Objectives
The overall research objective of the Municipal Services Project (MSP) is to critically and systematically analyze ‘alternatives to privatization’ in the primary health, water and electricity sectors in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Our aim is to identify and document successful alternatives and the conditions required for their sustainability and/or reproducibility.
The MSP emphasizes participatory research involving communities, front-line service workers, managers and other parties involved in the delivery and/or consumption of services. We work closely with organizations and individuals most directly involved with, and affected by, service delivery reforms to learn from their experiences. This enables us to develop research questions and methods that are most appropriate for the situation, to build research capacity and insights at the grassroots level, and to translate this knowledge into mediums that are accessible to others.
Research findings are used to advocate for policy changes. The MSP has been active in targeting decision-making groups with its research findings in an effort to advocate for more equitable, accessible and sustainable forms of service delivery. MSP research has been taken up by policy makers, organized labour and community activists as tools in their campaigns and efforts to reform legislation. Phase III of the project will build on this, targeting a wider range of national, regional and multinational stakeholders associated with the research. In addition to local state actors and civil society, our engagements will include such multilateral organizations as the international financial institutions, the UNDP, and globally operating NGOs.
More specifically we aim to:
- Develop new and rigorous research methodologies and conceptual frameworks of assessment and evaluation that are regionally and sectorally relevant but allow for inter-regional and inter-sectoral comparison and linkages and which advance overall understandings of health systems;
- Develop a network of researchers and organizations in different sectors and regions to implement research activities and to build long-term research capacity in the field;
- Employ and refine research tools to identify and document successful models of alternative service delivery linked to the health system as well as potential future research priorities;
- Effectively disseminate research findings through multiple publication formats and communication strategies;
- Engage with policy makers, NGOs, labour unions, social movements, academics, donor agencies, development banks and other relevant organizations to promote alternative models of service delivery that advance improved health systems and delivery in the relevant service sectors;
- Identify and work with research partners and funders that fall outside immediate project activities in an effort to develop parallel research and dissemination activities that complement the core objectives of the MSP.