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To maximise the potential impact and acceptability of EIDM capacity building, there is a need for programmes to coordinate their remits within existing systems, playing both 'insider' and 'outsider' roles. Through a review of the South African evidence-policy landscape and analysis of a stakeholder event that brought together EIDM role players, this paper illustrates how one capacity-building programme navigated its position within the national evidence-policy interface. It identifies strategies for improving the acceptability and potential effectiveness of donor-funded EIDM capacity-building activities: understanding the evidence-policy interface, incorporating programmes into the decision-making infrastructure (being an 'insider'), whilst retaining an element of neutrality (being an 'outsider').

Background: South Africa faces a number of significant challenges apropos mental health service delivery, including a large treatment gap, a high rate of readmission, over-burdened specialist tertiary facilities, and slow integration of mental health into general health services. The South African National Mental Health Education Programme implemented between February 2019 and December 2019, aimed to upskill health workers to diagnose and manage mental disorders at primary and secondary levels of care. Aim: This study aimed to assess the evolution of training participants' self-reported competency in mental health care and the number of referrals made to higher levels of care as well as to reflect on the possible broader effects of the training. Setting: The programme and study were conducted in South Africa with Medical Officers and Professional Nurses working at public sector primary and secondary level health care facilities. Methods: A descriptive observational study collected data from training participants through a pre- and post-course, and 3-month follow-up survey. Results: The average confidence ratings for performing mental health care activities and managing mental health conditions increased from pre- to post-course, and was either maintained or increased further at 3-month follow-up. A decrease in the self-reported percentage of patients being referred to a higher level of care was observed 3-months after the training. Conclusion: The evaluation suggests that a brief training intervention such this can go a long way in increasing the confidence of primary and secondary level health care workers in managing common mental health conditions and adhering to the provisions of legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of what a per diem is and who should receive one is a complex idea that, within the development context, can either support or hinder the achievement of development projects’ goals. This paper seeks to explain the evolving nature of per diems and their use within the development context; explore how they serve as barriers or enablers in achieving project goals; and touch on their impact on the development project cycle. Through a 3-year-long internationally funded development programme in Malawi and South Africa, the authors compare lessons drawn from their experience with existing literature to determine the practicalities of paying per diems and address the question: To what extent do per diems support or hinder international development projects? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

THIS PAPER EXAMINES WHAT MIGHT BE learnt about the meaning of race from the formalization of racial classification and reclassification under apartheid, generated by the 1950 Population Registration Act. It draws on 69 (re)classification appeals heard by the South African Supreme Court between 1950 and 1991, and in-depth interviews with a civil servant, expert witness and scientist involved in the (re)classification process. The Supreme Court data indicate that the three classificatory criteria set out in the act (appearance, descent, and acceptance) were ambiguous and subject to substantial debate and reinterpretation by the courts, which principally relied on acceptance. This is supported by the interviewees, who lamented the 'unscientific' classifications they were obliged to perform, yet accepted these as the inevitable consequence of the role social practices play in determining and accepting the classification applied. These findings suggest that there was not a single concrete definition of race during apartheid. Instead, race was whatever people understood or wanted it to be, and racial classification could be attained through 'performing' an identity with sufficient proficiency to 'get away with it'. This provides a crucial insight into the meaning of race elsewhere-as simply a flexible, yet pragmatic and 'acceptable' social classification of group identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]