Background: Nepalese doctors lack research skills, which has its root in the medical education of our country. Despite having strong medical curricula, graduates are rarely competent in research methodology. This is reflected in their professional careers which are characterised by a lack of evidence-based decision making in clinical practice.

Objectives: The primary purpose of the project is to train medical officers of the Government of Nepal on health research methodology to enhance their capacity to conduct and report on local studies.

Methods: The capacity building project is a 3-phased training package for the newly recruited 25 medical officers. At the end of their first training in December 2015, participants developed individual research proposals, 5 of which were awarded mini-research grants. The entire cohort was then divided into 5 groups for fieldwork. Participants have recently completed their data collection to be eligible for the second-round of training on data management. This will lead the participants to produce results and into the third-round training on manuscript writing.

Results: We have noticed the enthusiasm of participants during the fieldwork, and their commitment to the future engagement. Participants also indicated an interest in research careers. We also received an overwhelming request from other medical officers for further training. As a result, the Ministry of Health decided to scale-up the project in the upcoming fiscal year 2017/18 with a plan to provide research grants for medical officers for the training.

Conclusions:The project will gradually produce medical officers competent in generating evidence within the context of the local health system. The training approach will promote evidence-based healthcare practices in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).