Background: Government policy has placed greater emphasis upon health professional students gaining practical experience in real-world environments. Given the fairly new inception of the role of clinical educator in podiatry there is a paucity of research in the area of practice placement in podiatry. Research aims: Within an action research framework, the first phase focused upon exploring the capacity of clinical educators to engage with the role of mentoring, alongside the factors that might impact upon that capacity. The second phase of the project investigated the impact of a teaching tool within the placement area when utilised by clinical educators and students. Methods: The pilot study utilised established questionnaire development methods to create a survey and scale to measure clinical educators’ capacity to engage with the role. The second phase of the project used a range of qualitative data collection methods analysed using framework analysis to analyse the utility of the teaching and learning tool. Findings: Phase I resulted in a 70-item scale measuring the capacity of clinical educators to engage with the role of clinical educator and the identification of four independent variables predictive of a significant proportion of the variability of the dependent variable, capacity to engage with clinical education. Phase II confirmed the utility of the teaching and learning tool to support clinical educators and students during the placement period. An inductive placement model, explanatory of the super-complexity of the environment where the clinical educator endeavours to monitor, modify and manage the placement scope, was developed. Conclusions: In an area where research is currently scant, this study contributed to practice-based education in podiatry and to current understanding of how clinical educators undertake this complex and responsible role. This is an important area for research given the influence clinical educators have to shape and guide the next generation of podiatry professionals.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of implementing capacity building strategies on the provision of health services in the central region of Malawi. The study intended to determine why a lack of quality services is still prevailing in the health services in the central region despite implementing capacity building strategies aimed at improving the delivery of health services. In addition to this, to come up with recommendations to improve the implementation of the existing capacity building strategies so that the implementation results in the intended impact, that is efficient and effective provision of health services in the central region of Malawi. The studies reviewed what various scholars have written on capacity building in order to ground capacity building in Public Administration and provide the study with a conceptual, theoretical and legislative framework. This enabled the researcher to describe the nature and place of capacity building in Public Administration. It was evident from the review that the implementation of capacity building strategies is a systematic process which requires that chief officials follow all the steps in order to effectively and efficiently implement the capacity building strategies so that the intended impact is achieved. In this regard, capacity building is a management function which requires that chief officials play an enabling role by providing the necessary resources (both human and financial) and policies that support the implementation of capacity building strategies. The study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods whereby thirty-five respondents composed of political office-bearers and chief officials from Lilongwe, Dedza, Mchinji and Dowa districts and Ministry of Health Headquarters in the central region of Malawi were given self-administered questionnaires to complete. Face-to-face interviews and document analysis were also used as research methods. The intention was to determine the problems that are being experienced in the implementation of the existing capacity building strategies and find out if the strategies are resulting in the intended impact. The study findings confirmed that there are indeed problems being experienced in the implementation of the existing capacity building strategies, namely: inadequate human and financial resources, corruption, political interference, lack of consultation with stakeholders and lack of political will to make sure that the implementation of the capacity building strategies is effectively and efficiently done. It was also revealed that the implementation of the existing capacity building strategies is impacting negatively on the provision of health services in the central region of Malawi, hence indicating a need to change in approach. The study concludes that in order for the capacity building strategies to achieve the intended impact there is a need to broaden the scope of the legal framework on health capacity building strategies in Malawi, enforce the use of performance standards and improve the operational framework to gain efficiencies and effectiveness from current investments in capacity building.