Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises: an update on our plans for 2023

2023 is going to be a critical year for the R2HC.  

The programme was established 10 years ago and this year we’re going to be taking stock of our achievements. We’ve commissioned a programme Impact Evaluation which will be conducted by The Policy Practice, an independent consultancy group. Our key stakeholders  will be consulted as part of the evaluation. Some of the past projects will be identified for review, and we will be in direct touch with the PIs of those studies to seek collaboration. Others will be invited to contribute as key informants, or through a survey. The support in the undertaking of the evaluation will be critical in helping inform the R2HC future direction.  

Our current donor funding agreements come to an end in March 2025 and between now and then we will be consolidating our existing portfolio of work. With 13 new studies approved for funding at the end of last year (through our 2022 research calls), as well as many earlier grants still open, there are a considerable number of studies due to be completed over the next 24 months. We will not be launching an annual research call this year due to the time constraints of this phase of the R2HC programme. We are however embarking on the first phase of an ambitious programme of research addressing the global food and nutrition crisis affecting, in particular, countries in the Horn of Africa. We anticipate that this research programme will be rolled out over the next 6-7 years.  

This year we will be expanding and strengthening the package of support we provide grantees. We will be adding two modules to our Research Impact training – one on participating with people affected by crisis to achieve impact, and another on use of social media to promote research findings. In 2023 we are also launching a small call for proposals to support the uptake of research findings. This call will target current and recently closed grantees, with the objective being to maximise research uptake potential.  

In 2023 Elrha will be launching a new organisational strategy. This strategy, as well as the Impact Evaluation findings, will help shape how the R2HC – and our sister programme, the HIF – move forward. We have ambitious ideas and look forward to sharing more information with you when the new Elrha Strategy is launched in the coming months.