We can’t quite believe that 2022 is coming to an end! And what a year it has been. It has been a year that saw our co-founder Rachel Strohm step down from her role as the board chair, paving the way for the organisation to step into its next phase of maturation and growth. It is the year that we completed and began implementing our new strategic plan, including the expansion of Team Mawazo to a team of 16 full-time members to support the realisation of our vision.

One of our highlights for the year was the conclusion of the 15-month Fellowship Programme for 40 Fellows representing 8 African countries, marked by an in-person graduation event. All our Fellows prepared research posters for the event that not only showcased details of their PhD projects but included Commitment to Actions that left us (and our broader Friends of Mawazo network that attended the graduation) feeling so inspired and in awe of the big ideas our Fellows have for solutions to Africa’s most critical development issues. It is the big ideas of our Fellows that will provide Mawazo with a roadmap on how we can continue strengthening our programmes and operations, and proactively respond to the needs of African women researchers to ensure their big ideas have impact beyond academia.

Reflecting on our Fellows’ testimonials post-Fellowship, we were blown away by the impact the Fellowship Programme had on their professional development, including strategic networking and partnerships nationally and internationally with public policy, the higher education ecosystem, industry and beyond; extensive publishing and visibility; and successfully securing further funding for their research. Just as important, if not more than the professional achievements they had gained, are the friendships and bonds across borders, cultures, disciplines and languages that have been forged along the way. They now become members of Mawazo’s growing Alumni network, with so much in store for them in the coming years.

To us, these testimonials and the impact recorded thus far, coupled with the big ideas pledged by our Fellows in the Commitment to Actions, keep us motivated to keep supporting more and more African women, who are significantly underrepresented in academia and research, and who can contribute critical knowledge and perspectives to issues affecting African development.

Behind our programmes lies the machine that drives all our work - our operations. 2022 saw us continue to strengthen all financial, human resource and governance processes that will allow us to optimise our programmes and continuously improve the support for our Fellows. One of our commitments was ensuring the wellbeing of a very passionate and dedicated team, which included the implementation of a four-day work-week, a wellness fund and access to a professional development fund.

As the end of year draws near, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for an amazing year. Our success is based on the relationships we have built over the years, and we really wouldn’t be where we are without you. We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with, and for you. Our passion for helping our Fellows find amazing people, networks and new careers as they work to find local solutions to global development challenges, remains strong.

To Team Mawazo, who we have seen grow, it has been so moving to see how you have risen to meet every challenge. You have braved the discomfort that comes with change and transitions over the last two years, and always, ALWAYS, remained so committed to Mawazo and the hopes and dreams of our co-founders. Every single member of Team Mawazo - past and present - has helped shape the Mawazo we see today. And now with a solid and balanced team of 16, we cannot wait to see what the future holds for our team and the work we do. To you all, we say “asanteni sana”.

To our dedicated Board, we thank you for your dedication to Mawazo and our vision. We are grateful for your patience and advice as we mature and strengthen our governance structures and look forward to your continued guidance and holding us accountable in 2023.

The upcoming year will see us continue to strengthen Mawazo’s mission in new and exciting ways, and we are so excited about all that 2023 has in store for us. One of our major commitments in 2023 is to ensure broader continental representation amongst our Fellows, and we are therefore opening up the Fellowship to African women PhD students based at any accredited university in Africa from 2023 onwards through our Mawazo Learning Exchange e-learning platform. Stay tuned for more details in the new year.

Best wishes and happiness to you and your families over the festive season. We look forward to a successful and exciting 2023 working together!

Mawazo is excited to announce Dr. Caroline Mose will be joining the Mawazo Institute as the new Director of Programmes. This position was previously held by our CEO Dr. Fiona Moejes, who has expressed her joy and support for Dr. Mose to take Mawazo’s Programmes to the next level in the next few years. Dr. Mose has a doctorate in African Studies as well as a rich and experienced background in Academia, Research and the Arts. As a lecturer at the Technical University of Kenya, she co-supervised Masters and PhD students in the fieldwork and dissertation process, leading to their PhD qualifications. As her research has focused on urban culture in East Africa, she has a firm grasp on the importance of integrating disciplines to create holistic discussions as well as researchers. She brings to the Mawazo Institute a passion for African women researchers, a dedication to address systemic challenges within academia, and the knowledge to do so. We can’t wait to see what Dr. Mose brings to the role!

