Welcome - Africa (Mesh)

Webinar: Community Engagement within Research Uptake - Maternal and Child Health

This webinar held in December 2021 explored the role of community engagement within the process of applying research to changes in health policy and practice, focusing on maternal and child health. 

Project Report: Using ‘Magnet Theatre’ to engage public audiences with health research in coastal Kenya

This project reflection from KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya explains how they used Magnet Theatre to engage communities and what they learnt from the process

Project Report: Creative Arts and Social Inclusion: Engaging communities with substance misuse and HIV in Zimbabwe

Substance abuse and HIV are highly prevalent, complex and often misunderstood conditions among young people in Zimbabwe. Supported by the DELTAS Africa CPE Seed Fund, Clement Nhunzvi and his team in Zimbabwe used a creative arts competition to engage school children (13-20 years) in social inclusion and stigma reduction when confronting substance abuse and HIV in the community.

Project Report: Science-2-Society: Raising future leaders in high schools in South Africa

Immunologist Lerato Ndlovu shares her experience of using a play and career talks in a project, supported by the DELTAS Africa CPE Seed Fund, to engage high school pupils in rural South African communities with research and increase their scientific understanding of TB and its treatment.

Project Report: The Sciback-skit programme: Engaging young people as malaria ambassadors in Kenya

In this project from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya and funded by the DELTAS Africa CPE Seed Fund, high school students were educated about malaria and scientific research, to inspire them to become ambassadors in their communities, and to go on to have careers in science.

Guide: Top Tips for Supporting Engagement through Seed Funding schemes

This guide is authored by public engagement staff across Wellcome Africa & Asia programmes and it shares their learning from setting up and running seed funding grant schemes to support engagement projects embedded in research

Literature: Trust and Health Research in Developing Countries: Summary of the issues (Wellcome Trust, 2013)

This literature review was written by Dorcus Kamuya for the Wellcome Trust's fifth international engagement workshop. It focuses on trust in the context of health research in developing countries and highlights a range of challenges affecting levels of trust.

Published Literature: Rumours, Riots and the rejection of mass drug administration for the treatment of schistosomiasis in Morogoro, Tanzania

This article from 2016 in the Journal of Biosocial Science outlines the case of a mass drug administration programme in Tanzania which had to be suspened after community riots

Published Literature: How can community engagement in health research be strengthened for infectious disease outbreaks in Sub-Saharan Africa? A scoping review of the literature

This literature review, published in 2021 and funded by ALERRT, looks at the body of knowledge that has been developed for community engagement specifically as it applies to emerging infectious disease outbreaks in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Guide: Working with journalists and the media

This article shares documents on working with journalists and the media from the perspective of a research programme, including through Media Advisory Groups and a Journalists in Residence program

Project Report: The Genomics of Schizophrenia in South African Xhosa people (SAX) study

The Genomics of Schizophrenia in South African Xhosa People (SAX) study sought to identify genes or mutations underlying predisposition to schizophrenia in the South African Xhosa population. Engagement activities included a Community Advisory Board and a Mental Health Literacy Day.

Project Report: H3Africa Community Engagement Working Group

The Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) consortium's Community Engagement Working Group was established in 2015. They have developed preliminary Guidelines on CE to support genetics and genomics research

Published Literature: Involving young people in health research

This study published by Wellcome in 2021 explores the role, benefits and potential of young people’s involvement in health research, with a focus on mental health, infectious diseases and global heating. It provides recommendations on how to meaningfully involve young people in research, and what it means to do that well.

Project Report: Bate Papo Vacina! (Let’s get vaccinated!)

This blog style project reflection from Village Reach gives an introduction to the different aspects of their research project exploring barriers to vaccination in Mozambique.

Project Report: Right to Food Project - In their Voices

“Right to Food Project” was implemented by the African Population and Health Research Center from 2018 to 2019 in urban Kenya. Different participatory visual methodologies were used to engage with the community members on the right to food. These included graffiti and wall murals, digital stories, photovoice, radio shows, human libraries, participatory educative theaters, open air events and community dialogue.

COVID-19 Community Engagement In South Africa: The Time Is Now

This article addresses community engagement around the COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa in April 2020 and proposes a free-to-use mobile app as well as a longer-term Community Engagement Nerve Centre for the country

Report: I'm a Scientist, Get me out of here!

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here! is an online, student-led STEM engagement activity that has is run in the UK and internationally. Students log in, read six scientist’s profiles, ask them questions, take part in text based live chats and vote for the one they to win a cash prize. The project in Kenya is in partnership with the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme.

