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Table 2 Summary of themes from the group discussions among subnational policymakers and researchers in the Nigerian sub-national convening

From: Identifying advocacy strategies, challenges and opportunities for increasing domestic health policy and health systems research funding in Nigeria: Perspectives of researchers and policymakers

Theme

Outcome of group discussion

(A). Importance of domestic funding for HPSR

 (i). To the researcher

Better researcher-funder relationship

Improves access to funding

Conduct of policy-relevant research

 (ii). To institution

Increases research in priority areas

Enhanced institutional visibility and sustainability of programmes

Improves human research development

 (iii). To government

Improves trust and ownership of research evidence

Increases researcher-policymaker communication

Avoids parallel funding

Institutionalizes evidence informed policymaking

 (iv). To society

Improves societal trust in research findings

Enhances community ownership and participation

Encourages need-based research

(B). Potential and current Sources of funding for HPSR

 (i). Public

Real Sector Intervention fund, general tax revenues, value added tax, internally generated revenue

 (ii). Private

Corporate organizations like commercial banks, Non-governmental organizations and donor agencies, philanthropists, faith-based organizations

(C). SWOT Analysis of domestic funding in Nigeria

 (i). Strengths

Existing national priority areas, existing researcher interests

 (ii). Weaknesses

Corruption, budget approval not being equivalent to release of funds, bureaucratic bottlenecks, tribalism, poor needs assessment

 (iii). Opportunities

Already existing budget allocation for health research, corporate agencies and companies that have shown interest in funding healthcare research

 (iv). Threats

Bureaucracies/ bottlenecks limit release of budget allocation, non-sustainability of funding policies due to political changes in government regimes, prevailing poor accountability resulting in corrupt funding practices, vested interests, nepotism

(D). Consequences of poor domestic funding

 (i). To the researcher

Low morale for research and lack of fulfillment, poor career development, low visibility for researchers

 (ii). To institution

Poor institutional research development and visibility, limited data for advocacy, limited priority-based research, poor sustainability of programmes, poor institutional contribution to national development

 (iii). To government

Donor-dependent research to the detriment of national research priorities, poor linkages between researchers and policymaking resulting in poor use of evidence in policymaking, poor sustainability of policies and projects

(E). Strategies to improve domestic funding for HPSR

 (i). To the researcher

Researcher capacity enhancement to improve advocacy skills, advocacy coalitions by researchers and professional associations for demand creation on research funding, improved quality and alignment of research with national health research priorities

 (ii). To institution

Enhanced researcher capacity at institutional level

Institutional advocacy for research funding

 (iii). To government

Budgetary advocacy to ensure inclusion of HPSR funding in the national and subnational budgets, stakeholder advocacy and lobbying to ensure that approved fund is released, media engagement and networking, demanding for accountability