Public engagement by early career researchers in East Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: case studies from East Africa

TL;DR

This paper explores how early career researchers in East Africa adapted community engagement during the pandemic when face-to-face interactions were not possible.

Contribution

The study provides novel case examples of how researchers in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania adapted to pandemic restrictions in community-engaged research.

Findings

Virtual CEI attempts failed due to poor connectivity and lack of digital access among students.

Researchers successfully engaged students through creative activities like songs, comics, and quizzes after schools reopened.

The findings reveal the challenges of implementing community engagement without face-to-face interactions.

Abstract

Background: Community engagement and involvement (CEI) in research usually depends on face-to-face interactions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented such interactions because of national lockdowns and social distancing. This paper highlights the ways in which early career researchers from East Africa tackled CEI activities during the pandemic.

Methods: We provide four case examples that illustrate how early-career researchers based in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, deployed different approaches and initiatives to community-engaged research during the pandemic to encourage participation and uptake of research findings.

Results: All the three early-career researchers attempted to use virtual/digital means to implement the CEI. However, in each country, this attempt was unsuccessful because of poor connectivity, as well as many poorer students lacking access to telephones and computers. Nevertheless, the researchers effectively engaged the students using different activities (making up songs, drawing comics, and taking part in quizzes) once the schools reopened.

Conclusion: These results highlight the complexity of implementing community engagement and involvement in health research when face-to-face interaction is not possible. The findings are relevant to researchers who wish to incorporate community engagement in their research and initiatives.

Keywords: East Africa, COVID-19, Community engagement, Pandemic