Institutionalizing Mentoring in Tanzania

One of the unique attributes of the flagship AWARD Fellowship is that fellows benefit from the guidance of a mentor, a seasoned expert carefully chosen to match the fellow’s career field. In turn, the fellows identify and mentor junior women scientists in their home institutions. This mentoring model helps to develop the fellows’ leadership skills and, at the same time, strengthens the future pipeline of women scientists. AWARD has recently scaled up our mentoring model and rolled it out to a select number of partner institutions, including the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology (NM-AIST) in Tanzania. 

The mentoring program rolled out in NM-AIST included the AWARD Mentoring Orientation Workshop, junior and senior scientists’ pairing, and regular mentoring meetings.

The Institute recognized that mentoring could be a highly effective way to foster an institutional environment where junior scientists and students could increase their knowledge and skills.

Associate Professor Anna Treydte appreciated AWARD’s commitment to building scientists’ capacity, emphasizing the importance of intergenerational networks for knowledge transfer.

Faustina Akyoo, dairy farmer in Tanga, Tanzania. ILRI/Paul Karaimu.