Matching form to function: designing organizational models to support knowledge brokering in European health systems
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World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe
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26 p.
Knowledge-brokering organizations need to match form to function when designing organizational models that will best support well informed health systems decision-making. Their functions can include a range of information-packaging mechanisms (such as policy briefs) and interactive knowledge-sharing mechanisms (such as policy dialogues), as well as activities that are not knowledge brokering per se (such as the collection and analysis of healthsystems information). Maintaining a good grasp of the relevant policy-making context and matching knowledge-brokering mechanisms to this context should be considered a key function for any knowledge-brokering organization. Context can mean a range of elements in the national, regional (e.g. European) or sub-national policy-making environment, including policy-making institutions and processes, stakeholder capacities and opportunitiesfor engagement, and research institutions and their activities and outputs. An organizational model that works well for one organization using a particular set of knowledge-brokering mechanisms in a particular policy-making context may not be appropriate for another organization using different mechanisms ina different context. What is likely to be common across all contexts is that: policy-makers need timely access to good-quality health systems information; stakeholders may seek to influence health policy as well as make decisions in their sphere of responsibility, so they too need timely access to good-quality health systems information; and knowledge brokers (including researchers) need information about policypriorities and the policy context in order to produce, package and share health systems information that will be useful. An organizational model should ensure that all of these needs are met.The purpose of this BRIDGE summary is to encourage debate and innovation about the ways in which knowledge-brokering organizations organize themselves in order to increase the likelihood that health systems information will be understood and used by policy-makers and stakeholders. Current thinking about organizational models for knowledge brokering is largely driven by anecdotal information; this document presents real-world insights from research on organizational models, primarily from Europe but drawing on global experience as well. This summary is intended not only for knowledge brokers whose work is dedicated to this role, but also for funders, researchers, policy-makers and stakeholders, all of whom can help to steer knowledge brokering by setting expectationsfor this work.
Knowledge-brokering organizations need to match form to function when designing organizational models that will best support well informed health systems decision-making. Their functions can include a range of information-packaging mechanisms (such as policy briefs) and interactive knowledge-sharing mechanisms (such as policy dialogues), as well as activities that are not knowledge brokering per se (such as the collection and analysis of healthsystems information). Maintaining a good grasp of the relevant policy-making context and matching knowledge-brokering mechanisms to this context should be considered a key function for any knowledge-brokering organization. Context can mean a range of elements in the national, regional (e.g. European) or sub-national policy-making environment, including policy-making institutions and processes, stakeholder capacities and opportunitiesfor engagement, and research institutions and their activities and outputs. An organizational model that works well for one organization using a particular set of knowledge-brokering mechanisms in a particular policy-making context may not be appropriate for another organization using different mechanisms ina different context. What is likely to be common across all contexts is that: policy-makers need timely access to good-quality health systems information; stakeholders may seek to influence health policy as well as make decisions in their sphere of responsibility, so they too need timely access to good-quality health systems information; and knowledge brokers (including researchers) need information about policypriorities and the policy context in order to produce, package and share health systems information that will be useful. An organizational model should ensure that all of these needs are met.The purpose of this BRIDGE summary is to encourage debate and innovation about the ways in which knowledge-brokering organizations organize themselves in order to increase the likelihood that health systems information will be understood and used by policy-makers and stakeholders. Current thinking about organizational models for knowledge brokering is largely driven by anecdotal information; this document presents real-world insights from research on organizational models, primarily from Europe but drawing on global experience as well. This summary is intended not only for knowledge brokers whose work is dedicated to this role, but also for funders, researchers, policy-makers and stakeholders, all of whom can help to steer knowledge brokering by setting expectationsfor this work.