A long-term process for decolonizing and democratizing community-focused research: the case for MicroResearch in East Africa and in Canada

Academics and multinational pharmaceutical companies from high-income countries (HIC) are major drivers of health research in many low- and low-middle-income countries (LMIC) but have neglected investing in and growing local research capacity. Community-focused health research in LMICs needs to be more locally driven and benefiting. The MicroResearch (MR) workshop program supports teams of local healthcare workers and community experts to identify local healthcare problems. Once a problem is clearly identified, the team then develops a research proposal and is empowered to conduct this research to find solutions to address the problem that fit the local context, culture and resources. Knowledge translation of the findings is a key element in MR. By placing the drivers of change in the hands of locals, the decolonization of the local health research has begun. MR also democratizes health research by extending community health research training beyond local academics and by fostering gender equity. More than half of the local MR research project team leaders, as selected by team members, are women. The success of MR in LMIC has led to its adaptation for use in HIC such as Canada. Decolonization and democratization of community-focused research is practical and achievable and should be seen as best practice in global health research capacity building.