Changemaker

Overview and objective of the training

The training of research assistants was conducted for 4 days from Monday 11^th August 2025 to Thursday 14^th August 2025. Whereas they were equipped with the knowledge, skills, and practical experience on conducting quality data collection using accurate, standardized, consistent and ethical methods. The team familiarized itself with the data collection process using selected surveys, EzeRex, Mid Upper Arm Circumference z-score tapes (MUACz), and Open Data Toolkit (ODK). A total of 31 research assistants, 13 male and 18 female, were trained with four trainers Ms. Rhodah Nekesa, Mr. George Aol, Ms. Marjorie Umara, and Mr. Aggrey Ongweso.

Day one – Monday 11^th August 2025

The training kicked off with opening remarks from Dr. Erick Muok the Principal Investigator of Changemaker Project at KEMRI Keny, together with Dr. Richard Omore. Dr. Erick Muok welcomed the research assistants to KEMRI team and the Changemaker Project at large. He provided an overview of Changemaker Project which entails working with school adolescents to promote sustainable health and improve their nutritional status. He further briefed the research assistants on what was expected of them by the Changemaker Project. Emphasis was  on the need to be honest, trustworthy, reliable, disciplined and cooperative so as to conduct the training and the baseline data collection in the most efficient way within the allocated period.

Mr. George Aol. Next, Mr. George Aol,  the Changemaker Study Coordinator at KEMRI Kenya, recapped on the components of Changemaker Project and Work Package 5. He highlighted on the intervention components of Changemaker project, the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study participants and the assessment of the nutrition status of study participants in the baseline data collection.

He was followed by Ms. Marjorie Umara, the Quality and Monitoring Officer at KEMRI Kenya, who kept a  clear picture to this information by engaging the research assistants in the session on golden rules and practices for conducting quality and ethical research. She elaborated on the importance of observing research ethics and obtaining informed consent from the guardians of the study participants and obtaining assent from the adolescent participants before collecting data. It  was an interesting session to follow, as it had practical examples of the instances that were previously experienced in other projects.

The final session of the day was led by Mr. Aggrey Ongweso the data officer at KEMRI Kenya. He engaged the research assistants in conducting interviews using Open Data Toolkit (ODK). He introduced the ODK app to research assistants and took them through each section of the data collection questionnaire by using ODK on the data collection smartphones.

Day Two – Tuesday 12^th August 2025

The second day of training started with a recap session from Ms. Grace Ochieng, a research assistant at KEMRI Kenya.

Afterwards, Ms. Rhodah Nekesa, who is a doctoral student on Changemaker Project at the University of Bonn in Germany, took over and facilitated the session on using the African food propensity Questionnaire (AFPQ) to collect data on the usual diet of the study participants.. The content of the training entailed; introduction on various dietary methods, food measurements and estimates and working with paper and digital AFPQ forms. She took the participants through calculations of the food frequencies of hypothetical portion sizes. During the session, research assistants took turns to do the calculations on  writing papers to teach each other about the calculation of food frequencies.

The final session of the day was facilitated by Mr. Aggrey Ongweso. He led the research assistants through the AFPQ section on ODK platform where they familiarized with the food items that the adolescent participants would be asked to indicate the portion sizes and the frequency of consumption over the past 6 months.

Day Three – Wednesday 13^th August 2025

The third day of training began with a recap session facilitated by Ms. Rhodah Nekesa. The research assistants took part in the kahoot game where they competed in answering 10 questions from the previous days’ training.

Afterwards, Mr. George Aol moderated the training on use of EzeCheck app to measure haemoglobin. The content of the session entailed; introduction to EzeCheck app and device, overview of their functionality, conducting haemoglobin measurement using the device, troubleshooting and problem solving. The research assistants took turns to learn how to set up the device and measure haemoglobin level of each other so as to familiarize with the new tool.

The second session on assessing the nutrition status of adolescent participants using Mid Upper Arm Circumference z scores (MUACz scores) was moderated by Ms. Rhodah Nekesa. She led research assistants through the differences between the MUAC and MUACz score tapes, interpreting MUACz scores, the practical session to take MUAC and record MUACz score measurements in ODK. She later conducted a session on measurement of height and weight of the study participants. She led the research assistants through a practical session of taking and recording height and weight measurements in ODK.

The final session entailed role plays by research assistants to fill in the questionnaire on ODK and conduct height and weight measurement, MUACz score, and haemoglobin measurement.

 Day Four – Thursday 14^th August 2025

Ms. Rhodah Nekesa led the research assistants through the recap session using kahoot game where they answered 10 questions from the previous days’ sessions. Mr. George Aol recapped on practical ways to obtain informed consent from guardians and to obtain informed assent from the adolescent participants.

The rest of the day entailed role plays by the research assistants to administer the questionnaire and measure height and weight, measure MUAC and record MUACz scores in ODK, and measure haemoglobin level using EzeCheck device.

The training ended with closing remarks from Mr. Aggrey Ongweso, Ms. Marjorie Umara, Ms. Rhodah Nekesa and Mr. George Aol.

By Ms. Rhodah Nekesa.