Report: Lab_13 Ghana

Lab_13 is an in-school space dedicated entirely to investigation, innovation and creativity; a space managed by young people; a space where children learn to be scientists as well as learning science. The project has developed a family of laboratories based within primary and secondary schools, in both rural and urban environments, across the UK, London, Europe and Africa. 

Report: The SALUS Eastern Cape Project

The SALUS project is a school engagement project exploring HIV research and treatment using animation, storytelling and online content. The pilot was conducted in the Umtata Region of Eastern Cape, South Africa

Report: Hamwe Festival 2019

Report on the first Hamwe Festival in Rwanda - a celebration of the collaboration between the creative industries and the global health field. The festival featured speakers from across the globe who utilise the arts to make an impact in global health, as well as performances by individuals who represent the synergies between the arts and health fields

Report: Arting Health for Impact: Street art engaging communities in South Africa

Arting Health for Impact: South Africa focused on collaborative storytelling and participatory design to engage three communities closely involved with mental health

Report: Arting Health for Impact: Street art engaging communities in Botswana

Arting Health for Impact: Botswana engaged the public on HIV/AIDS, mental health and hypertension using street art

Arting Health for Impact: Street art engaging communities in Botswana, South Africa and India

An international collaborative public engagement partnership using street art to engage local communities in Botswana, India and South Africa.

Project Report: Z Factor: Using themed drama competitions to facilitate conversations on psychosis

An overview of a project in Zimbabwe engaging communities on mental health stigma and discrimination. It worked to help combat stigma and open up collaborative pathways between the traditional/faith based and medical models of mental health treatment

Academic Literature: Lessons from the West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological and Social and Behavioural Science Research Priorities

This literature review compared epidemiological research (EPI) with qualitative social and behavioural science research (SBS) published during the West African Ebola epidemic.

Literature: Building the legacy of Ebola: Survivors, health systems and a blueprint for research and development

Project Report: An Exploration of the Lived Experience of African Journalists during the 2014 Ebola Crisis

Project Report: Epidalert Case Files

Repository: Ebola Response Anthropology Platform

Academic Literature: Conventional Wisdom versus Actual Outcomes: Challenges in the Conduct of an Ebola Vaccine Trial in Liberia during the International Public Health Emergency

This paper is an assessment of a phase II, randomized controlled trial of an Ebola vaccine undertaken in Liberia during the 2014-15 West African outbreak.

Academic literature: Trust, fear, stigma and disruptions: community perceptions and experiences during periods of low but ongoing transmission of Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone, 2015

Academic Literature: Ethics of Randomized Trials in a Public Health Emergency

This paper briefly summarises the discussion of a committee which aimed to assess clinical trials conducted in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Project Report: Eh!woza: Intersection of Art and Science to Engage Youth around Tuberculosis

LITERATURE: Engaging 'Communities': Anthropological Insights from the West African Ebola Epidemic

This article, by Wilkinson et al. 2017, deconstructs notions of 'community', and the ways it is conceptualised and understood, in order to critically reflect upon methods of engaging 'communities' during the west African Ebola epidemic in 2014. 

Project Report UPDATE: Science, Art, Community: Building Interactive Understanding of Albinism in Tanzania

Standing Voice is an organisation that works to support people with albinism in Tanzania. This article explores how one of their projects, which communicates facts about albinism through interactive performances, navigates the cultural complexity surrounding albinism in Tanzania.

Literature: Research Report - An Exploration of the Lived Experience of African Journalists During the 2014 Ebola Crisis

This research report from the World Federation of Science Journalists explores the lived experience of African journalists during the 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa with the aim of highlighting key professional, technological and social aspects required for effective journalism during emergency and post-outbreak periods.

Published Literature: Politics of science communication in South Africa

This paper may be of interest to readers thinking about the local political and historical context and how this impacts on both science culture and the culture of science communication or public engagement within a country. This article focuses on South Africa although many of the considerations within it are likely to be pertinent in other countries which experienced colonialism. 

Health Exchange: Engaging the public in health research

A collection of easily accessible articles outlining community engagement with global health projects funded by the Wellcome Trust in 2010. 

Evaluation of KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme Engagement – Programme-wide Evaluation

This case study is about a proposed programme of work on evaluation of the various engagement activities (public and community) that are undertaken at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP). The case study was based on a presentation delivered at the Mesh Evaluating Community Engagement Workshop 2017. 

Article: Evaluating public communication of science and technology: The case of the Ebola virus

This article analyses media coverage and public communications over the time of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa 2013-2016 with a focus on the interations between scientifically grounded information and messages from cultural and religious actors. 

