Resilience of research capacity strengthening initiatives in Africa during crises: the case of CARTA during COVID

ABSTRACT

Background: Several research capacity strengthening (RCS) initiatives have been established in Africa over the past decade. One such initiative is the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) that has gained traction over the years and has been proven as an effective multidisciplinary approach to strengthen research capacity to address public and population health in Africa. Objectives: In this article, we document the experiences and management-related interventions that cushioned the CARTA programme and enabled it to remain resilient during the COVID pandemic. We further make recommendations on the enablers of resilience and optimal performance of such RCS initiatives during crises and beyond. Methods: We used routine information gathered by the CARTA secretariat from consortium correspondence, meeting minutes, reports and other related documents produced in the year 2020 in order to consolidate the experiences and interventions taken by the programme at programmatic, institutional and fellowship levels. Results: We identified a series of management-related cyclic phases that CARTA went through during the pandemic period, which included immobilisation, reflection, brainstorming, decision-making, intervening and recovery. We further identified strategic management-related interventions that contributed to the resilience of the programme during the pandemic including assessment and monitoring, communication management, policy and resource management, making investments and execution. Moreover, we observed that the strength of the leadership and management of CARTA, coupled with the consortium´s culture of collaboration, mutual trust, respect, openness, transparency, equitability, ownership, commitment and accountability, all contributed to its success during the pandemic period. Conclusion: We conclude that RCS initiatives undergo a series of phases during crises and that they need to promptly adopt and adapt appropriate management-related strategic interventions in order to remain resilient during such periods. This can be significantly realised if RCS initiatives build a culture of trust, commitment and joint ownership, and if they invest in strong management capacity.

KEYWORDS:

• Research capacity strengthening (RCS) initiatives
• resilience during crises
• interventions
• enablers of success
• consortium for advanced research training in Africa (CARTA)

Responsible Editor Stig Wall

Responsible Editor Stig Wall

Acknowledgments

I acknowledge the support given by the CARTA Executive Directorate who allowed the team to use the data available and experiences of the consortium to author this article.

Author contributions

The contribution of all authors to the design and writing of this paper was substantial.

• Florah Karimi is the first author and contributed to the conceptualisation of the work, participated in the acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the data and drafted and revised the paper, based on feedback from the rest.

• Marta Vicente-Crespo contributed to the conceptualisation of the work, participated in the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of the data, and reviewed the paper.

• Mercy Ndwiga, Naomi Njenga and Rita Karoki contributed to the acquisition and analysis of the data and the review of the drafts of the paper.

• Sharon Fonn contributed to the conceptualisation of the work, reviewed the paper, and gave the final approval of the version to be published.

Ethics and consent

We did not need to apply for an exemption or approval from an ethics and research committee since the paper was based on the analysis of secondary data accessible from the CARTA programme.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Paper context

Resilient research capacity strengthening initiatives are inevitable and propel research towards authentic evidence that leads to informed decision-making, policy formation, and robust practices within the African region. This paper contributes to the knowledge based on the enablers of strong research capacity strengthening initiatives within the African context and presents management-related strategies that are key to their resilience during crises.

Additional information

Funding

The article was funded through the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA). CARTA is jointly led by the African Population and Health Research Center and the University of the Witwatersrand and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York [Grant No: G-21-58722], Sida [Grant No:54100113], the NORHEDII – ID#60520 and Science for Africa Foundation through the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa (DELTAS Africa) programme [Ref: Del-22-006]. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the authors.