(CAPACITY BUILDING COMPONENT) The overall goal of the ESSENCE Capacity Building (CB) component is to strengthen the capacity in the four South Asian countries (India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan) to conduct implementation research in mental health; disseminate the findings to facilitate knowledge exchange; and promote the uptake of research findings to facilitate evidence-based mental health policy making and program planning. Implementation research is not merely limited to generation of new knowledge, but is equally concerned with the consumers/service users and professionals in media who play an important role in dissemination and exchange of this knowledge as well as with policy makers and program managers who are responsible for uptake of this knowledge, ultimately translating this into practice leading to better mental health outcomes. Our Capacity Building (CB) plan is guided by these principles and a theory of change to bridge the science to service gap by building capacity of key stakeholders associated with knowledge generation, knowledge exchange and knowledge uptake. Thus, our approach will concurrently address the needs of researchers, service users, media professionals, policy makers and practitioners, and promote interaction between these communities. Ultimately, ESSENCE aspires to build a wider collaborative network of all these stakeholders, regionally led and coordinated by ESSENCE network partner institutions, which will sustainably contribute to the goal of translation of science to effective implementation of services to reduce the mental disorders treatment gap in South Asia. A similar format of CB strategies will be used for building capacity of researchers, service user representatives and media professionals, viz. online workshops and mentored fellowships. There will be extensive use of technology to enhance access and sustainability of CB activities. Most of the CB components would be generated for online use and would be freely shared through our network partners to audiences in all participating countries. Professionals who are offered fellowships will be mentored by an interdisciplinary pool of experts, amongst whom are international leaders in psychological treatment research and implementation research, from all the partner institutions in the region and in the United States. Policy makers and program managers in all the four countries will be engaged through series of seminars to foster exchange and uptake of this research knowledge to develop mental health policies and programs in the region.
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