Anga Center Community Collaborative Core

PROJECT SUMMARY East Africa is in the midst of a climate crisis as one of the most vulnerable regions of Africa to climate change (CC) and related extreme weather events (EWEs). CC will exacerbate already existing temperature extremes and changes in precipitation in this region, and these environmental changes are likely to have a profound impact on health and well-being. Even though countries and communities that contribute the least to CC are often those most affected, there is limited inclusion of these communities in CC and health research. The Anga Center for Climate Justice, Health Equity, and Community Wellbeing's central theme is to improve climate justice, health equity, and community well-being by exploring climate-related health and well-being and interventions to strengthen them through building transdisciplinary research capacity and fostering sustained community engagement and empowerment in climate vulnerable communities and marginalized populations. The Center's Community Collaborative Core seeks to improve local and regional CC and health science and research by cooperating with and empowering community members from three East African (EA) nations (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania) throughout the research process. One of our key strategies for achieving this goal is to ensure the authentic collaboration of individual- and organizational-level stakeholders of populations who face disproportionate vulnerabilities related to adverse CC and health outcomes: members of informal settlements, pastoralists, and small-holder farming communities. Guided by community-based participatory research (CBPR) and influenced by critical consciousness theory, gender transformative approaches, and African Ubuntu philosophy, our Community Collaborative Core team will comprise 3 community collaborative boards (CCBs) and a research team of 18 Field Managers and 36 community data collectors, in support of the Center research projects. The problems addressed through the Core align with our Anga Center theme to produce mutually beneficial, multi-directional relationships between communities and academic institutions in the U.S. and EA. We will work together to facilitate multi-directional engagement and close collaboration between community stakeholders, governments, partners in the humanitarian sector, and Center members to identify common, actionable, community-defined priorities; solutions-oriented research questions and design; and reporting/application of results, new strategies, and opportunities (Aim 1); employ, train, and empower community members as research team members (Aim 2); and ensure culturally appropriate translation and application of the Center findings and disseminate research results and evidence-based solutions to guide equitable climate adaptation research and policy change in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda (Aim 3). meaningfully engage community in all aspects of Anga Center research—leading to relevant outcomes that can inform decisions to mitigate negative CC-related health impacts, disseminate educational tools and materials, and promote global health equity.