American Institutes for Research Commits to the East Africa Region with New Kenya Office
April 29 2024 - 12:20PM
The American Institutes for Research (AIR) opened a new office in
Kenya today, demonstrating its deep commitment to conducting
research and providing technical assistance in the East Africa
region. AIR staff were joined by local and regional leaders for a
grand opening event at the new office in the Westlands area of
Nairobi.
“In East Africa, there is a growing desire to improve education,
health, workforce, and economic opportunities as a way to
strengthen communities and improve lives,” said AIR President and
CEO Jessica Heppen. “We are doing more than opening an office
today: AIR is making a commitment to be partners with the leaders
and citizens of the region to increase opportunities and create a
better, more equitable world for all.”
The new office will house 39 AIR staff members and will serve as
a hub for the institution’s current and future work in Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, and other countries in the region. That work
includes:
- Studying efforts to
address Vitamin A deficiencies in Tanzania by promoting production
and consumption of orange-fleshed sweet potatoes.
- Conducting
third-party monitoring for USAID’s Afya Uwazi project to ensure
medicines and other health commodities are reaching areas where
they are needed.
- Exploring linkages
between socioeconomic indicators and climate change in East
Africa.
- Supporting
communications and dissemination for USAID’s Famine Early Warning
Systems Network, which informs humanitarian responses in the
world’s most food insecure regions through evidence-driven
analysis.
- Evaluating USAID’s
East Africa Region Environment program activities, to inform the
design of future natural resource management in the region.
- Determining lessons
and direction for scalability and replicability of UNICEF’s
Nutritional Improvements Through Cash and Health Education program.
The Kenya office will also be the home to partnerships with
regional universities and other organizations to ensure the
relevance of AIR’s research and technical assistance work and help
train the next generation of social and behavioral scientists.
“The challenges in East Africa are unique and complex and, for
that reason, it is imperative that we work with those that are
closest to the problems we are trying to address and understand the
needs of those who live and work in these communities,” said
Christine Kiecha, managing director of AIR’s Kenya office.
The AIR Pipeline Partnership Program—funded by the AIR Equity
Initiative—has partnerships with the University of Dar es Salaam in
Tanzania and the University of Nairobi that provide education,
training, and mentoring for students who are entering social and
behavioral science fields. AIR also has growing partnerships with
Kenyatta University and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of
Science and Technology, both in Kenya, to collaborate on research
and education.
“AIR wants to serve as a catalyst to increase the development
and use of timely, relevant evidence and help grow the social and
behavioral science fields in East Africa,” said Ashu Handa, an AIR
Institute Fellow based in the Kenya office. “We look forward to
building on our current partnerships and developing new
relationships that will be beneficial in the future.”
About AIR
Established in 1946, the American Institutes for Research (AIR)
is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution that conducts
behavioral and social science research and delivers technical
assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of
health, education, and the workforce. AIR's work is driven by its
mission to generate and use rigorous evidence that contributes to a
better, more equitable world. With headquarters in Arlington,
Virginia, AIR has offices across the U.S. and abroad. For more
information, visit www.air.org.
- AIR staff and guests open new Kenya office
Dana Tofig
American Institutes for Research
202-403-6347
dtofig@air.org