Fellowship partners: Kenya policy fellows and Professor Liz Grant

Prof Liz Grant is an Assistant Principal with responsibility for global health activity across the University of Edinburgh’s three colleges. She holds a chair in Global Health and Development. She is responsible for developing and supporting the University's global health partnerships with colleagues in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) communities, and for local and global advocacy translating global health research into action. 

Prof Grant is also co-director of the University of Edinburgh’s Global Compassion Initiative developing work on the value base of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, the science of compassion, and the contribution that faith communities make to the SDGs.  

Her own research interests span planetary health and palliative care in the contexts of poverty and conflict.

We asked Liz to reflect on her experiences as a mentor, working with the Fleming Fund policy fellows in Kenya.

What were your expectations at the beginning of the mentorship?

I wanted to get to know Evelyn and Romona as colleagues, to better understand their work roles and the vision that they had for the fellowship.  

Can you describe your relationship with the fellows?

Romona and Evelyn were extraordinary - they were so committed to making their work on AMR relevant and purposeful. 

I was very impressed with their enthusiasm to become leaders in their respective fields. It was always enjoyable to talk with Evelyn and Romona, and because we shared the experience of training together for the Compassion course, we had a larger agenda that helped us put the plans we were making for AMR on a day-to-day basis into a much broader framework.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned during your mentorship?

I learned from Romona and Evelyn that if you focus on one thing and are determined to make it happen, you can make something happen. We had various discussions about thier plans to make a documentary about AMR - would the project be feasible, what would it involve, was it possible to do something so ambitious during the Covid-19 pandemics, and in an already busy schedule?

But Evelyn and Romona convinced me that not only was it possible, but it was the right way to go - they understood the communities they needed to convince, and I was impressed that there was a recognition that being bold and thinking outside the box was critical, given the crisis we are already in with antibiotic resistance.

Were your expectations met during the mentorship?

They were. I am so conscious that I was not able to join the Fleming Fund Fellowship colloquium in Uganda in June.  I would have loved to have met Evelyn and Romona there, as it was so valuable to talk face to face with them when they were here in Edinburgh. Although mentorship is definitely possible through Zoom/Teams, there is nothing better than a face-to-face conversation over tea.

What advice would you give to future fellows?

Be bold - with a plan of delivery.

Be open to interesting things during your fellowship. Romona and Evelyn took the external training course in Compassion in Global Health, co-facilitated with staff from the World Health Organisation. When we set out, it may not have seemed related to AMR, but it is so valuable to understand how our presence and the way we interact with colleagues impacts the outcomes of our work as professionals.

Get to know your mentee/mentor as a colleague. 

Policy Human Health fellow Evelyn Wesangula

Evelyn Wesangula is a pharmacist with an MSc. Tropical and Infectious Diseases and has more than fifteen years of experience in the Ministry of Health in Kenya. She successfully advocated for the development and implementation of the National Antimicrobial Resistance Policy and Action Plan from a multi-sectoral perspective.

Evelyn works for the East Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) as a senior AMR control specialist. She has worked as a consultant for the World Health Organization, developing guidance documents to support the implementation of NAPs. She is a Chatham House Africa Public Health Leaders Fellow, an International Ambassador for the Society of Hospital Epidemiology of America, and a Fleming Fund Policy Fellow.

What were your expectations at the beginning of the fellowship?

I came to this fellowship with an open mind. Having worked in the field of policy making and having gone through the process of formulating a complex, multi-sector AMR policy, I knew I had knowledge gaps and needed to understand the processes of policy analysis and formulation from different perspectives.

This was important as we were nearing the end of the implementation period of the first National Policy and Action Plan on AMR in Kenya and I expected to learn methods and techniques for analysing the policy landscape, gain the knowledge and skills to lead a better policy and NAP review process, and gain better buy-in and commitment from leaders to policy implementation.

Can you describe your relationship with your mentor and other fellow?

Romona and I had a very cordial relationship. We agreed that we needed to go through the process together for a better learning experience and moral support. Because this was a mutually beneficial relationship, we continued to strengthen our interpersonal relationships both inside and outside of the fellowship discussions, which also impacted our daily work within the AMR Secretariat.

