Culturally Based Capacity-Building for African Immigrant Patient Partners
From subjects to co-designers: building research power in African immigrant communities.
The Spark: Why we built this
Earlier AIHRC projects surfaced a clear truth: African-led and African-serving organizations are ready to shape research—not just participate in it. Partners asked, “What would it take for our communities to lead as patient partners in patient-centered CER and drive better health outcomes?” This project is our answer.
The journey: how we ran the training
To make space for deep interaction across time zones, we designed two sets of a virtual, 2-day comprehensive workshops for two cohorts—small on purpose design to maximize interaction and engagement in a virtual setting.
Two external consultants supported QA/QI as silent observers in Cohort 1; their feedback informed Cohort 2.
- Participants: ~38 individuals from ~25 organizations, consisting leaders, program staff, and patient partners building research capacity together.
- Cohort 1: Nov 29 & Dec 1, 2023 (12–7 pm ET)
- Cohort 2: Jan 24 & Jan 26, 2024 (10 am–5 pm ET)
Every member of our leadership-team across their various organizations hand crafted the curriculum, recruit participants, and facilitate, keeping delivery consistent while reflecting many voices.
What we built together
We focused on three goals:
- Spark interest in leading research that solves community-named problems.
- Grow knowledge and practical skills in patient-centered research.
- Connect African-led orgs across the U.S. into a learning network.
Training kit (built for two-day usefulness): scripted curriculum, participant workbook, interactive slides with activities & icons, certificates, resource list, and a post-training evaluation.
Three modules, one learning arc:
- The Role of Research in Improving African Immigrant Health
Health status; thinking like a researcher; power & equity in research. - Patient & Community-Engaged Research
Being a patient/community partner; building a research roadmap. - Demystifying Research
The research process; IRB/ethics; crafting strong questions; data collection.
Centering culture: how we “Africanized” the experience
Guided by Decolonizing Methodologies (Linda Tuhiwai Smith), partners Africanized both content and delivery—proverbs, music, culturally grounded visuals, and facilitation moves that honored communal knowledge. This approach met Indigenous participants with respect and offered non-Indigenous participants a meaningful window into African ways of knowing—vital in a country where the African immigrant population grew by 41% as of 2021.
To keep quality high, two external consultants served as silent observers in Cohort 1; we integrated their feedback into Cohort 2.
What participants told us
Most respondents felt the training met its objectives. Facilitators were praised; the joining ceremony felt culturally right; the workbook and “Africanized” elements (proverbs, slide design, music) supported learning. Some asked for more time within segments—great guidance for next iterations.
Participants left planning to, within 3–6 months:
- learn more about research;
- pilot methods like Photovoice;
- share findings across the network;
- explore “Africanizing” research practices in their own work.
Where we stumbled—and what we’ll improve
We’re transparent about limits and learning:
- Capacity & timing: Limited funding and staff time meant rescheduling the first cohort and compressing some build steps; virtual delivery introduced distractions we might avoid in person.
- Evaluation design: We fielded a post-only survey (no pre-post), not all attendees completed it, and we didn’t capture organization names. That made it hard to see org-level patterns (e.g., stipend views vs. org budget). Some wording needs refinement (e.g., “African Country of Birth” instead of “country of origin”). The small dataset limits generalizability.
- Evidence questions to carry forward: Participants found the Africanized approach novel; next round we’ll measure which specific cultural elements created what benefits—and for whom.
What’s next
Findings from the training informed the content and design of the Africanizing the Research Paradigm 2024 (#ARP2024).
Partners are finishing Chapters 9–13 of Decolonizing Methodologies to deepen practice before the national convening. We’ll bring forward what resonated most—authenticity, communal ties, flexible time, relationship-building—as a practical blueprint for African-centered research partnerships. We’ll also widen participation inside orgs and neighboring immigrant communities, publish more training insights on our site, and make the training ongoing so those who need more notice can join.
How you can plug in
- Train with us: Join a future cohort or host a session for your network.
- Co-design research: Bring a community-named question; build a patient-partnered study.
- Support the work: Join our Listserv and be a potential collaborator for potential multi-year project to strengthen capacity and expand access.