is needed in exchange for reward payments based on the drug’s actual health impact.

The HIF proposal has inspired a massive body of research on topics as diverse as antibiotic resistance, health ethics, pay-for-performance, and global governance. This conference will provide a venue for sharing key findings from this research with stakeholders in health policy and pharmaceutical innovation, with the ultimate aim of improving policy making, industry practices and public discourse around healthcare quality and access.

More information on the HIF can be found here.

Speakers include (in alphabetical order):

Jaclyn Beca, Manager, Pharmaeconomics Research Unit, Cancer Care Ontario
Solomon Benatar, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, University of Toronto, and Founding Director of UCT Bioethics Centre
Alyssa Brierley, JD Osgoode Hall Law School, Doctoral Candidate, York University
Y.Y. Chen, SJD Candidate, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Olivia Chow, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Ryerson University, and former Member of Canada’s Parliament and Toronto City Councillor
Jose Augusto Barreto Filho, Physician, Hospital Sao Lucas and Cardiology Assistant Professor & board Member, Federal University of Sergipe
Brent Fraser, Director, Drug Program Services Branch, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
Julio Frenk, Dean, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University
Yugank Goyal, Associate Professor, Jindal School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, Jindal Global University, India
Paul Grootendorst, Director of the Division of Social and Administrative Pharmacy, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
Nicole Hassoun, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton University
Steven J. Hoffman, Associate Professor of Law and Director, Global Strategy Lab, University of Ottawa
Aidan Hollis, Professor of Economics, University of Calgary
Jillian Kohler, Associate Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto
Trudo Lemmens, Professor and Scholl Chair in Health Law and Policy, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Chris MacDonald, Associate Professor, Law and Business, Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University
Jocelyn Mackie, Vice President Operations & General Counsel, Grand Challenges Canada
Mathura Mahendren, BHSc Candidate, McMaster University
Stephanie Nixon, Associate Professor, University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Kevin Outterson, Professor of Law, Bioethics and Human Rights, Boston University
Jane Philpott, MP Candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in the riding of Markham-Stouffville and former Chief of the Department of Family Medicine at Markham Stouffville Hospital
Andrew Pinto, Staff Physician, St. Michael’s Hospital and Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine
Thomas Pogge, Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs, Yale University
Mariana Prado, Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Zain Rizvi, JD Candidate, Yale Law School
Mitu Sengupta, Associate Professor of Politics and Public Administration, Ryerson University
Geeta Sodhi, Director of Swaasthya, India
Lathika Sritharan, Research Coordinator, Global Strategy Lab, University of Ottawa
Jami Taylor, Senior Director, Global Access Policy, Janssen Pharmaceuticals
Alex Wellington, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Ryerson University and Director of Ryerson’s Ethics Network
Greg Zaric, Professor, Ivey Business School, Western University

Student-Led Session on Build-A-Change 2015 Competition

(Organized by Narmeen Haider, McMaster University and Incentives for Global Health)

The conference will also host a student-led session. Build-A-Change is an annual event, founded by Smart Solutions, that brings together students from all disciplines to collaborate and think critically about some of the most pressing global development challenges. This year, Smart Solutions is partnering with Incentives for Global Health (IGH). As the Health Impact Fund (HIF) rewards pharmaceutical firms based on the impact of their products, the HIF depends on the accuracy and reliability of the data used to measure health impact, particularly within developing countries. Students’ in groups of 2-4 are invited to suggest an idea/innovation that will facilitate and encourage accurate, honest, and complete reports by patients and/or health care providers on health outcomes of a specific therapy, while safeguarding patient confidentiality. The winning team, judged by industry experts, will receive a $1000 monetary prize plus mentorship on behalf of IGH. To register and submit your proposals, please visit smartatmac.org. This challenge was made possible thanks to the hard work of: Leandra Galloro (HIF: McMaster Chapter), Gynter Kotrri (Smart Solutions McMaster) and Harkanwal Randhawa (HIF: McMaster Chapter).

