In this report, an outline of the experiences and achievements of each Senior International Associate follows a general discussion of the programme.

Professor Zhang was selected because of her wide experience as an analyst of Chinese social and health policy and her close collaboration with policymakers in that country. In addition, the School of Social Development and Public Policy, of which she is a Director, has already established a postgraduate course on development studies for students from a variety of low and middle income countries.DFI

Bloom, Gerry

English

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IDSEVIDENCE REPORTNo 20
Rising Powers in International Development
Senior Development Fellowship Report 
(Zhang Xiulan)
Gerry Bloom
August 2013
SENIOR DEVELOPMENT FELLOWSHIP REPORT (ZHANG XIULAN)
Gerry Bloom
August 2013
This is an Open Access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted 
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are clearly credited.
First published by the Institute of Development Studies in August 2013
© Institute of Development Studies 2013
IDS is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England (No. 877338).
The IDS programme on Strengthening Evidence-based Policy works across seven key themes. Each theme 
works with partner institutions to co-construct policy-relevant knowledge and engage in policy-influencing 
processes. This material has been developed under the Rising Powers in International Development theme.
The development of this material has been led by IDS who holds the copyright.  
The material has been funded by UK aid from the UK Government, however the views expressed do not  
necessarily reflect the UK Government’s official policies.
AG Level 2 Output ID: 162
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Introduction 
The RPID Senior International Associate programme had a very successful first 
year. The first two Associates are both highly experienced analysts of health and 
social policy. Rômulo Paes de Sousa is an expert in monitoring and evaluation and 
has had long experience of working on targeted cash transfers and on health system 
development. He has also served as a Deputy Minister of Social Development in 
Brazil. Xiulan Zhang is the Director of the School of Social Development and Public 
Policy at Beijing Normal University. She works closely with the Ministries of Civil 
Affairs and Health and has been involved in many aspects of China’s social sector 
reforms. In this report, an outline of the experiences and achievements of each 
Senior International Associate follows a general discussion of the programme. 
 
Both Associates have been intimately involved in national policy processes in their 
country, but have had very little opportunity to reflect on lessons that have emerged 
from this experience. They used their time as Senior International Associates to 
undertake a review of their country’s experience in managing major health and social 
sector reform. They worked closely with Gerald Bloom in developing a framework for 
their reviews, ensuring that they identified lessons for other countries. They 
presented their findings to an international audience at a major conference and at a 
variety of consultative meetings. They are completing reports for publication and are 
producing policy briefs on key lessons for policy actors in low and middle-income 
countries.  
 
The two associates have also participated in reflecting on the challenges of building 
mutual learning between health and social policy analysts and actors in the BRICS 
and other low and middle income countries (LICs and MICs). The IDS RPID 
programme organised a successful consultative meeting at the DFID Office in Beijing 
to explore opportunities for mutual learning between the BRICS and policy actors in 
other LICs and MICs, the challenges faced and strategies for overcoming them. One 
major conclusion which emerged was that policy analysts in China and Brazil have 
focused most of their energies on helping their governments manage a major 
change process and now need to build their skills in undertaking systematic studies 
of this experience and communicating lessons to people in other countries. They 
suggested that this is an area to which DFID can add value. We have distributed the 
conclusions of this consultation within DFID and to potential partners in the BRICS, 
and Rômulo Paes de Sousa presented his reflections to a meeting at DFID in 
December 2012. 
 
We plan to continue to involve the two Senior International Associates in further work 
on building mutual understanding about the management of health system change. 
We have agreed with the Department of Health in South Africa to organise a 
consultative meeting of health policy analysts and policy actors from the BRICS in 
Pretoria, before the next meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Health (November 2013).  
 
We will organise the meeting in collaboration with a leading South African centre of 
health policy analysis. Government officials will participate in the meeting on an 
informal basis. The aim is to continue to create opportunities for mutual learning with 
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senior policy analysts in the BRICS and to explore ways of making lessons from their 
experiences available to counterparts in other low and middle income countries.  
 
