Addressing complex global challenges like climate change requires effective collaboration between many people, organisations and local communities. While universities have a key role to play in terms of research and expertise, communities have key knowledge and ideas that need to be a central part of the process too.

Recognising this, Professor Tristan McCowan built on the work of the GCRF-funded Climate-U project to investigate how these partnerships can be improved. Using the UCL-Wits University Strategic Partner Funds, Professor McCowan, in collaboration with the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE), focused on the coastal village of Somanga in Tanzania.

The project examined an innovative local initiative that was working to restore coral reefs and mangroves, which are vital for both the environment and the livelihoods of the fishing community. 

“There’s the scientific, more formal knowledge in the university space, and the more informal, local knowledge – or indigenous knowledge – in the community space ... There are often a lot of barriers to working effectively between those different forms of knowledge and different communities.”

Professor Tristan McCowan

Professor of International Education

The research team explored the valuable exchange of knowledge between the university researchers and the community, identifying key roles such as intermediaries, translators, brokers, and innovators who facilitate this process.

The collaboration has successfully strengthened the community's capacity for action and raised awareness of their innovative solutions. The partnership has also had a lasting impact, with Wits joining the global Climate-U Network and the work leading to a new British Academy-funded project to influence environmental policy in the region. Professor McCowan emphasised that the funding was critical not just for its monetary value, but for the recognition it provided, which is invaluable when fostering partnerships in the Global South. "It’s enabled us to engage with some very talented researchers who have a lot to contribute", he said.

To learn more about the dynamics of this successful university-community partnership and its wider implications, read the full case study.

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