The global health research enterprise has historically been characterized by power imbalances, with institutions in high-income countries controlling agendas, resources, and knowledge production while researchers in low and middle-income countries serve primarily as data collectors. Our organization is committed to transforming this paradigm through insistence on equitable partnerships. We have developed partnership principles that require shared decision-making on research priorities, equitable distribution of resources and indirect costs, fair authorship reflecting intellectual contributions, capacity building integrated into all collaborations, and data sovereignty with local control over data use and sharing. We maintain rigorous ethical standards through our institutional review board, community advisory boards, and data protection systems compliant with both Kenyan law and international standards. We offer potential partners access to diverse research populations, experienced researchers with deep contextual knowledge, established infrastructure and systems, ethical oversight and community engagement expertise, and connections with policy makers and implementers. We are particularly interested in partnerships addressing health equity, universal health coverage, primary health care strengthening, and social determinants of health. Our team can lead qualitative research, quantitative analysis, mixed methods investigations, implementation research, and community-based participatory research. We invite organizations genuinely committed to equitable collaboration to engage with us as equal partners in knowledge creation.
Citations:
Nature Correspondence. (2026). African science needs to cut reliance on foreign donors. Nature. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00263-y
Zhang, C., & Liu, L. (2025). US disruptions to science could transform global research landscape. Nature, 639, 577. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00824-7