On the 22nd of February 2023, the inaugural AIDA Fellowship Programme workshop was held at the University of Nottingham. Slate grey skies and a cold damp day contrasted with the warm and buzzing atmosphere inside the workshop room, as guests arrived from Malawi, Kenya, New York and across the UK. Twenty-three guests and speakers were able to join the workshop in person, and nineteen more dialled in virtually throughout the day.
Stephen Meek, Director of the Institute for Policy and Engagement at the University of Nottingham, kicked off proceedings warmly welcoming guests and introducing the vision for the AIDA Fellowship Programme and its goals, namely:
To create a generic high-level fellowship programme
Designed for policymakers, senior leaders, researchers, and implementing agencies in the Global South
To work collaboratively with researchers at the University of Nottingham
That can be adapted to the SDG development needs of specific countries
After the introduction, Felix Phiri from the Government of Malawi, Samson MacJessie-Mbewe of the University of Malawi, and Isaac Chirwa from the Office of National Statistics shared the results of a scoping study conducted in Malawi identifying the need for the AIDA programme and the opportunities for it to reach its potential and remain sustainable beyond the pilot.
Nicola Pitchford, from the University of Nottingham – who has been leading the development of the programme since its inception – explained how each fellowship in the pilot would take the form of a cluster, comprising a Malawian Researcher, Malawi Policy Maker, Malawian practitioner, and a UK researcher. Over an 18-month period, each cluster would answer a research question around one of the programme’s focus areas of health, nutrition, food systems, early child development, education and climate change.
James Goulding, Associate Professor in Data Analytics at the University of Nottingham, shared examples of previous research projects carried out in the Global South that followed this cluster approach and have subsequently gone on to inform country policy.
“If we do it right it will be a game changer in terms of informing government priorities, government policies”.
Felix Phiri – Ministry of Health, Government of Malawi
Guest speaker, Nawsheen Elaheebocus from the African Development Bank (AfDB) expressed strong support for the project and explained how the funding for the Malwain fellows and programme set-up costs are being reviewed as part of the government of Malawi’s AfDB funding review currently taking place.
Concluding the speaker section of the workshop, Mark Iliffe from the United Nations described large gaps in the data required to achieve the SDG goals and a need for national, interoperable data integration to help reach those goals. He identified Africa as a priority in achieving the SDGs and the AIDA Fellowship Programme as a huge opportunity to be part of the solution.
The second half of the workshop was chaired by Amanda Chuwudozie from the Institute of Policy and Engagement at the University of Nottingham. Amanda led the group in a discussion about how the organisations, businesses, and charities that the participants represented might be able to become involved or support the programme. The group united in their support of the AIDA Fellowship Programme. Commitments were made regarding ensuring the success of the Malawian pilot and supporting the governance, expansion, and sustainability of the programme both within Malawi and beyond. Several institutions and charities expressed an interest in funding a cluster that would work on a specific research question, around the programme’s focus areas.
“This project is going to help researchers build their capacity to use the existing data and to provide the much needed information, to the society, to the general public, and to the country.”
Isaac Chirwa, Office of National Statistic, Malawi
Conversations continued long after the workshop had been concluded with new connections made and united support for the programme expressed by all that attended.
At the time of writing the AIDA Fellowship team was still seeking support to fund UK Fellows, or a cluster, and would be interested to hear from anyone that would like to know more about the programme. Please do get in touch with Nicola Pitchford at nicola.pitchford@nottingam.ac.uk.