Dakar Workshop
Why the Workshop Matters?
The 3-day workshop, held in June 2024, was an early opportunity to bring together 54 stakeholders from nine West Africa countries to share our progress, get early feedback, and pilot our approach to developing an engagement plan. It served as an early pre-cursor to the workshop in Accra, held in Oct-Nov 2024.​
![PXL_20240625_104926638[39].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/36a48c_5728c24731f1422dabcc9455c57a347d~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_660,h_412,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/PXL_20240625_104926638%5B39%5D.jpg)
Workshop Objectives
Specific objectives included :
a) Further understand the research preparedness landscape to develop effective and comprehensive strategies to:
− Identify key stakeholders (clinical trial facilities, academic institutions, pre-existing clinical trial networks and initiatives, local, national, and regional authorities).
− Understand existing capacities and gaps.
− Understand national and regional coordination mechanisms and networks that advance health emergency preparedness and response efforts.
− Understand national policies/programs/priorities that drive decision-making processes.
b) Validate and complement emerging stakeholder and landscape analysis findings.
c) Test ideas and develop new strategies for an engagement plan and future meetings required to move this forward. ​
Workshop Outcomes
The workshop successfully engaged key partners and stakeholders from across West Africa to discuss strategies for outbreak preparedness and evidence generation readiness across the region.
​Through the discussions, participants gained a clearer understanding of the project's goals and the steps needed to achieve them. The discussions offered valuable insights into the pandemic preparedness and product development landscape in several countries across the region. Breakout group sessions addressed critical areas such as identifying stakeholders, understanding the research environment, coordinating evidence generation during an outbreak, and strategies for engaging stakeholders at the country and regional levels.
The workshop’s outcomes complemented and expanded upon the initial findings from the TCP's stakeholder and landscape analysis. ​
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For more information, please refer to the workshop summary report in English.
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