Spotlight: Meet citizen social scientist Festo Makoba

This item is from the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity

Could you tell us about the citizen science work you've done with the UCL Citizen Science Academy and what you are hoping to achieve?

As part of our long-term collaboration with the UCL Institute for Global Prosperity, the citizen science work we've been doing in Tanzania involves training a group of community members in research skills. Our main goal is to ensure that communities are not just passive recipients of research, but are instead part of the process of identifying their problems and finding solutions.

This work is part of a project called Maisha Bora, which translates to 'Good Life' in Swahili. The project's methodology was co-designed with community members, who first conducted in-depth qualitative research through interviews and focus groups to define what prosperity means to them. This led to the creation of a unique "Maisha Bora" model, which was then used to develop a household survey. The data collected from over 1,000 households by citizen scientists was used to create the Maisha Bora Index, the first citizen-led prosperity measure of its kind in Africa.

We hope to empower communities by giving them the skills to conduct research in their own areas. The goal is to move away from a model where researchers come in, collect data, and leave, and instead engage community members in a process where they are at the forefront of driving change and finding solutions to the problems they have discovered themselves.
 

What were you personally hoping to achieve by joining the programme?

Having worked on various research projects with different local and international institutions in Tanzania, I’ve seen how many projects end without leaving a lasting, tangible impact on the community. This programme offered a different approach - a participatory model where researchers and community members sit down together as a team to find solutions.

I believe that when communities are engaged this way, they become more aware of the issues. For example, in one informal settlement we worked in, the community realised that they were contributing to local flooding by throwing garbage into waterways. Once they became aware that they were a source of the problem, it became much easier to work with them to find a sustainable solution. What I hoped to achieve was to see this concept expanded so that more communities could own their solutions and sustain them long after a project ends.
 

What does citizen science mean to you, and why do you think it is important for more people to be trained in research?

To me, citizen science is about equipping and enabling local communities to truly see what they are facing and then find a way to improve it. It’s about giving them the tools to understand their own situation and realise that it is a problem that can be solved. Citizen science is powerful because it helps people become part of the solution, rather than just waiting for an external expert to come in and tell them what to do.

Working with this approach has really changed my own attitude as a professional. Instead of going into a community assuming I have all the answers, I now see myself as a facilitator. You cannot know everything about an area, no matter how many degrees you have. The people who live there are the true experts on their own situation.
 

What do you hope to do next in your work?

I hope to see this knowledge expanded and integrated into our local academic institutions and universities. I believe it's easier to start training younger generations with these skills, teaching them the value of working with communities from the very beginning of their careers.

My wish for the future is to see UCL work together with local Tanzanian institutions to spread these skills, so that we can support a new generation of professionals. They will become our ambassadors for change in the future and help foster a more sustainable and collaborative approach to research and development.
 

Where can people learn more about this work?

You can learn more about the Maisha Bora project in this article I wrote with UCL colleagues. To see the Maisha Bora index, it is available here in English and also here in Swahili. It was important for us to develop it in both languages as research has to be as accessible as possible to those that contribute to it.