Each of us had a unique set of skills and expertise that we utilized throughout the fellowship. We had mutual trust and believed and valued each other as equal partners in the success of the collaborative project. We planned and executed our work through regular communication, consultation, and engagement.

Prof. Liz is a great mentor. We had open communication and greatly appreciated her expertise. At the beginning, she suggested we take a course in Compassionate Leadership. This changed our mindset about the whole fellowship process. As leaders in our respective fields, we needed to understand the importance of pausing and self-reflecting on the journey we are all on, and this was timely for us as we were in the process of reviewing NAP.

Prof. Liz was very responsive and gave us advice and honest, thoughtful, and relevant feedback on our project proposals. This allowed us to refine our focus. She provided us with real opportunities to engage with Scottish decision makers in the field of antimicrobial resistance, which gave us new insights into our own processes.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned during your fellowship?

In the landscape of policy formulation and implementation, how you interact and communicate your information to different audiences is critical. No task, no environment, no way of working is trivial. I have learned to embrace, value, and include all stakeholders, now more than before. There is so much richness to draw from and use in each of the countries represented in the cohort of fellows.

What advice would you give to future fellows?

Come with an open mind to learn and unlearn, and bring your whole self to the fellowship process. Think of fellowship as an opportunity that changes you, not just the work you do.

Policy Animal Health fellow Romona Ndanyi

Romona Ndanyi is a Kenyan veterinarian with more than 20 years of experience in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS). Romona holds a Master of Science in Poultry Health and Production and is currently pursuing a PhD in Veterinary Epidemiology and Economics. She manages the Central Veterinary Laboratories (CVL), Kabete in Nairobi, the National Reference Laboratory for AMR.

As a member of the National Antimicrobial Stewardship Interagency Committee (NASIC) and the National AMR Secretariat, she has been involved in the development and implementation of the National AMR Policy and Action Plan. She is a certified biorisk management instructor, trained by Sandia National Laboratories of the United States of America, qualified to TOT for the Qualifying Workforce for AMR Surveillance (QWArS) programme sponsored by the African Society for Laboratory Medicine, and is a Fleming Fund Policy Fellow.

What were your expectations at the beginning of the fellowship?

My expectations as an AMR Policy Fellow were to interact with AMR experts and colleagues to sharpen my skills and gain hands-on experience in raising awareness and advocating for AMR-specific activities in the country. I also wanted to learn how to transform AMR data into tangible evidence that we can use to influence policy and decision-making in my country.

Describe your collaboration/relationship with the mentor and other fellows?

It was a great honour to work closely with Prof. Liz Grant from the University of Edinburgh as a mentor and with my colleague Dr. Evelyn Wesangula from the human health sector in Kenya. We formed a great team during our meetings where we exchanged ideas on both a personal and professional level.

Prof. Liz Grant provided us with advice and support throughout the fellowship. I am very grateful to her for encouraging us to participate in the eight-week course on compassionate leadership, where we were able to learn and unlearn our AMR leadership skills through intensive reflection sessions. It highlighted the importance of treating everyone, including ourselves, with compassion and creating a culture of compassion that supports the success of everyone in our workplaces. 

It was also easy  for Evelyn and I to work together as a team, as we had already worked together as members of the state's AMR Secretariat. With this background, we were able to agree on a collaborative project for the Policy fellowship which was further enhanced by the support and guidance of our mentor. This has also enabled us to implement the lessons learned during the fellowship in our AMR NAP review and our AMR Policy Brief.

What was the most valuable lesson you learned during your fellowship?

During a discussion with members of the Scottish Government, I learned that the UK's 20-year vision for AMR is being translated into five-year medium-term strategies that focus on tangible outcomes and inform the review of the National Action Plan. Another valuable lesson learned was how representatives from human, animal, and environmental health can work in country teams toward a common goal by taking a One Health approach. We included the environmental and aquaculture team in our subsequent NAP. We also learned the importance of facts, data and figures, which we currently use to add weight to our AMR communications.

What advice would you give to future fellows?

My advice to future fellows is to be fully engaged from the beginning and take the opportunity to learn as much as you can from the experts available to you and the courses offered. Also, be open to networking with other fellows and apply what you learn in practice.

Related Links

Fleming Fund Fellowship Scheme

Fleming Fund fellows at the University of Edinburgh

Prof Liz Grant profile

Global Health Academy