American research firm banks on Nairobi office for regional growth

AIR President and CEO Jessica Happen and Kenya Managing Director Christine Kiecha cut the ribbon during the official opening of the Nairobi regional office on May 3, 2024. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

An American-based research firm is now banking on its new Nairobi office to expand its wings to the African region.

American Institutes for Research- AIR said the Nairobi office demonstrates its commitment to conducting research and providing technical assistance in the East Africa region.

The institution's President and CEO Jessica Happen said through the office, AIR seeks partnerships in line with the region's desire to improve education, health, workforce, and economic opportunities as a way to strengthen communities and improve lives.

"We are doing more than just opening an office. AIR is committing to be partners with the leaders and citizens of the region to increase opportunities and create a better, more equitable world for all," she said during the official launch of the office.

According to her, the office will serve as a hub for the institution's current and future work in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and other countries in the region.

This includes studying efforts to address Vitamin A deficiencies in Tanzania by promoting the 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, and exploring linkages between socioeconomic indicators and climate change in East Africa.

"The office will be in charge of 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," said Happen.

Other functions of the office will be to evaluate USAID's East Africa Region Environment program activities, to inform the design of future natural resource management in the region and to determine lessons and direction for scalability and replicability of UNICEF's Nutritional Improvements through cash and health education program.

The 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.

Happen's sentiments were echoed by Kenya Managing Director Christine Kiecha who said, "The challenges in East Africa are unique and complex and, for that reason, we must 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".

Kiecha said through its Pipeline Partnership Program, AIR which is funded by its Equity Initiative has partnerships with the University of Nairobi and the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania 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," said Kiecha.

She said AIR seeks to catalyze to increase the development and use of timely, relevant evidence and help grow the social and behavioral science fields in East Africa.