Step 4: Sharing findings for decisions and actions

At the end of Step 4, you should have:

1. A dissemination plan that is responsive to the advisory group and the study objectives formed during Step 1. The plan will include the target audiences for the findings, key messages to be shared with the audiences and the media to use to share the findings. This dissemination plan will also support the research team to identify the knowledge products they will develop for sharing the findings which will include written formats such as the Assessment Report, as well as briefs, peer-reviewed journal articles; and other formats such as events, videos, infographics, and audio.
2. Completed and delivered one or more written documents (a report, briefs, presentations, press releases, publication) to your target audiences.
3. Organized and delivered one or more participatory events to your target audiences.
4. If possible, documented use of the findings such as major decisions and actions.

4.1 Why and how to share: Different objectives and formats for sharing

The overall purpose of disseminating findings is the same as the purpose of the entire assessment:
Local stakeholders use the evidence generated to make purchasing more strategic and contribute to health system outcomes. Sharing can be done in different formats and each format may have specific objectives. Formats include policy briefs, reports, journal publications, press releases, videos, live interactive presentations, policy dialogue and other events. These different formats can be used for different objectives:

• Further validation of findings and conclusions as they are shared with new audiences.
• Build a shared understanding of purchasing issues among different government and non-government stakeholders, based on evidence from you as an unbiased, external expert.
• Promote a culture of learning, transparency, and collaborative problem-solving.
• Stimulate discussion of the findings, problems, potential solutions, and actions (next steps).
• Drive an evidence-based process to identify and prioritize problems and actions.

You will work with the advisory group to plan how the findings will be shared with them and other audiences. The plan for sharing findings should recognize that target audiences will likely include stakeholders who are not experts in health purchasing. Even staff within a purchasing agency may have expertise in only select aspects of purchasing, not all the purchasing functions and system-level issues.

4.2 Policy dialogue

The ultimate goal of applying the Framework is to help local stakeholders improve the purchasing of health services in their country by making purchasing more strategic. Policy dialogue has been an effective way to share and discuss findings in a way that builds consensus and leads to informed decisions and actions, for example in Nigeria and Rwanda.

Effective policy dialogue:

• Is a meeting event (or series of meetings), typically held in person, to hold structured discussions
• Brings together policy makers and purchasing agency leaders (primary audiences) and other stakeholders who are relevant to the agenda
• Is well planned with clear objectives, agenda, presentations, structured discussions, and documentation/recording of participants’ inputs, agreements, decisions, and next steps
• Is ideally facilitated by a professional facilitator and/or a technical expert who knows group facilitation methods that promote participation, listening, learning, and collective problem-solving.

Tips for effective policy dialogue:

• Plan the policy dialogue event with your advisory group and MoH champion who have influence and convening power to make sure the right people are in the room.
• Some professional facilitators may even meet individually with key participants to inform planning and preparation of the policy dialogue event.
• Mobilize participation with multiple forms of communication: formal invitations via email, phone calls, WhatsApp messages, and other frequent reminders.
• Share written materials such as policy briefs ahead of time (soft copies) and then again at the  policy dialogue event (hard copies).
• Be prepared to support key leaders with their presentations if appropriate.
• Prepare for media coverage if appropriate, for example draft a press release ahead of time.

4.3 Producing written products

You may need to produce written products such as documents or slides, even if your plan for sharing the findings will focus primarily on events. The findings from your Strategic Health Purchasing Progress Tracking Framework assessment must be translated into text and visuals that are understandable to the target audiences, address the issues that they care about, and stimulate learning, problem-solving, decisions, and/or actions. Translation of study data into knowledge that informs health policy is a whole field of study and practice itself, with many resources.

See below for a repository of written products developed by the SPARC and SEARCH teams to share their findings:

• Country level policy briefs in English and French
• Topical evidence synthesis
• Assessment reports
• Multi-country briefs
• Blogs
• Peer-reviewed journal articles

Experts share how they involved policymakers in the assessment and how the findings will be utilized: