The American Institutes for Research (AIR) has opened a new office in Kenya, signalling its commitment to conducting research and providing technical assistance in the East Africa region. AIR staff were joined by local and regional leaders for a grand opening event at the new office in the Westlands, Nairobi.
“In East Africa, there is a growing desire to improve education, health, workforce, and economic opportunities as a way to strengthen communities and improve lives,” said AIR President and CEO Jessica Heppen. “We are doing more than opening an office today: AIR is making a commitment to be partners with the leaders and citizens of the region to increase opportunities and create a better, more equitable world for all.”
The new office will house 39 AIR staff members and will serve as a hub for the institution’s current and future work in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and other countries in the region. That work includes:
- Conducting third-party monitoring for USAID’s Afya Uwazi project to ensure medicines and other health commodities are reaching areas where they are needed.
- Exploring linkages between socioeconomic indicators and climate change in East Africa.
- Supporting communications and dissemination for USAID’s Famine Early Warning Systems Network, which informs humanitarian responses in the world’s most food insecure regions through evidence-driven analysis.
- Evaluating USAID’s East Africa Region Environment program activities, to inform the design of future natural resource management in the region.
- Determining lessons and direction for scalability and replicability of UNICEF’s Nutritional Improvements through Cash and Health Education.
The Kenya office will also be the home to partnerships with regional universities and other organizations to ensure the relevance of AIR’s research and technical assistance work and help train the next generation of social and behavioural scientists.
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“The challenges in East Africa are unique and complex and, for that reason, it is imperative that we work with those that are closest to the problems we are trying to address and understand the needs of those who live and work in these communities,” said Christine Kiecha, managing director of AIR’s Kenya office.
The AIR Pipeline Partnership Program — funded by the AIR Equity Initiative — has partnerships with the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and the University of Nairobi that provide education, training, and mentoring for students who are entering social and behavioural science fields. AIR also has growing partnerships with Kenyatta University and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, both in Kenya, to collaborate on research and education.
“AIR wants to serve as a catalyst to increase the development and use of timely, relevant evidence and help grow the social and behavioural science fields in East Africa,” said Ashu Handa, an AIR Institute Fellow based in the Kenya office. “We look forward to building on our current partnerships and developing new relationships that will be beneficial in the future.”
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