Dear All, Please see the following opportunity for doctoral research on the impact of devolution on healthcare in Kenya below. Please circulate to anyone who might be interested. Thanks Nic *Global Health Priorities: The implementation and impact on health service delivery of rapid devolution within the Kenyan health system* Project Overview Devolution from highly centralised health care systems to sub-nationally managed service delivery arrangements under local government control is a health system model being adopted by a number of low-income countries. In principle devolving both power and responsibility to policy makers and managers who might be more accountable to local populations may improve local priority setting, health service quality and health system responsiveness. However, there are significant challenges in managing this process, in creating the right policy frameworks to enable it and in monitoring health system effects in the interests of improving overall service delivery and equity. Kenya has embarked on a rapid process of devolution to 47 new administrative units (counties). These county administrations will assume responsibility for health service delivery spanning prevention and promotion to provision of secondary and even tertiary care. Taking advantage of long term partnerships that exist in Kenya where a large team of researchers examines health service delivery, financing and governance, an opportunity exists to examine the implementation and impact on health service delivery of the rapid devolution within Kenya’s health system. Complementing these health system insights there will be an opportunity to draw on the strengths of Oxford’s African Studies Centre where researchers have considerable expertise in the field of comparative politics with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa (including Kenya) and the processes of democratization. Methodological approaches could span policy analysis and examination of how policy in action is shaped by key contextual factors and actors. Alternatively organisational or management research approaches could be used to examine devolution from the perspective of key service providers expected to maintain or improve services as policy is enacted. Training Opportunities Time will be spent exploring political and organisational theories and frameworks and understanding the political and policy implementation process in Kenya that will help support empiric work on the impact of devolution within Kenya’s health system. It is expected that additional collaborative links with research teams in Kenya and South Africa will inform the development of this work. The candidate will likely spend at least 12 months working with research teams in Kenya to collect primary data. Funding1) NDM Doctoral Prize Studentships The NDM Doctoral Prize Studentships<http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/ndm-prize-studentships>are fully-funded 4 year awards that are open to outstanding students of *any nationality* without restriction. This is our flagship programme and it is advertised each autumn for students who want to start the following October. *The closing date for applications is 10 January 2014*. Interviews will take place on 29 and 30 January 2014. 2) Other funded programmes It is also possible to become a DPhil student in the department through admittance via other funded programmes<http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/other-funded-programmes>, including the CSC-NDM studentships<http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/csc-ndm-studentships> . 3) Direct Applications Exceptionally, students can also approach individual supervisors directly at other times during the year. If you are not applying for a funded programme, you will need to have funds for the University fees<http://www.ox.ac.uk/feesandfunding/fees/information/universityrates/>and your living costs. The selection criteria remain the same as for funded programmes. More information is available on our Direct Applications<http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/direct-applications>page. *Supervisors include* Prof Mike English<http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/principal-investigators/researcher/mike-english>Tropical MedicineOxford UniversityDr Catherine (Sassy) Molyneux<http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/principal-investigators/researcher/catherine-sassy-molyneux> Tropical MedicineOxford UniversityDr Nic CheesemanAfrican Studies CentreUniversity of OxfordProf Winnie YipBlavatnik School of Public Policy Oxford University For more information see: http://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/doctoral-projects/project/ global-health-priorities-the-implementation-and-impact-on- health-service-delivery-of-rapid-devolution-within-the-kenyan-health-system -- Dr. Warigia Bowman Assistant Professor Clinton School of Public Service University of Arkansas wbowman@clintonschool.uasys.edu http://digitaldemocracykenya.blogspot.com<http://democratizingegypt.blogspot.com> ------------------------------------------------- View my research on my SSRN Author page: http://ssrn.com/author=1479660 -------------------------------------------------- -- Dr. Warigia Bowman Assistant Professor Clinton School of Public Service University of Arkansas wbowman@clintonschool.uasys.edu ------------------------------------------------- View my research on my SSRN Author page: http://ssrn.com/author=1479660 --------------------------------------------------