Table 1.

Summary of key research capacity building activities for each PHIT country

Activities	Cooke’s domains impacted by this activity	Countries and Institutions
		Ghana	Mozambique	Rwanda	Tanzania	Zambia
Scholarships	1. Skills and confidence 3. Linkages/Partnerships 5. Continuity and sustainability	- Masters and PhD degrees at international (UoB, NYU, AUoB, OSU) and local universities (UoG).	- Masters and PhD at local (UEM, UCM) and international (UW) universities	- Masters and PhD degrees at a local university (UoR)	- No direct scholarships but graduate research assistantship or salary support for masters and PhD degrees (CU and BU) and additional training for junior scientists at international universities (CU).	- Masters and PhD degrees at local (UoZ), regional (UoC) and international universities (LSHTM)
Administrative support and infrastructure	5. Continuity and sustainability 6. Investing in infrastructure	Hiring staff - Hired research staff (postdoctoral researcher and senior research scientists), administrative staff (accounting and clerical staff) and co-financed staff salaries Building/renovating space - Built office block for project staff Procuring resources - Purchased vehicles and motor cycles which went to DHMTs/RHMT - Purchased portable computers and GIS equipment for research	Hiring staff - Hired research staff (research assistants) to work side by side with the National Institute of Health and coordinate research activities; temporary data collectors and consultant to strengthen administrative structure of CIOB Building/renovating space - Supported partial running costs of health centers and small renovations Procuring resources - Bought computers for staff both program and admin. - Covered internet costs at research center	Hiring staff - Hired research staff (data collectors, coordinators, director of research) to provide administrative and logistic support to ongoing research projects Building/renovating space - Built a physical space for Research Department	Hiring staff - Hired research staff (for full time research roles including senior demographer to support data collectors with baseline and endline study implementation Other - Supported partial running costs of IHI research services such as demographic surveillance and data entry	Building/renovating space - Built rooms/ bought container spaces/ renovated rooms at >40 health facilities to create space for improved filing of medical records Procuring resources - Installed satellite dishes in facilities to improve internet access for data transfer - Installed data servers and bought computers for data entry
Mentorship	1. Skills and confidence 3. Linkages / Partnerships 4. Appropriate dissemination and impact 5. Continuity and sustainability	Hiring/coordinating mentors - Local mentors from the institution provided continuous mentorship Coordinated mentorship activities - Structured mentorship through several analysis and writing workshops	Hiring/coordinating mentors - Local mentors from the CIOB provided continuous mentorship - In-country technical advisors from HAI - Teaching assistant based out of UW Supporting local universities - Teaching select courses in the Masters of Public Health at local universities (UCM and UEM)	Hiring/coordinating mentors - Local mentors from PIH/IMB provided continuous mentorship - In-country technical advisor from HMS - Local mentors through UoR partnership - Long distance mentors through HMS partnership Coordinated mentorship activities - Structured mentorship through several 2-day writing workshops Supporting local universities - Teaching select courses at UoR	Hiring/coordinating mentors - Connect project PhD demographer resident at IHI provided continuous mentoring in quantitative research to junior scientists - Local mentor from IHI provided continuous mentorship in qualitative research - Long distance mentors through CU partnership Coordinated mentorship activities - Structured mentorship through Research Writing Workshop of several months duration	Coordinated mentorship activities - Structured mentorship through week-long writing workshops - Scheduled QI mentorship activities monthly at all the sites
Trainings	1. Skills and confidence 3. Linkages / Partnerships 5. Continuity and sustainability	Short trainings a - Series of trainings to develop and implement baseline survey - Monthly and quarterly data officers training - Knowledge management trainings through DDCF small grants Long trainings b - Cross-country PHIT led trainings on multilevel modelling and economics	Short trainings - Annual 2-week Operations Research training Long trainings - Annual data validation study led by junior researchers with on the job training - Training by doing on select data analysis techniques (qualitative and quantitative), research grant application and abstract writing workshops	Short trainings - Trainings on Complex Survey Analysis and Time Series Analysis with support to publication - Several 2-day scientific writing workshops Long trainings - Some related projects sent for an 8 months Operations Research training run by PIH/IMB	Short trainings - Weekly on the job trainings to develop and implement baseline survey - Trainings on qualitative and quantitative data analysis Long trainings - Research writing workshops for several months	Short trainings - Multi-level statistical modeling training through regional partnership by CUB - Semi-annual three-week training on QI - A 3-week training on leadership and management at UoA, USA Long trainings - Lean Six Sigma QI training and QI champions training through partnership with CGLUNC
Dissemination support	1. Skills and confidence 2. Research is close to practice 4. Appropriate dissemination and impact	Dissemination trainings - Training on dissemination to policy makers Conference/Workshops - Communications workshop Publications - Peer reviewed journals - Monthly publication on what works/what fails series	Dissemination trainings - Training on presentation for national and international audiences Conference/Workshops - Conference scholarships - Writing workshops for publication Publications - Peer reviewed journals	Conference/Workshops - Conference scholarships - Writing workshops for publication Publications - Peer reviewed journals	Conference/Workshops - Conference scholarships - Writing workshops for publication Publications - Peer reviewed journals	Conference/Workshops - Conference scholarships - Writing workshops for publication - Dissemination meetings at the Ministry of Health Publications - Peer reviewed journals

^aShort trainings lasted for up to 1 month for each training sessions regardless of frequency of the training; ^bLong trainings lasted for more than 1 month regardless of frequency of the training; AUoB American University of Beirut, CIOB Beira Operations Research Center, BU Brown University, CGLUNC Centre for Global Learning at University of North Carolina, CU Columbia University, CUB Catholic University in Beira, UCM Catholic University of Mozambique, DDCF Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, DHMTs District Health Management Teams, UEM Eduardo Mondlane University, GIS Geographic Information System, HMS Harvard Medical School, LSHTM London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, NYU New York University, PhD Doctor of Philosophy, PHIT Population Health Implementation Training, PIH/IMB Partners In Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima, QI Quality Improvement, RHMTs Regional Health Management Teams, UoA University of Alabama, UoB University of Basel, UoC University of Capetown, UoR University of Rwanda, UW University of Washington, UoZ University of Zambia, UoG University of Ghana, OSU Ohio State University, USA United States of America