On March 17, 2016 at 2:30 pm EAT members from the Agha Khan Development Network’s (AKDN) Civil Society, including the Director Nick McKinlay and Agha Khan Foundation (AKF) Uganda Country Director Akim Okuni visited Makerere UniversitySchool of Public HealthResilientAfrica Network (RAN) in Kampala Uganda. After reaching out to the RAN team highlighting that they are interested in the work RAN is undertaking, they visited the RAN Innovation and Design lab at Makerere University. In addition to visiting the lab, they met with some of the RAN Leadership to learn more about the upcoming Network plans and flesh out possible areas for partnership.
Possible areas for partnership discussed include the following;
- RAN can provide innovation space and also support implementation of the already started Civil Society projects
- RIC4CONF Grants Call covers the area Agha Khan is working in. The Agha Khan team will join in to further publicize the call within and outside their networks but also encourage targeted partners to apply. They can also provide judges for the RIC4CONF Grants call
- The two teams could also work together to craft out another call directed to Agha Khan’s scoop of work. Through employing the Co-creation methodology, a challenge can be crafted and ran. The RAN Co-creation processes are tested and the RAN team can co-facilitate any training in this regards. Some of the Co-creation session projects at RAN include the Humane Emergency Use Canopies and Accessories (HEUCA)-Ebola project and the M&E project –MERLIN
- We can also work together to facilitate an Intervention Strategy Workshop and keenly look at the output, methodology transfer is key in all operations. RAN Team can lead the process of leveraging from University partners so that they are part of Civil Society work. It is vital to bring the Youth and University dimensions together for better output/impact
- The RAN team can also support Youth activities/initiatives and the operations being implemented by the Agha Khan team in Nairobi Kenya too
- The RAN Focal points/persons at the different Network and Network Plus Partner Universities can help Agha work better and even engage more
Conclusively, the Agha Khan Team noted and shared that they are not fast but long term, thus looking out for a long term partnership. The teams needed time to digest the discussion as they pulled together key strands to see what additional partners to get on board.