FIOCRUZ, the key Brazilian government agency engaged in health sector 
development cooperation in Africa, has expressed interest in joining these 
discussions. Preparatory meetings with the FIOCRUZ Africa Office in Maputo and 
head office in Rio de Janeiro took place in April 2013, building on initial contacts 
established through Senior International Associate Rômulo Paes de Sousa (who is a 
FIOCRUZ associate researcher), and through the RPID programme’s collaboration 
with the BRICS Policy Centre in Rio de Janeiro. 
 
We are also exploring with a Kenya-based NGO, which specialises in evidence to 
policy linkages, possible activities for facilitating effective communications between 
the Senior International Associates and other senior policy analysts from the BRICS 
and their counterparts in Africa. 
 
An informal network is emerging of senior policy analysts from the BRICS with an 
interest in building mutual learning between their countries. This is creating a forum 
within which discussions can take place about how to make lessons from their 
development experience available to counterparts in low and middle income 
countries. We are taking forward plans to link the policy analysts from the BRICS to 
existing networks of health policy analysts in Africa. 
 
Selection of Professor Zhang  
Professor Zhang was selected because of her wide experience as an analyst of 
Chinese social and health policy and her close collaboration with policymakers in 
that country. In addition, the School of Social Development and Public Policy, of 
which she is a Director, has already established a postgraduate course on 
development studies for students from a variety of low and middle income countries.  
 
Review of policy experience 
Professor Zhang undertook a study of the formulation and implementation of 
strategies for the reform of rural health services in a context of rapid change. She 
worked closely with Gerald Bloom, of IDS, to develop a framework for this study, 
which draws on recent thinking about the analysis of change in complex and 
dynamic contexts. She also participated in a workshop in Beijing on the application 
of a complex systems approach to the study of health systems and read widely on 
new thinking about complex systems. Professor Zhang employed a young 
researcher to review policy documents and carry out in-depth interviews with policy 
makers. She has completed a draft report on the findings and has presented these 
findings to academic and policy audiences. 
 
 
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Presentation of findings to policy actors 
Professor Zhang has presented her findings to the following policy actors and policy 
analysts: 
 Panel at the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Beijing in 
November 2012, including an international audience of researchers and 
policymakers. 
 Senior Chinese health policymakers, January 2013: this meeting allowed 
Professor Zhang to test the validity of her findings. 
 
Outputs for dissemination and policy influence 
Professor Zhang is producing the following outputs: 
 Draft report which is to be published as a paper as part of a special issue of a 
peer review journal. 
 IDS Policy Briefing on key lessons from the Chinese experience, aimed at 
policy analysts and policy actors in other low and middle income countries. 
 Recording of a presentation on the findings of her review to be used in future 
meetings with policy analysts in other countries, and made available as an 
open-source video. 
 
Participation in consultations with DFID and 
other policy actors 
Professor Zhang presented her findings to a meeting between Chinese policy 
analysts working on global health and two senior Brazilian policy analysts hosted by 
the DFID Office in Beijing. They explored opportunities and challenges for building 
mutual learning between policy analysts and policy actors in the two countries and 
with counterparts in low income countries. A report on this meeting has been 
disseminated within DFID and to health policy analysts in the BRICS. 
 
Planned contributions to future work of the 
RPID Programme 
Professor Zhang has agreed to continue in her role as a Senior International 
Associate for the next three years. This will include the following activities: 
 Dissemination of her findings of key lessons from the Chinese experiences to 
meetings of senior policy analysts and policy actors in the BRICS and in other 
low and middle income countries (in person or electronically). 
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 Completion of an IDS Policy briefing and publications of the study findings in a 
peer review journal. 
 Participation in the construction of an informal network of senior health policy 
actors. 
 
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Senior Development Fellowship Report (Zhang Xiulan)

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Senior Development Fellowship Report (Zhang Xiulan)

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