By Diana Meso

At USIU-Africa, research is not just about generating knowledge, it is about solving real-world challenges and transforming lives. Leading this effort is Prof. Amos Njuguna, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics - Transformative Teaching, Learning, and Research, whose commitment to impactful research is shaping communities, influencing policy, and empowering the next generation of scholars.

Learning about what works in growing Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and entrenching these initiatives at the USIU-Africa’s Innovation and Incubation center, is a priority for Prof. Njuguna. In 2024, an initiative dubbed, the Africa Impact Academy was developed under his leadership, partnering with MoFund Africa and backed by the Coca-Cola Foundation. Working with over 100 USIU-Africa students, who support research, publicity, training and mentorship of MSMEs, the initiative seeks to grow and build resilience of over 1000 MSMEs in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. A critical output for this project will be an impact paper, generating evidence on what works in growing and building resilience of MSMEs across the three countries.

Disturbed by the fact that Africa has over 15% of the world’s population and contribute to barely 1% of the global research output an initiative dubbed Collaboration for Inclusive Development Research is in place. The initiative is spearheaded by the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California in Berkeley and the Network of Impact Evaluation Researchers in Africa (NIERA) that is hosted at USIU-Africa. As the chairperson of NIERA, Prof. Njuguna is the Co-Principal Investigator along with Professor Edward Miguel – a distinguished Professor of Economics, and Faculty co-Director of CEGA. This initiative is identifying gaps that hinder effective participation of African researchers in development research, publications and contribution to policy and provides tangible measures for inclusion of African researchers in the global research arena.

Acting on a finding by the Africa Development Bank that in Africa between 10 and 12 million youth enter the job market annually to compete for 3 million jobs, Prof. Njuguna sought to explore the potential of the creative sector to provide decent jobs for youth in 4 counties in Kenya (Nairobi, Kiambu, Kisumu and Mombasa). An initiative dubbed County Creative Arts Residence and Empowerment Program (Co-CARE) was formed in partnership with Across Productions and backed by the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment to equip over 1200 young artists and creators with skills, resources and opportunities to monetize their talents. Supported by other researchers – Ms. Salome Asena, Mr. Kelvin Akumu, Ms. Maureen Bett and Ms. Jennifer Nyakinya, this ground-breaking action research is generating insights on how to break systemic barriers that hinder decent and sustainable jobs for young people in Kenyan creative sector.

Informed by the fact that in the 2022 general elections, women garnered 10.6% (201 of the 1882 elective posts) in Kenya, Prof. Njuguna and a team from Stanford University sought to uncover gender bias and public sentiment towards political leaders. They analyzed over 2 decades of data and have made a raft of recommendations to eliminate gender bias and increase representation by women in Kenyan elective politics.

Granted that the population of individuals aged 60 years and above in Africa will triple between 2020 and 2050 and many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have not initiated robust policies to mitigate old age poverty, Prof Njuguna, contributed insights to inform issue framing on a paper titled Preparing for an Aging Africa. The paper discusses how evidence can inform design of healthcare systems, pensions and support systems for an aging Africa.

Disturbed by the fact that most research conducted by academics is not implemented by practitioners and policy makers due to the mismatch in priorities, methods and ways in which it is disseminated, Prof Njuguna through NIERA initiated a Demand Driven Research Initiative. This approach ensures that users of research are not treated as “end consumers” but as active contributors to knowledge right from the generation of the research questions, execution to implementation of findings. Through the initiative, NIERA empowers researchers to explore research questions and implement findings. Ongoing research is contributing to alleviating the gambling menace in Kenya and Uganda, reducing poverty amongst the urban poor in Uganda, effectiveness of community health-based insurance in Ethiopia, switching from ten to five doses of measles vaccine in Kenya, efficacy of HIV self-testing in Kenya and Tanzania and exploring pathways for youth employment through the creative sector in Kenya.

In the international arena, Prof. Njuguna is leading researchers in NIERA to participate in a consortium of 9 organizations with over 1500 researchers to support rigorous evaluation of programs that are funded by USAID. The project dubbed Promoting Impact and Learning with Cost Effectiveness Evidence will contribute to understanding of the most practical and effective ways of implementing development projects.

Lastly, Prof. Njuguna is leading the Scholarship of Teaching, learning and Research at USIU-Africa. The project is immersing students and faculty in community projects for learning and research. The curriculum that is taught is infused with community projects providing the students and faculty with experiential learning that enables them to ask critical questions that result to resolution of deep-rooted community problems. Findings of a pilot survey, that was completed in Summer 2024 indicated that students who participated in the project improved their critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and inquisitive skills. Prof Njuguna is heading the scaling of this project.

Prof. Njuguna’s leadership exemplifies USIU-Africa’s mission of transformational research and scholarship, bridging knowledge with impact. As these projects continue to grow, their reach extends far beyond the university driving change across Africa.

For more information about his work, please visit this link Amos Njuguna - Google Scholar