The Change Challenge Academy for Cancer Control is an all-around capacity-building initiative. I have acquired a good number of skills and knowledge through my participation in the academy. I learnt about participatory research which involves community engagement. Stakeholders and opinion leaders in the community are engaged and involved in the study because together we can do more but alone, we cannot do much. I also acquired skills in designing for dissemination to stakeholders that will use it to form policy and take necessary action. I also learnt about health research mentorship in low- and middle-income countries. I learnt about different theories, models and frameworks to use in different sections of a proposal. Frameworks such as CFIR, CBPR and RE-AIM are used.
The knowledge and skills gained through the change challenge academy will be sustained by the application of the skills and knowledge in the ongoing research project. I will also attend all the outlined grant writing workshop series to build on the skills and knowledge gained. Through continuous learning, I will continually build on the knowledge and skills acquired through the change challenge academy.
My participation in the Change Challenge Academy has greatly enhanced my ability to engage and impact the communities I serve. I now employ the concept of participatory research in my community-based research projects where I engage relevant community stakeholder and gatekeepers. This has made my research work very participatory. Community participation allows the community to be part of planning, managing and executing the research project. It makes them take greater responsibility and ownership of the project.
The new insight I have gained through my involvement in the Change Challenge Academy includes the following:
- You must disseminate your findings to people who need it to take action.
- You must work together with others to achieve timely desired results. An adage has it that if you want to go fast, walk alone but if you want to go far, walk with people.
- You should not be afraid of making mistakes or failing. Every mistake or failure presents an opportunity to learn and try again. It is said that the secret of life is to have no fear.
- Grant writing is one way to own and claim a space of your own.
- It takes dedication to understand what will work for the writing journey.
I will give the following pieces of advice to future change scholar to maximize their learning and impact during the academy;
- They should be committed and dedicated to the academy as it takes dedication to understand what will work.
- They should not be afraid of making mistakes in their writing journey as every failure is an opportunity to improve.
- They should know that community participation is very important in every community-based project as it gives the people a sense of ownership and involvement.
Thank you very much.
Dr. Iloke Chijioke V.
