Dynamic Systems and Partnerships Core

Dynamic Systems & Partnership Core

The Dynamic Systems & Partnerships Core exists to disrupt the status quo in climate change and health research, fostering processes and relationships that champion equity in global health partnerships.

We strive for non-hierarchical, circular systems that prioritize relationships, channeling resources into the communities that need them, co-leading decisions with local leaders, embedding rigorous and culturally aligned research with local ethics and standards, making knowledge transparent and accessible, and anchoring our collaborations in shared values. We aim to model a partnership-centered approach to research, one where transparency, accountability, and community leadership drive sustainable change.

Partnership has many dimensions — and this core works to embed our values across all of them. What does this mean? It means striving for equity in the transactional processes of partnership—such as governance structures, resource allocation, transparency, and policy creation—while also strengthening the relational and collaborative elements that make partnerships thrive, including trust, deep understanding, and a shared vision. As our name suggests, this work is dynamic and ever-changing, and we are committed to continually moving our partnerships toward equity and sustainability.

A Glimpse at Our Partnership Network

Our System & Partnership Values

Ensure equitable funding and resource allocation

Only 4% of global climate change research has been spent on African topics. (Anga’s objective) At Anga Center, we strive to ensure that at least 80% of all research funding we receive is spent in East Africa, with most of it going directly to the communities most impacted by climate change through employment, stipends, interventions, research participant compensation and incentives, equipment, trainings, well-ness care, and community-first findings dissemination. (Outcome Anga is trying to achieve) Our vision is to achieve improved transparency, financial accountability, and alignment of community-led initiatives with the strategic vision of the Anga Center.

Facilitate equitable decision-making

In many global health and climate projects—especially those meant for their own communities—local partners control less than 15% of decision-making authority. This persistent imbalance undermines true local agency. (Anga’s objective) Anga Center is committed to ensuring that strategic decisions are co-led with community leaders and researchers from East Africa through participatory governance structures. (Outcome Anga is trying to achieve) By doing so, we nurture ownership, trust, and accountability, ensuring interventions are meaningful, contextually relevant, and sustainable.

Ensure compliance and ethics

Many research projects in low- and middle-income countries rely solely on Global North ethics boards, ignoring locally relevant review processes. This can lead to ethical misalignment with the cultural and community needs where the research takes place. (Anga’s objective) All Anga initiatives will undergo dual ethical review—by globally recognized and East African ethics boards—to ensure research is culturally aligned and respectfully conducted. (Outcome Anga is trying to achieve) This approach protects research participants, strengthens ethical infrastructure in the region, and models community-centered research integrity.

Promote transparency and access to knowledge

Over 60% of such research is behind subscription fees, making it inaccessible to local policymakers, practitioners, and communities—hindering informed, evidence-based action. (Anga’s objective) Anga Center will ensure research outputs are shared with communities and stakeholders. (Outcome Anga is trying to achieve) This democratizes information, empowers communities, influences policy, and increases uptake of locally relevant interventions.

Co-create dynamic partnership values

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What does a dynamic system rooted in partnership look like?

The Anga Center does not have a hierarchical organizational structure. Instead, we have adopted a system of cores and teams.

Our Anga Strategic Leadership Team is made up of dedicated scholars and thought leaders across disciplines. They meet regularly with the Anga Operations Team and the Community Collaborative Boards to develop strategies and plans for the future of the Center. They mentor the Sauti Mashinani Lab, the Future Leaders of Climate Change and Health doctoral and post-doctoral fellows, and the Community Research Team. They also co-lead, in teams of two, the strategic vision of each of our Center’s cores: research, community collaboration, capacity-building, and dynamic systems and partnerships.

Our Anga Operations Team collaboratively runs day-to-day tasks–working hand-in-hand with the Community Research Teams as well as local government and public benefit partners. They ensure that resources reach the communities that need them. The Operations Team co-leads decisions with local leaders–ensuring our research is rigorously implemented, is culturally appropriate, and is aligned with local ethics and standards. They work to make knowledge transparent and accessible, and work to ensure our values are aligned with those of our partners. They ensure that the Center’s resources are channeled into the communities in which we work, that our decisions are made directly with local leaders, that our research is rigorous and aligned with local ethics and standards, that we are making knowledge transparent and accessible, and that we are anchoring our collaborations in shared values.

Our Community Research Team is the heart and soul of the Anga Center. Experienced local associates lead and support ethical, community-centered research grounded in trust, care, and long-standing engagement. Our Community Research Team currently consists of 16 women who have been with us for three to six years. They not only lead research, but mentor the next generation of community researchers.