Canadian Book Launch of “To Save Humanity”: What Matters Most for a Healthy Future

(edited by Julio Frenk and Steven J. Hoffman and published by Oxford University Press)

The conference will also host the official Canadian launch of a new book to be published by Oxford University Press. “To Save Humanity” is a collection of 96 short, honest essays on what single issue matters most for the future of global health. Authored by the world’s leading voices from science, politics, and social advocacy, this collection is both a primer on the major issues of our time and a blueprint for post-2015 health and development. Contributors include Michelle Bachelet (President of Chile), Michael Bloomberg (former Mayor of New York City), Gro Harlem Brundtland (former PM of Norway), Margaret Chan (WHO Director-General), Bill Clinton (former US President), Paul Farmer (Co-Founder of Partners In Health), Melinda Gates (Co-Chair of Gates Foundation), Elton John (Grammy Award-winning musician), Jim Yong Kim (World Bank President), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria’s Finance Minister), Michael Porter (Harvard Business School professor), Michel Sidibé (UNAIDS Executive Director), and Larry Summers (former US Treasury Secretary). This unparalleled collection aims to provide illuminating and thought-provoking reading for anyone invested in our collective future. Copies of the book will be available for sale at the conference – which is almost a month before they will reach the shelves of Canadian bookstores on June 1, 2015.

Global Health/Global Justice 2015 Conference Agenda

Day 1: Key Issues in Global Health

Breakfast: 8:45 – 9:15 AM

Opening Remarks: 9:15 – 9:30 AM

Speaker: Mitu Sengupta (Ryerson University)

Session One: 9:30 AM — 12:00 PM

Topic: International Health Equity
Chair/Moderator: Zain Rizvi (Yale Law School)
Speakers:
Yugank Goyal (Jindal Global University)
Nicole Hassoun (Binghamton University)
Lathika Sritharan (University of Ottawa)
Alex Wellington (Ryerson University)

Lunch: 12:00 – 2:00 PM

*Student competition*

Keynote Address: 2:00 – 2:45 PM

Topic: “Making New Medicines Accessible to All – How Can We Get the Health Impact Fund Going?”
Speaker: Thomas Pogge (Yale University)

Spotlight: 2:45 – 3:15 PM

Topic: The Role of the Private Sector in Global Health

Speaker: Jami Taylor (Janssen Pharmaceuticals)

Coffee Break: 3:15 – 3:30 PM

Session Two: 3:30 – 5:00 PM

Topic: “A Conversation with Practitioners of Global Health Justice”
Chair/Moderator: Alyssa Brierley (Osgoode Hall Law School/York University)
Speakers:
Solomon Benatar (University of Toronto / University of Cape Town)
Jocelyn Mackie (Grand Challenges Canada)
Andrew Pinto (St. Michael’s Hospital & University of Toronto)
Geeta Sodhi (Swasthya, India)

Coffee Break: 5:00 – 5:30 PM

Session Three: 5:30 – 7:00 PM

Topic: “Global Health, Local Perspectives”
Chair/Moderator: Chris MacDonald (Ryerson University)
Speakers:
Olivia Chow (former NDP MP/city councilor)
Jane Philpott (Liberal MP Candidate in forthcoming federal election)

Day Two: Focus on Access to Medicines

Breakfast: 8:30 – 9:00 AM

Session Four: 9:00 — 10:30 AM

Topic: Moving Towards a Global Agreement on Antibiotic Resistance
Chair/Moderator: Trudo Lemmens (University of Toronto)
Speakers:
Aidan Hollis (University of Calgary)
Steven J. Hoffman (University of Ottawa)
Jillian Kohler (University of Toronto)
Kevin Outterson (Boston University)

Coffee Break: 10:30 – 11:00 AM

Session Five: 11:00 AM — 12:30 PM

Topic: “Universal Health Coverage”
Chair/Moderator: Stephanie Nixon (University of Toronto)
Speakers:
Y.Y. Chen (University of Toronto)
Jose Augusto Barreto Filho (Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil)
Paul Grootendorst (University of Toronto)

Lunch: 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM

Session Six/Book Launch: 2:00pm – 3:30 PM

Topic: “‘To Save Humanity’: What Matters Most for a Healthy Future?”
Chair/Moderator: Julio Frenk (Harvard University) and Steven J. Hoffman (University of Ottawa)
Speakers:
Mathura Mahendren (McMaster University)
Thomas Pogge (Yale University)
Mariana Prado (University of Toronto)
Zain Rizvi (Yale Law School)

Coffee Break: 3:30 PM – 4:00 PM

Session Seven: 4:00 PM — 5:30 PM

Topic: “Pay for Performance”
Chair/Moderator: Aidan Hollis (University of Calgary)
Speakers:
Jaclyn Beca (Cancer Care Ontario)
Brent Fraser (Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care)
Greg Zaric (Ivey Business School, Western University)

Closing Remarks: 5:30 PM – 6:00 PM

Speaker: Aidan Hollis (University of Calgary)

Reception: 6:15 PM

Hor d’oeuvres & Cash Bar (Cara Commons, TRSM)

Attending this conference is free. However, we ask you to please sign up for this event to help us determine numbers for refreshments and ensure we can email you in the event of any changes.

