Breaking silos, building bridges: leveraging Global Collaborative Evidence Networks for global health impact

Global Collaborative Evidence Networks (GCENs), such as JBI, Cochrane, Campbell, the Guidelines International Network, and the Africa Evidence Network, bring together diverse actors to produce, synthesise, and disseminate evidence to inform policy and practise. Each is a distinct network in its own right, yet how these networks collaborate across networks remains underexplored, and persistent equity disparities in governance, agenda-setting, and capacity continue to constrain their collective impact. This study explores the challenges, facilitators, and benefits of collaboration across GCENs, drawing on participants recruited through the JBI Collaboration (JBIC), many of whom held active membership across multiple GCENs.

A two-phase mixed-methods design was used. Phase 1 comprised an online survey of 213 JBI Collaboration Entity Directors, Convenors, and Deputies, analysed using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and Pearson correlation coefficients. Phase 2 comprised a moderated director panel (N = 5) representing five countries across multiple World Bank income classifications, analysed using Braun and Clarke's reflexive thematic analysis.

Four themes emerged: navigating barriers, fostering synergy, amplifying impact through multiplex ties, and harmonising efforts. Collaboration is impeded by fragmented governance, resource constraints, and methodological duplication, yet is meaningfully enhanced by boundary-spanning brokers, face-to-face relationship-building, and shared strategic goals.

These exploratory findings offer a preliminary evidence base to inform a governance agenda for Global Collaborative Evidence Networks, in which formalised brokerage structures, strategic alignment, and equity-centred design may support the development of a more cohesive global evidence ecosystem.