2023 arrived quickly, and somehow it’s already almost three years since the start of the pandemic. A strange and often difficult three years, but hey, we’re still here. And while we don’t know for sure if the pandemic is fully behind us, there is less of a feeling of uncertainty and more excitement about what lies ahead.
Looking back, 2022 saw the return of training activities! - mostly online, but we were able to integrate some hybrid elements and we are excited about the possibilities that online training can offer. Still, there’s nothing like in-person training! and we hope to be able to offer this again in 2023, although with other training options, as we put more focus towards training in 2023. In 2022, training activities included an Immersion Research hybrid training for a new group of Research Associates in Indonesia. This 4-day hybrid training included online sessions and offline field practicum, allowing us to include a wide range of participants with 16 trainees joining from 6 provinces across Indonesia. We also trained Save the Children project staff in Malawi to be able to conduct research immersions and people-centered design workshops for a nutrition and early childhood development programme they are implementing.
We also conducted multiple mixed methods studies in 2022, including in Indonesia on family friendly policies supporting child immunization and lead pollution. For the child immunization study, we held participatory focus group discussions with groups of mothers and fathers across sectors such as garments, palm oil, medicines, and the informal section in 10 different locations throughout Indonesia. For the lead pollution study, we visited areas in Bogor, West Java, and Tegal, Central Java that have a history of high lead pollution.
We also worked on a mixed methods study as our second project in Africa last year (both conducted remotely), this one collaborating with Stats4SD for an assessment of a program on improving access to quality basic education for displaced children in Tanzania and Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Our collaboration with Burnet Institute continued for a new project that builds on some of the insights from our pathways to adolescent pregnancy study from 2021. This new project focused more specifically on early marriage and testing a tool to help quantify this for Burnet and UNFPA. Another follow-up project saw continuation of our work on access to malaria services in Eastern Indonesia with UNICEF. This new project is focusing specifically on developing and testing communication strategies related to malaria prevention. Our team will pilot the strategy in Papua, West Papua and NTT.
Along with continued collaborations such as these, we welcomed new clients such as Vital Strategies (for our lead pollution study) and the Asian Development Bank (for a study on adolescent nutrition). We also developed new partnerships with organizations such as Kota Kita for a study on multi-sectoral urban programming in Indonesia. This project will be wrapping up in the first part of 2023.
As an organization, we are very thankful for the continued opportunities and support in 2022. We also salute the commitment of our own team and research associates. Let’s keep the momentum going for 2023!
Check out the full review here!
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