For more information, please contact Prof. Mitu Sengupta (sengupta@ryerson.ca) or
Mr. Matthew Hughsam (hughsamb@mcmaster.ca).

We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, International Development Research Centre, Ted Rogers School of Management, and the Office of the Vice President of Research & Innovation at Ryerson University.

This event was co-organized by Steven J. Hoffman (University of Ottawa), Aidan Hollis (University of Calgary), Thomas Pogge (Yale University), and Mitu Sengupta (Ryerson University).

ASAP Chapters: 15 and Growing Worldwide

2015-03-18 By ASAP Global

ASAP now has fifteen Chapters launched or in development in Austria, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Mexico, Oceania, Romania, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, and West Africa. With more than 1,200 ASAP members working and studying in universities, research centers, and NGOs worldwide, the ASAP Chapter Network is growing rapidly. Chapters are exploring new ways of collaborating to contribute to the eradication of severe poverty. We’d like to share some of the Chapter accomplishments and help you get connected.

ASAP Romania is exploring a possible research initiative on the welfare of elderly people in Romania, along with projects on poverty measurement aimed at influencing the Romanian development agency and on increasing coverage of poverty-related issues in the Romanian media.

ASAP Oceania published a response to the 2014-2015 Australian federal budget and its impact on the poor and marginalized; their report focuses particularly on foreign aid, indigenous communities, and welfare programs.

ASAP Germany is playing a key leadership role in the Global Colleagues project and recently held an event for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. They are also developing a research project on responsible investment and a group on economics and philosophy.

ASAP Austria is co-organizing a conference focused on absolute poverty with ASAP Germany, has recently completed a book on poverty in Austria, and has developed a mentoring program pairing up disadvantaged young people and college students.

ASAP USA is interested in initiating projects on integrating the study of poverty into college curriculums and will hold a launch conference at Michigan State University in 2015. In New Haven, ASAP Global Headquarters, ASAP co-sponsored two public events on the Sustainable Development Goals and global justice in development, which featured scholars like Jeffrey Sachs, James Hansen, and Amartya Sen.

ASAP Brazil is researching the impact of Millennium Development Goal 2 – Achieve Universal Primary Education – in Brazil, and is negotiating with the Brazilian Ministry of Public Affairs for formal inclusion in its activities.

ASAP Canada recently held a very successful event titled “Rethinking Sustainability Beyond 2015: An Agenda for Citizen Action”, which was attended by over 150 people and featured a presentation by Stephen Lewis.

ASAP Italy is planning to promote the debate over intellectual property rights and access to medicines among the main academic and institutional players in Italy.

ASAP Cambodia is planning a launch event in December and is interested in taking the Global Colleagues initiative forward.

ASAP Spain is planning a contest for the design of a universal flag of humanity and is developing a set of standards for ethical purchasing at
universities.

ASAP West Africa is planning a launch conference, to take place in Lagos in 2015, and is looking to conduct projects to improve quality of education across primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

ASAP India is ASAP’s biggest Chapter, with roughly 125 members. They are currently working on the Know your Rights India and Global Colleagues projects, and have applied for a grant to initiate a project connecting university students with young people living in slums.

ASAP UK is developing a poverty audit, while concurrently conducting research projects comparing poverty in New Delhi and East London, and analyzing the role of the City of London in facilitating illicit financial flows.

Recently, the entire Chapter network was mobilized for the stop tax abuse petition. Chapter members were instrumental in the petition’s success.

Recognizing the importance of collaboration in addressing global poverty, we hope that the Chapter Network will continue to work closely and grow, uniting academics worldwide. New guidelines for chapters will be published on the website in the first quarter of 2015. Given the successes achieved thus far, we are excited about what the future holds for the Chapter Network.

The Chapters have recently redone their web pages – please see the ASAP website for further information and updates. If you would like to get involved with the Chapters, or any of the exciting projects outlined above, please reach out to the contact person listed below.