Guide: Introduction to Evaluating Engagement

Robin Vincent, Evaluation Consultant, UK gives an introduction to evaluating engagement with particular focus on the Theory of Change approach and how complexity in engagement can be navigated in evaluation.

Project Report: mGenAfrica

mGenAfrica is an internet-based platform and mobile application designed to promote engagement between research staff in genomics and other health research fields with high school learners (16-19 year olds)

Project Report: TrypanoGEN

Project Report: Science, Art, Community: Building Interactive Understanding of Albinism in Tanzania

Project Report: Cultural Complexity and Talking Trees

Project Report: Confluence of the Old and New: Understanding Resistance to New Born Screening in Nigeria

Project Report: The Lucky Specials

Workshop Report: Genome Adventures and the use of Analogy

Project Report: The Lucky Specials and public engagement in the post-truth era

Mwangi Chege, participant of the 2017 Wellcome Trust workshop "It’s Complicated: navigating scientific complexity in public and community engagement" reflects on learning from the workshop. In particular, the Kenyan premiere of The Lucky Specials, a feature film designed as both entertainment and engagement with audiences about Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis and the importance of drug adherence.

Project Report: Samala Moyo

Samala Moyo is an interactive exhibition with an outreach component designed to open the Malawi–Liverpool– Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme (MLW) to the local community and creatively explore crucial topics in medical research. The project was developed from a small International Engagement Award-funded pilot project and subsequently received £188,000.

Project Report: Blood Sugars: Diabetes and Drama in Joburg and Soweto

Blood Sugars aims to improve understanding of patient and clinician experiences of types 1 and 2 diabetes – particularly in the context of urban South Africa; as well as to improve communication between patients, clinicians and researchers, helping to create a more detailed picture of the condition and how it might be managed more effectively.

Project Report: Genome Adventures: where science meets fun

Art is a powerful medium for communication and engagement with science. To create a collaborative project that melds art with research creative practitioners and scientists must be brought together, but these individuals may think differently, have different priorities and work in different ways. This account of Genome Adventures, gives a little insight into the process of bringing different disciplines together and the challanges and benefits that result. 

Literature: Beginning community engagement at a busy biomedical research programme: Experiences from the KEMRI CGMRC-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (Kilifi, Kenya)

An article published in Social Science & Medicine summarising the rationale for community engagement in research. The article draws upon published literature and local findings to outline the process of community engagement in Kilifi, Kenya and to describe issues emerging from its development and early implementation. It also briefly reviews literature on Community Advisory Boards and a range of related ethical, methodological and contextual issues related to developing effective methods for community engagement.

Project Report: Art in Global Health: Report and Video giving Insights and Considerations for Future Artist Residencies

In 2013, Art in Global Health set up artist residencies in six Wellcome Trust-funded research centres as a way of teasing out some of the more personal, philosophical, cultural and political dimensions of health research. This exciting project was born out of Wellcome Collection's desire to engage the curious public globally with the health research that the Trust funds - in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam and the UK. 

Wellcome Trust International Engagement workshop report: Engaging with Impact: How do we know if we have made a difference? (South Africa 2012)

This report is based on conversations that took place at the Wellcome Trust’s fourth international engagement workshop: ‘Engaging with impact: how do we know if we have made a difference?’ The workshop took place in South Africa in October 2012.

Project Report: Tackling the ‘New Beast’: Mental Health for People Living with HIV

A blog post addressing the issue of mental illness amongst people living with HIV and the presentation of the community engagement project Project Khuluma which will be presented at the 21st annual International AIDS conference.

Project Report: co-produced exhibition on migration, health and wellbeing in Southern Africa

Migration, health and wellbeing in Southern Africa: Co-produced exhibition captures experiences of LGBTIQ migrants and asylum seekers in Johannesburg and migrant men, women and transgender persons who sell sex in South Africa

Project Report: Chiedza’s Song: Growing up with HIV in Zimbabwe

Case study of a project run by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine which enabled adolescents in Zimbabwe to capture their stories and the stories of others living with HIV.

Literature: Engaging diverse communities participating in clinical trials: case examples from across Africa

This article focuses on community engagement activities employed at various AMANET-supported clinical trial sites in different countries, highlighting subtle differences in the approaches used. The paper also gives some general pros and cons of community engagement.

Global Food Matters: An appetite for engaging with research (Wellcome Trust International Engagement workshop report, Botswana 2015)

Workshop Report: Discussion on the ethical, social and cultural issues that surround research into food, health and the environment as well as the best ways of producing activities that inform, consult and collaborate with communities.