Table 2 Areas for future research on governing CHW programmes

• Documenting, through case studies, different models for governing CHW programmes in different settings and how these models work in practice. Important questions include how are these governance arrangements changing over time? How do different stakeholders, including members of communities, view governance in relation to CHW programmes and how do they participate in governing these programmes? To what extent are the arrangements for governing these programmes aligned with national and regional political and health systems goals? Which approaches have worked well, and what lessons can be learned?

• What are the impacts for governing CHW programmes of:

  Scale-up and/or expansion in terms of the range of services offered by CHWs?

  The professionalization of CHWs, including the formation of representative organizations and the formalization of CHW training?

  Different models of supporting and incentivizing CHWs?

  Different models of financing CHW programmes?

  Digital tools for supporting CHW programmes?

  Changes in wider national policies that impact on CHW programmes, such as policies on decentralization and on private–public partnerships?

• How can different approaches to governing CHW programmes contribute to mutual accountability of all actors?

• Where local participation in governing CHW programmes is not well established, what mechanisms can be used to enhance the accountability of these programmes?

• How can the improved governance of CHW programmes lead to more accountable and people-centred health programmes?

• How do community and health system governance interact, and how can this interaction be strengthened and aligned?