On the 2nd of November, while the Mawazo Institute was in the midst of our 1st MLEx cohort graduation celebration event, “Mawazo Connects”, Mawazo’s Public Engagement consultant, Kari Mugo, and me, Mawazo’s Communications Officer, hopped over to Arusha, Tanzania to train Climate Change focused African researchers on science engagement. The researchers hailed from 7 different countries including Ghana, Somalia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya, and were part of the Danida Fellowship Centre. The Danish Centre is committed to “sustainable development and equal opportunities”. They do so by partnering with researchers across the world, including Africa, to build sustainable partnerships as well as robust research outputs.

By the time we were training them early Wednesday morning, they were already familiar with each other’s research. The familiarity meant that we were met with high energy and enthusiasm as we took them through Science Engagement and what it meant to Mawazo and our Fellows, including encouraging them to incorporate their own creativity and brand themselves, online.

The experience of connecting with new African researchers and sharing some of what MLEx teaches our own Fellows, was uplifting and underlined the necessity of Mawazo’s mandate. We look forward to further partnerships with the Danida Fellowship Centre itself as well as the researchers who we trained, many of whom indicated that they would be excited to collaborate with us in the near future.

Here is to richer science engagement on the continent, by the new generation of African researchers!

Naliaka Odera - Mawazo Institute Communications Officer. 

On the 6th to 20th November 2022, the world came together to take action towards achieving the world's collective climate goals as agreed under the Paris Agreement and COP26. The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

Among the attendees was Mawazo Fellow Yvonne Githiora, who participated in a session dubbed “Adaptation priorities in the Indo-Pacific and Africa: co-designed knowledge and solutions”. This was by invitation of the Inter-Universities Climate Alliance (IUCA) of the University of New South Wales and the University of Melbourne, both in Australia, with whom she worked on climate change adaptation related activities as a PhD student at the University of Nairobi.

In the panel discussion, Yvonne spoke about the role and challenges of early career research in Africa in responding to adaptation needs across the continent. “African universities are often underfunded and under-resourced, which limits the involvement and engagement of their early career researchers on the global stage,'' she said adding that this has huge implications across adaptation sectors since it limits the uptake of scientific evidence from the continent into policy at local, national, regional and global scale.

“We need to see more Africa-led researchers actively and meaningfully engaged in climate change adaptation discussions including participation in conferences, policy, publishing and other related engagement opportunities. This is to help Africa survive climate change,” she stated.

“Nevertheless, my participation in the session was an exciting experience as I learnt a lot about speaking in a panel which I am working on becoming familiar with as an early career researcher. I hope to do more of these panel discussions to boost my confidence,” she said. Apart from the side event, she managed several other side events and visited the pavilions hosted by different organisations and countries.

Overall, Yvonne celebrated the positive outcome of the COP27 event that saw the establishment of the loss and damage fund for developing countries impacted by climate change. “Because of my current research interest, I was very excited about the formation of the Enhancing Nature-based Solutions for an Accelerated Climate Transformation (ENACT) initiative. If well executed, the initiative will bring coherence to, and strengthen collaboration between, existing Nature-based Solutions efforts and partnerships, globally.” she concluded.

Since I started working with Mawazo, it has provided me with a flexible work environment that has allowed me to spend more quality time with my beautiful children, especially my two-year-old son who I am currently homeschooling. Not only are we able to work from home, but as staff members, but we also only work from Mondays to Thursdays. Mawazo's respect for its staff members is based on the perspective that we are all people with diverse needs and wants. The way that I have been able to engage with my son has been a game changer in my raising him. I am so impressed by the great milestones he has made, and family and friends always ask me if indeed he is two, because he is so well developed. Thank you Mawazo for this wonderful work culture.

Carolyne Tunnen - Mawazo Institute Communications Manager

This year marked the end of the Mawazo Institute's Co-Founder Rachel Strohm’s tenure as the Board Chair. In her time as Chief Operating Officer and later as Board Chair, Rachel has instituted much needed structure and consistency into the organisation. Rachel’s impact is tangible and significant, and we are cognizant that without her hard work, Mawazo would not be able to enter our next phase with the ease that we are doing so now. Asante Sana Rachel, from everyone in the Mawazo Community. Read her farewell on our site here.