ABOUT US
The MENA HPF’s mission is to contribute to the development of effective, efficient, equitable, and sustainable policies that improve health and/or that mitigate adverse consequences of ill health in the MENA region for the most disadvantaged.
The Forum seeks to have an impact upon policy formulation by:
- Supporting the development of accessible data sets to conduct comparative analysis of health policy issues and to monitor the effectiveness of health policy reforms
- Supporting the building of analytical and policy making capacity in the region (through workshops, seminars, and occasional internships)
- Commissioning and disseminating high quality original research and analysis of health policy questions
- Providing a venue for networking and for exchange of ideas and experience amongst those with interest in health policy
- Establishing a website with Forum papers, resources and links.
THE CONTEXT
The Forum will prioritize research that is likely to have a high impact on achieving the Forum’s aim. Therefore, it will focus on tackling problems that affect a large segment of the population and that have policy relevance and regional importance. The relevance and impact of the research and analysis will be a priority and will require sensitivity to political and economic determinants of decision making, to distributional issues, alternative policy options, implementation issues, and budgetary implications and affordability. It also requires active engagement with policy makers at early stages of project development to integrate their concerns and priorities (though without compromising independence and integrity) and to gain access to relevant data. Impact is also assured by our reputation for producing research and analysis of the highest quality. The Forum employs a quality assurance process involving independent peer reviews both at the proposal and final-draft stages of projects, both for papers commissioned from experts in the field, and for those arising from competitive tender among regional researchers.
The Forum employs various dissemination routes and techniques to maximize the impact of its work, including:
- Holding conferences, workshops and seminars with all relevant stakeholders
- Issuing press releases and directly interacting with the media
- Publishing its research and policy analysis, including on a Forum website
- Creating affiliated country offices
VISION & MISSION
The MENA HPF’s mission is to contribute to the development of effective, efficient, equitable, and sustainable policies that improve health and/or that mitigate adverse consequences of ill health in the MENA region for the most disadvantaged.
The Forum seeks to have an impact upon policy formulation by:
- Supporting the development of accessible data sets to conduct comparative analysis of health policy issues and to monitor the effectiveness of health policy reforms
- Supporting the building of analytical and policy making capacity in the region (through workshops, seminars, and occasional internships)
- Commissioning and disseminating high quality original research and analysis of health policy questions
- Providing a venue for networking and for exchange of ideas and experience amongst those with interest in health policy
- Establishing a website with Forum papers, resources and links.
The Forum will prioritize research that is likely to have a high impact on achieving the Forum’s aim. Therefore, it will focus on tackling problems that affect a large segment of the population and that have policy relevance and regional importance. The relevance and impact of the research and analysis will be a priority and will require sensitivity to political and economic determinants of decision making, to distributional issues, alternative policy options, implementation issues, and budgetary implications and affordability. It also requires active engagement with policy makers at early stages of project development to integrate their concerns and priorities (though without compromising independence and integrity) and to gain access to relevant data. Impact is also assured by our reputation for producing research and analysis of the highest quality. The Forum employs a quality assurance process involving independent peer reviews both at the proposal and final-draft stages of projects, both for papers commissioned from experts in the field, and for those arising from competitive tender among regional researchers.
The Forum employs various dissemination routes and techniques to maximize the impact of its work, including:
- Holding conferences, workshops and seminars with all relevant stakeholders
- Issuing press releases and directly interacting with the media
- Publishing its research and policy analysis, including on a Forum website
- Creating affiliated country offices
ETHICS
We seek to ensure the quality of the research and policy analysis that we endorse or sponsor by:
- Establishing a quality assurance process involving independent peer reviews both at the proposal and final-draft stages of the process
- Directly commissioning papers by known experts in the field, in addition to the usual competitive tender of papers among regional researchers.
- Being sensitive to the political economy determinants of decision making;
- Actively engaging policy makers at an early stage of project development to integrate their concerns and priorities (without compromising independence and integrity) and to gain access to relevant data;
- Taking into account in the course of conducting research and policy analysis such dimensions as:
– Distributional issues.
– Political calculus.
– Alternative policy options,
– Implementation issues.
– Budgetary implications and affordability.
- Seeking a broad spread of members and funding sources
- Limiting voting rights through the following clause in the charter
Where there is a conflict of interest between the personal interest of a Member of the Forum and the aim or the interest of the Forum such Member of the Forum generally remains a participant in any discussion but in all cases without voting rights.
Furthermore, a Member of the Forum has no right to vote if he or she is at the time of the vote a government official or if he or she at the time of the vote lacks connexion to the region by dint of residence up-bringing or nationality or if he or she is at the time of the vote an employee of a commercial organization.
Nor may a member vote for resolutions about decisions, acts or disputes regarding themselves, any direct relative, his or her employer or, in case of officials of national or international organizations, the respective government, national or international organization.