Growing strong kids in Malawi: A collaborative needs analysis between a Scottish research team and MamaLita School in Namwera

Funded through the The Global Academies and Edinburgh Global Research and Partnership Fund (LMIC)

Our team is working with partners at MamaLita School (mamalita.org.uk) in Namwera, Malawi to develop a translational research programme designed to support the health, education and mental health needs of local children and communities. We have recently submitted a grant application to the CORRA Foundation and have been successful in progressing to the second stage of application. Our priorities now are:
1. To undertake a more detailed needs analysis with our Malawian partners. This will require (a) a visit to Malawi for key members of our Scottish team (hosted at MamaLita School), during which we will (b) conduct a set of recorded interviews enquiring about the development of the school and the perceived health, education and mental health needs, which will be written up as a journal article and (c) a visit to Edinburgh for a key member of our Malawi based team to facilitate project design and to contribute to the event described in point 2.
2. To continue developing a strong network of researchers and practitioners in Edinburgh to support this work and to enhance the potential sustainability of the project. Particularly, our priority is to find Edinburgh based Malawian partners. This will involve hosting a meeting with interested Malawi students and academics based in Edinburgh to ascertain potential for support, collaboration and partnership.