The Mawazo Institute

This week Naliaka and I collaborated with our friends - Aseye Mimi, Axel, Samba, John and Capella - at the Schlumberger Foundation in Paris (FR) to deliver a 1.5-day Brand Lab on "Owning Your Spotlight" for their Fellows based in France, Belgium and Switzerland. Public visibility is something that most researchers don't consider a priority - "what is the point?" they often say. Add the layers of being a researcher who is a woman + a woman of colour - "it is scary; I feel vulnerable; what do I have to say that people want to hear?" is often the response when asked about their public visibility. And I am one of those women. But numerous conversations about visibility - with the Women for the Environment - Africa network; Astrid; Naliaka - give me the reason why: It is not about me; or about the "I". It is about who and what we represent! We are experts. We are leaders. Who just happen to be women. There is a bigger goal to our visibility. We represent hope and innovation and dreaming. We have the ideas and perspectives to create understanding and solutions for our biggest problems. And whilst it is the "I" the world sees, behind me is an entire world: the "we". The power of the "we" allows us to show up; to speak out; to dream big; to spotlight our contributions despite the fear of criticism and judgement. To stand in our power. --- Just as Mawazo's African women researchers inspire me daily, so did the women who attended the Brand Lab: Ramia - a chemist removing pollutants from our environment and building a women researchers’ hub in Jordan. Lovasoa - studies frogs to understand human impact on biodiversity. Striving for scientific excellence in conservation, she inspires women in Madagascar and beyond. Nini - she is developing a plant-based wastewater treatment and is launching Senegal’s first technical institute of water professions. Farida - a hydrogeologist who is looking at up at space to find water underneath the the Earth's surface. She is establishing an association for women in geosciences in Niger. daba - innovating carbon-based electrode materials for energy storage devices, and is creating a network dedicated to promoting sustainable energy storage solutions in Senegal. Lydie - is developing scalable sustainable aquaculture systems by creating integrated fish- and vegetable farming systems. She is big supporter of women in STEM in the DRC. Rehobot - a space systems engineer doing incredible work to create a more equitable and accessible "space race" who is deeply passionate about education. aissata - with two PhDs in two different languages (!) she converts agricultural waste into energy, she is improving energy access and inspiring women and girls in Senegal. Dominique - a nuclear physicist investigating the environmental impacts of natural Oklo reactors, she is leading the path to an energy self-sufficient Gabon. --- Thank you to the SLB team members who also joined in - Chiara, Barbara, and Louise-Olivia!

Three days of reflection and discussion at Times Higher Education's Africa Universities Summit have led to so many thoughts and ideas that are giving me so much energy! To start, I had the honour of moderating yesterday's panel on "How is Africa leading on work towards the SDGs?" with some of the continents most brilliant thinkers and dreamers who deeply believe in Africa's potential: Hanene Boussi - an AI and open science and sustainability expert, and Vice-President of the University of Tunis El Manar; shared some incredible insights into how AI tools have the potential of being incredibly powerful as we work towards the SDGs but we need to be intentional about the quality and origins of the data that we are feeding these models. She encouraged us all to celebrate and take advantage of the things we are innately good at - including the power of community, collaboration and partnerships. Margaret Hutchinson - a powerful, unshakeable leader, horticulture and research innovation thought-leader, and the current acting Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nairobi; shared examples of community (e.g, the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA)). She pushed us to internalise the aspirations of the 17 SDGs and intentionally position ourselves ahead of policy and industry and be the ones that set the agenda and build the roadmaps required to achieve the SDGs - all based on research and evidence. Tebelelo Seretse (nee Mazile) - the Chancellor of the University of Botswana, a fierce and warm and kind leader, who was Botswana's first women ambassador to the US and a former former MP and cabinet minister, brought a wonderful fresh perspective to the conversation, sharing insights into Botswana's Kgotla system (consultative forums) as a way to build sustainable solutions. She reminded us that our universities often do research that benefits the academics rather than research that can benefit our countries. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing laughter and gaining wisdom from these incredible women. This was a real-life example of how African women leaders and thought-leaders think about the big picture; a holistic view on Africa and our progress to the SDGs articulated with such firmness and warmth and optimism. Here are some pictures of our time here in Kigali: 1. On stage with the amazing women mentioned above 2. On a panel discussing "Brain-drain to brain-gain: Aligning research with industry needs in Africa" where I spoke about the power of visibility, communication, and repackaging how we spotlight higher education. Fellow panelists included Wynand Steyn, William Rufaro Mutero and Ajanaku Kolawole Oluseyi. 3. Dinner at Peace UWAMBAYE and her husband's beautiful home with Mawazo Team members Catherine Amayi and Damaris Ndua, as well as Umuhoza Thérèse, Ph.D, where we had some deep and meaningful (and hilarious) conversations which I can sum up in one statement: "Africa needs to learn to love itself deeply and we must believe in our potential".