ASAP Austria: Gottfried Schweiger – gottfried.schweiger@sbg.ac.at

ASAP Brazil: Thana Campos – thana_campos@yahoo.com.br

ASAP Cambodia: Pahlaj Moolio – pahlaj@puc.edu.kh

ASAP Canada: Mitu Sengupta – sengupta@ryerson.ca

ASAP Germany: Robert Lepenies – robert.lepenies@eui.eu

ASAP Greece: Gabriel Amistis – amitsis@otenet.gr

ASAP India: Bijayalaxmi Nanda – bijayalaxmi@yahoo.com

ASAP Italy: Mario Ascolese – mario.ascolese@gmail.com

ASAP Mexico: David Aleman Mena – david.mena@ibero.mx

ASAP Oceania: Keith Horton – khorton@uow.edu.au

ASAP Romania: Diana Velica – diana.velica@gmail.com

ASAP Spain: David Rodríguez-Arias – rodavailg@gmail.com

ASAP United Kingdom: Steph Eldridge – academicsstanduk@gmail.com

ASAP United States: Mladjo Ivanovic – mivanovi@msu.edu

ASAP West Africa: Oluwaseun Olanrewaju – oluwaseunolanrewaju@asapwestafrica.org

Stephen Lewis: Rethinking Sustainability Beyond 2015

2015-02-10 By ASAP Global

Rethinking Sustainability Beyond 2015: An Agenda for Citizen Action — Outcomes

Held October 2nd, 2014, 3:00-6:30 pm. ASAP Canada and the Politics and Governance Students Association co-organized this workshop.

Sustainability – defined by social, economic as well as environmental dimensions – is emerging as the centrepiece of the new global agreement that will replace the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015. In contrast to the MDGs, which focused on poverty reduction in developing countries, the post-2015 framework, with a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core, will be applicable to all countries.

Does the emerging post-2015 global framework accurately identify the multiple challenges of sustainability? How do the deepening inequalities at every level – local, national, global – affect our quest for ‘sustainability’? What forms of limits to corporate power are necessary to ensure sustainable production and consumption? How do we counter the false choice between sustainability and job creation that is presented by businesses and governments alike? Most importantly, how can citizens own these processes of transformative change?

The workshop featured brief presentations by academic experts and civil society leaders, and an intensive discussion period. Stephen Lewis, Distinguished Visiting Professor Ryerson University and former UN Special Envoy for HIV-AIDS in Africa, delivered the keynote address for the workshop. He discussed the future of global poverty and development beyond the Millennium Development Goals that expire in 2015. The video of his presentation is below.

In Conversation with Stephen Lewis

2013-10-30 By ASAP Global

In conversation with Stephen Lewis, Distinguished Visiting Professor, Ryerson University and former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Lewis gives his assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Millennium Development Goals.

Produced by: Mitu Sengupta (Director, ASAP Canada) & James Loney

(0:16): Aspirations

(2:00): Gender Equality

(5:09): On Process

(8:06): MDGs Replacements

(9:30): Who is Responsible?

(12:31): Accountability

(14:24): Naming and Shaming

(16:22): Three Must-Have Features

(21:10): Why Global Poverty Persists

(23:32): Opportunities for Advocacy

(27:11): MDGs and Human Rights

(28:50) Three Ways to Beat Global Poverty

(32:13): What Canadians Can Do

Impact Strategy: Fred Carden Shares Insights from 23-Country Study of Academic Influence on Poverty Policy

2013-05-15 By ASAP Global

In this article, Luis Cabrera interviews Fred Carden. Read more of our Impact Interviews.

When it comes to influencing government anti-poverty efforts, the policy climate matters, Fred Carden notes, but so does a researcher’s focus on actually having an impact.

“If you’re not trying to do it you are not very likely to do it,” said Carden, who heads evaluation and impact efforts at the Canadian government-sponsored International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa. “People are often not very intentional. They want to address poverty but they don’t have a clear intent about what they want to do.”

Carden led team efforts to assess policy influence in 23 IDRC-sponsored research studies in developing countries worldwide. The findings were presented in his book, Knowledge to Policy: Making the Most of Development Research (Sage, 2009), and he has continued to refine the framework.

Key Impact Variables

Carden’s overall conclusion, from the case studies and subsequent work, is that two sets of contextual variables are crucial in determining whether impact-minded researchers will be able to influence policy outcomes. These are:

General Context: This includes a government’s actual capacity to apply research findings, the stability of decision-making institutions, how centralized governance is in the country. It also includes general economic conditions, and whether a country is in crisis or otherwise undergoing a dramatic transition, which can open opportunities for influence.

Decision Context. Here, the key is government appetite for research. In descending order of interest, Carden found situations in the case studies of clear demand from government, demand but a leadership gap in realizing it, and demand but a lack of resources to act on it. In a number of cases, he found great interest from researchers in sharing new findings, but small interest from policy makers. In some cases there was open hostility from the policy community.

Battling malaria <br>with treated bednets — Participants in an IDRC-funded malaria bednets project

In cases of strong demand, he said, “it was often where it was a brand new problem they didn’t know how to address. Often in IT [information technology] policy, a lot of countries didn’t know what to do about it. They were a lot more willing to ask researchers for advice, where they were less willing in areas like education and health where they purported to already know what should be done.”

