Some of the most lasting investments in research capacity are not measured by the number of people trained, but by what those people go on to build.
The partnership between the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) and Strathmore University in Kenya is one example of that investment coming full circle. At the heart of the collaboration is Strathmore’s Institute of Health Management (IHM), led by senior researchers whose own careers began at KWTRP. Having benefited from an environment that nurtured their development as researchers, they are now helping to create similar opportunities for another generation of African researchers and health leaders.
Over almost eight years, those personal and professional connections have grown into a strong institutional partnership spanning health systems research, postgraduate education, mentorship and leadership development. It demonstrates one of DELTAS Africa’s central ambitions: investing not only in individual researchers, but also in the African institutions, systems, and relationships that allow excellent research and research leadership to thrive over the long term.
The collaboration started modestly. Researchers from KWTRP contributed their expertise to teaching and supervising students undertaking Strathmore University’s Master’s in Healthcare Management. Through these interactions, the two institutions began to recognise a wider need. Demand for advanced academic training in healthcare management was growing, but opportunities for researchers and health professionals to pursue doctoral-level training in the field were limited.
Rather than simply sending promising researchers elsewhere for training, Strathmore and KWTRP worked together to build that capacity locally. The two institutions co-developed the curriculum for a PhD in Healthcare Management at Strathmore University, with support from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). KWTRP researchers have remained involved in teaching and supervision, helping connect doctoral training with the realities and questions emerging from health systems research.
Today, the programme has enrolled more than 40 doctoral students. Many benefit from co-supervision by researchers from Strathmore and KWTRP, giving them access to expertise across both institutions and creating stronger connections between academic learning and applied research. As the only programme of its kind in the region, the PhD has also created an opportunity for advanced training closer to the health systems where many of its graduates will ultimately work, conduct research and provide leadership.
This is where institutional investment begins to have a multiplier effect. A lecturer contributes to a programme. That relationship grows into joint supervision. Joint supervision develops into a doctoral programme. The programme trains researchers and health professionals who, in turn, strengthen the organisations and health systems in which they work. What started as collaboration between individuals gradually becomes capacity embedded within institutions.
Under the second phase of the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL), Strathmore University was formally brought into the consortium. This marked an important shift in the relationship. Strathmore was no longer simply collaborating on individual activities; it became part of a wider African capacity-development platform, able to draw on shared expertise, networks and resources while strengthening its own systems for research and training.
This approach reflects the institutional investment pillar of DELTAS Africa. Sustainable research capacity cannot depend indefinitely on a small number of established research centres. It requires strong universities and research institutions across the continent that can train researchers, provide quality mentorship, develop relevant programmes, build partnerships and create environments in which African research careers can flourish. By sharing expertise and institutional resources, the partnership is helping expand where and how that capacity is developed.
Importantly, its influence is already extending beyond university walls.
KWTRP and Strathmore have jointly organised and facilitated leadership training for healthcare managers in Kenya. They have also delivered a Gates-funded Leadership, Management and Governance training programme for senior leaders from National Malaria Control Programmes and Ministries of Health across six African countries: Kenya, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Rwanda and Cameroon. Through these programmes, the expertise built within the partnership is reaching people responsible for making and implementing decisions within health systems across the continent.
There is something particularly powerful about the journey behind this collaboration. Researchers who once developed their careers within KWTRP are now leading an institute at another Kenyan university. They are training students, supervising emerging researchers, building programmes and developing partnerships of their own. Their progression illustrates why institutional investment matters. When people are supported within strong research environments, the benefit does not necessarily end when they move to another organisation. They carry knowledge, relationships, experience and a culture of mentorship with them.
That is perhaps the deeper impact of the KWTRP-Strathmore partnership. It is not about making one institution dependent on another. It is about institutions growing stronger together and using what each has built to create opportunities that neither could achieve as effectively alone.
Nearly eight years into the collaboration, the results can be seen in a new doctoral programme, more than 40 PhD students, shared supervision and teaching, a growing institutional partnership and leadership training that has reached health decision-makers across several African countries. But its longer-term value may be even greater.
Africa’s future health challenges will require researchers who understand its health systems, leaders who can translate evidence into action, and institutions capable of training and supporting both. By investing in those institutions today, partnerships such as this one are helping build the foundations on which African research leadership can continue to grow long after individual grants and programmes have ended.