Africarxiv represented in international webinar: Commons in Health (how to involve actors)

The Makers Nord Sud hosted an international webinar on the theme, Commons in Health; how to involve actors, on the 28th of April, 2023. Africarxiv and other organizations like Réseau Francophone des FabLab d'Afrique de l'Ouest (ReFFAO),  OXFAM, Healthsites.io, AfricaOSH and a host of other stakeholders were in attendance. The aim of the webinar was to bring stakeholders together to speak on their organizations and how they involve their communities.

While giving her presentation on behalf of Africarxiv, Keletso Masisi alongside Ebuka Ezeike talked about the vision and mission of the organization and how it helps to promote research in Africa and beyond. During the presentation, the importance of visibility of African research was highlighted and how the organization has engaged with the community and stakeholders since its inception.

Different speakers highlighted their community involvement and discussed the role of their organizations on openscience, methods and  open source hardware. Mark Herringer who was the representative of Healthsites  spoke about what they are doing and the plans they have to make health care accessible to people living in the remote parts of Africa. OXFAM’s representative, Malick Ndome, gave his presentation about how they are  working to help pregnant women have easy access to health facilities during labor. Other organizations involved in the dialogue were Africa Open Science and Hardware and ReFFAO.

For Africarxiv, being involved in dialogues about community involvement is of importance since the organization prides itself in capacity building of its stakeholders. The organization plans on continuing its involvement in African research and increasing its participation in the African research ecosystem. 

The video can be accessed below