Some cases found a very different climate, where policy makers simply weren’t receptive to research, regardless of the strength of its findings.

In Guatemala, for example, where IDRC funded research on unequal access to education by women and members of indigenous groups, the findings fell on deaf ears. “The government was actually in a mode where they were saying ‘we are one country’. They were coming out of civil strife, and they were putting out the message that ‘we are all the same, we are all Guatemalans,'” and findings that identified a need to devote more resources to particular groups were not well received, he said.

“They could have presented their research differently, and really taken the tack that in order to be one Guatemala we have to bring them in more directly,” Carden said. “I think they just missed that. They didn’t actually sit down and think about, ‘what’s the ability of policy makers, what’s the capacity, and if they’re not asking us for advice on this, how are we going to frame it in a way that supports what they are trying to do?'”

Other cases were drawn from IDRC-funded studies in developing or lower-income countries worldwide – all led by nationals from those countries — including Peru, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Vietnam, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Jordan, Tunisia, and Ukraine.

Evaluating technologies with farmers at a climate change adaptation learning centre in Zimbabwe — IDRC-sponsored project on climate change adaptation in Africa (Zimbabwe)

Diverse Study Subjects

The subjects and aims of the studies varied widely. They included research on water resources and irrigation, mining, enhancing influence on international trade issues, health issues, promoting traditional knowledge, increasing access to new technologies, and addressing ‘brain drain’ issues.

In approaching an assessment of impact in such a variety of individual studies in diverse locations, Carden said, he sought to take as much input as possible on research design. “I brought together case study writers, IDRC programme staff. I didn’t give them a framework, but said ‘look at the cases.’ That’s how we developed a way to analyze across cases. We took detailed notes at workshops, looked at what’s coming out over and over again.” That process, and the ongoing findings around impact “has influenced how people ask questions at IDRC, and how they provide advice to researchers,” he said.

Evolving Impact-Study Methods

Carden, who holds a PhD from the University of Montreal and joined IDRC in 1993, sees the policy influence work as a natural outgrowth of his evaluation design work for the center, including outcome mapping.

“That’s an approach to planning, monitoring and evaluation, relationships exposure and activities. A lot of work can’t be defined as direct impact, but you can look at what are the changes in relationships between the people — are they finding different ways to interact with policy makers or are they staying in their own little research world?” he said.

“How do they transmit their messages? How do they build the relationships they need to influence people — with media, policy makers and others? Outcomes are actually in them making those efforts and beginning to build those relationships. So, outcome mapping is actually a methodology for designing your work around those outcomes you are trying to achieve, that will support, you think, the change you want to see happen ultimately. A lot of that is around the boundaries, because you can only talk about changing the behavior and activity of those you actually are interacting with.”

Building Impact in from the Ground Up

Carden also encourages researchers to think about impact beyond specific policy influence, to include impact on civil society efforts and deep engagement with the subjects of research studies themselves. Such efforts can pay important dividends to the researcher, he said, in terms of strengthening a study but also in some cases realizing significant positive change.

“I really think researchers have to get more directly engaged with the people who are directly affected by the research,” he said. “People who are poor have a huge amount of intelligence about why they’re poor and what’s going on around them.”

He noted one case study from the book of a study aimed at enhancing the organization and sustainability of the Honey Bee Network, a grassroots group focused on support for India’s traditional small farmers.

The study highlighted ways to have impact “not in talking to policy makers directly but getting the community engaged and then getting community members to go talk to policy makers. It’s changing the mindset of researchers that’s key and making it legitimate for them, giving them permission almost to go out and talk to people in the community.”

Carden exhorts researchers to work closely with the groups and individuals they study, including in the research design process and data analysis, for gaining insight into the broader context in which findings are embedded.

“Avoid doing the research in isolation. Avoid big pronouncements and research studies about people that don’t involve those people. You’ll have numbers that are consistent but not necessarily a good understanding of the implications of that research,” he said. “A lot of times, the data all looks very clean but nobody actually sees the truth. That kind of back and forth, in a very iterative exchange, could be very valuable.”

That kind of deep engagement can be built into funding applications as well, he noted, and it often is well received by funders such as IDRC.

On applications, “don’t be afraid to expand beyond the typical academic response, of preparing policy briefs and doing presentations to ministers,” he said. “We get quite frustrated that what’s coming in doesn’t try to move beyond the typical response. I’d say be creative, say we actually want to get out there in the community.”