About Oxford Policy Management
Oxford Policy Management (OPM) is committed to helping low- and middle-income countries achieve growth and reduce poverty and disadvantage. The company is founded on the belief that good public policy can transform the lives of millions of people, so we work with governments in low- and middle-income countries to help bring about lasting, positive change. We use analytical and practical policy expertise to offer context-specific and evidence-based advice across the policy cycle, collaborating with national and international decision makers to diagnose problems, design solutions, implement and evaluate policy.
More on Oxford Policy Management on its website. [opens new tab]
The Maintains programme
OPM was a partner in the Maintains programme; an FCDO-funded project that explored how to improve the resilience of social services during and after external shocks in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Uganda. Maintains has now closed but a list of the available resources and outputs produced by the team can be found here. We include them on the ReBUILD for Resilience site as there are strong synergies between the two programmes which makes Maintains of interest to our readership.
Oxford Policy Management and ReBUILD for Resilience
OPM is an associate partner within the ReBUILD for Resilience consortium. Health systems research, evaluation and technical assistance are core areas of OPM’s work. Many of its programmes operate in fragile and conflict-affected settings. Thematic areas of expertise include district health management, community health workers, governance, finance, service delivery, and shock-responsiveness. Beyond health, OPM has large programmes of work in related sectors, including nutrition, water and sanitation, social protection, education, disaster risk management, climate resilience and adaptation, urban planning, public financial management, politics and governance. Its research, monitoring and evaluation activities employ a variety of methodologies and analytical approaches tailored to the situation and purpose, from experimental designs to ethnography.
OPM staff contribute to ReBUILD through applied experience of acting as both as thinkers and doers, helping to leverage synergies with their wider research, policy and practice work in the health sector. Specific activities with ReBUILD so far include:
Studies
- Cross-country learning on health system resilience: synthesis of findings from other OPM research on two areas: the role of community health workers in COVID-19, and effective coordination for health system response to emergencies.
- Strengthening subnational health systems through support to public procurement and financial management: work to document lessons from a multi-year technical assistance programme in Nepal
- Disaster resilient public financial management: sharing learning from OPM work on resilient PFM in Pakistan and Ethiopia and experience from the World Bank, WHO and CABRI through a webinar and policy brief
Webinars
- Webinar: Strengthening climate-resilient health systems: opportunities and challenges at policy and facility level
- Webinar: Disaster-resilient public financial management webinar
Blog posts
- Blog post: Beyond the Triple A: building resilience in health systems through agility
- Blog post: How can we make health systems in Pakistan more climate resilient?
- Blog post: Unveiling new perspectives in public health emergency management: integrating gender equality and social inclusion in vulnerability risk mapping and emergency planning
Kate Gooding
Lead researcher
Kate is a research and evaluation specialist in the OPM health team. She was the cross-country health lead and Ethiopia country lead for Maintains, an operational research programme that examined how social services can be designed to withstand shocks. Other areas of research and evaluation with OPM have included partnership and coordination for health systems resilience, COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the effects of COVID-19 on low-income urban populations, community health workers, district health system governance, performance-based financing, community-based early childhood development, organisational research capacity, and the influence of research and evaluation on policy and practice.
Prior to joining OPM, Kate was based at the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme, where she undertook research on health systems, community engagement, vaccine uptake, and acceptability of health services. Her work also involved technical support for the Ministry of Health, capacity development for early career researchers, and development of strategies to enhance national links between research and policy. Kate has more than 20 years’ experience in global health and international development, including work in government and multilateral development partners, NGOs, universities, and as a consultant.
The ReBUILD for Resilience partners are:
The team is supported by research associates
