Supporting early-career women researchers: lessons from a global mentorship programme

ABSTRACT

Mentorship is an important contributor to strengthening research capacity among health researchers. Formal mentorship programmes, targeting women mentees can help mitigate some of the gendered power dynamics and can also help early career researchers learn from others’ experiences of navigating these challenges. In 2020, the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction at the World Health Organization launched a mentorship programme geared towards early career women researchers. This paper describes the process of designing and implementing a mentorship programme for early career women sexual and reproductive health and rights researchers from low- and middle-income countries including valuable lessons learned vis-à-vis existing evidence. Some of these findings have been incorporated into iterations of the programme launched in 2022. Critical points include: ensuring considerations for language and geographical distribution; allowing mentees to participate in the matching process; providing training and opportunities to network and learn from other participants; offering the support and structure for developing these relationships. Providing women researchers with the tools – through mentorship – to navigate the unique challenges they face in their career journeys, can have a lasting impact on research capacity. Countries and institutions committed to strengthening research capacity need to focus on the holistic growth and motivation of individuals in a way that ensures gender equality.

Keywords:

• Mentorship
• research capacity strengthening
• low and middle income countries (LMICs)
• sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)
• research
• women

Responsible Editor Jennifer Stewart Williams

Responsible Editor Jennifer Stewart Williams

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the participants of the HRP Alliance mentorship programme, the 26 participants from the pilot programme as well as the 37 participants of the scaled programme. Our gratitude also goes to the team at Antionette Oglethorpe Ltd. developing, leading and facilitating trainings and workshops, and providing overall assistance: Katie Browne, Hani El Sharkawi, Oona Hudson, Jenny O’Brien, Antoinette Oglethorpe, and Clare Roberts. We are also grateful to the HRP Alliance hub PIs and co-PIs who supported the development and implementation and were key players in outreach of potential participants: Luis Bahamondes and Guilherme Cecatti, Kwasi Torpey and Adom Manu, Seni Kouanda and Rachidatou Compaoré, Evelyn Gitau and Peterrock Muriuki, Sarah Saleem and Rozina Karmaliani, Pisake Lumbiganon and Porjai Pattanittum, and Hanh Nguyen and Giang Le Minh.

Author contributors

VB and JC conceptualised and prepared a first draft of the paper with guidance from AT. VB led the writing of the final manuscript with contributions from AT and JC. All authors read, reviewed, and approved the final version.

Disclosure statement

The authors were all employed with HRP at the time of developing and implementing the programme, and of preparing this article.

Paper context

Women face unique challenges in their career development, which oftentimes hinder or stalling their growth. Mentorship can help overcome of these barriers. Providing researchers with the structured support and practical tools through mentorship at the start of their careers has the potential to have long-lasting impact. A formal global programme can particularly benefit women from low- and middle-income countries in expanding professional networks and benefitting from international collaborations.

Notes

¹ In this article, we will refer to women as inclusive of any person who self-identifies as a woman.

Additional information

Funding

The HRP Alliance mentorship programme is funded by the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), a cosponsored programme executed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The named authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this publication and do not necessarily represent the decisions or the policies of the HRP or WHO.