Anga Center for Climate Justice, Health Equity, and Community Well-Being Launches in East Africa

The Anga Center for Climate Justice, Health Equity, and Community Well-being, the first of its kind in a school of social work, has officially launched in East Africa. Grounded in the ethics and values of the social work profession, the Center is dedicated to addressing climate change-related health disparities, particularly among vulnerable populations in the region. Funded by a three year, 3.2 million dollar grant from the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and the Fogarty International Center, the Anga Center collaborates closely with the Columbia Global Center in Nairobi and Columbia Global, leveraging the university's global reach to foster meaningful partnerships that advance climate justice, health equity, and community empowerment.

The Anga Center is co-led by Dr. Samantha C. Winter, associate professor at Columbia University School of Social Work, and Dr. David M. Ndetei from the Africa Mental Health Research and Training Foundation (AMHRTF) in Kenya. The leadership team, comprising nine experts from diverse fields, reflects a transdisciplinary approach with expertise spanning climate science, environmental engineering, social work, public health, psychiatry, and community-based research. With Columbia Global’s vast resources and strong presence in Nairobi, the Anga Center aims to build research capacity while empowering climate-vulnerable communities to co-create solutions to climate change in the East Africa region, including Uganda and Tanzania.

“The Anga Center’s mission is to foster community-driven research that builds scientific capacity and empowers the communities most affected by climate change. By collaborating with the Columbia Global Center in Nairobi, we can ensure that our research is scientifically rigorous, locally informed, and globally relevant,” says Dr. Samantha Winter.

The Anga Center will pursue its mission through three core goals:

1. Fostering research that promotes climate justice, health equity, and community well-being by exploring the impacts of climate change and related events and implementing interventions that minimize negative outcomes and improve overall well-being in climate-vulnerable communities across East Africa.
2. Building local and regional climate change and health research capacity through long-term transdisciplinary and community partnerships. This includes enhancing data collection and methodologies at the local level and providing knowledge-sharing opportunities to strengthen research efforts.
3. Empowering communities most vulnerable to climate change through sustained, multi-directional relationships and community-engaged research. The Center aims to enhance community well-being through collaborative efforts that align with the social work profession’s commitment to promoting social justice, human dignity, and self-determination.

The Center’s pilot research project, “Investigating Direct and Indirect Pathways Between Climate and Mental Health and Well-being,” will explore the impact of climate events on mental health in vulnerable communities across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. This research, supported by the infrastructure of the Columbia Global Center in Nairobi, will engage local communities and develop early warning systems to help them better prepare for climate impacts. The project will embody social work’s commitment to cultural competence and ethical practice, ensuring that local perspectives inform each stage of the research.

The Center's Capacity Building Core, co-led by Dr. Richard Muita from the Kenya Meteorological Department and Dr. Loni Tabb from Drexel University, will focus on training early-career researchers in climate change and health, building local technical capacity with support from Columbia’s extensive global network. This core will emphasize social work values of competence and service by equipping communities with the skills and knowledge they need to respond effectively to climate challenges.

The Community Collaborative Core, led by Dr. Florence Muhanguzi from Makerere University and Dr. Susan Witte from Columbia University, will ensure community participation and leadership in the research process. Reflecting social work’s commitment to building meaningful relationships, this core will foster genuine partnerships between researchers and community members through three country-level community collaborative boards and a single Center executive collaborative board, ensuring that research outputs are actionable and locally relevant. “Research team leader partnerships within their countries and across the region, and Dr. Winter’s team research projects, the findings of which are the basis for Center establishment, has allowed us to engage with communities on a deeper level, promoting collaboration that is mutually beneficial and grounded in respect and shared goals,” explains Dr. Witte. “We have an opportunity to grow and sustain real capacity for ongoing development of climate and mental health research in the region.”

Ultimately, the Anga Center will serve as a global leader in addressing the intersection of climate change and health. It will be grounded in the principles of social work and social justice and bolstered by the collaborative strength of Columbia University and its global partners.

The related NIEHS and FIC grant number is 1P20TW012808.