Walimu

Walimu is a leading research and policy advocacy organization in Uganda. Our team of over 150, all Ugandan, implements studies alongside a global team of research scientists and then scales successful interventions nationwide.

Our work is made possible by a diverse set of funders, including GIZ, USAID, WHO, NIH, UBC and more.

Health workers first model
Through our experience working in Uganda over the decades, we learned that critical to the success of any project is centering health workers. Successful programs enhance the work health providers are already doing; they don’t seek to duplicate or replace it.

This philosophy permeates our work; our projects empower health workers with relevant knowledge, modern tools and uplifting work environments. We often use continuous quality improvement to achieve and sustain change.

Relevant research
Unlike traditional research management organizations, we have a policy translation goal for each project.

We primarily take on projects that both aim to improve patient care and have a path to scale through the Ministry of Health, World Health Organization or non-governmental partners. A limited number of projects are innovation-focused and a step removed from a direct policy goal.

Our philosophy is that a satisfactory endpoint for research is not a publication, but rather a change practices that ultimately improves patient outcomes.

Our history
Walimu was founded in 2010 and incorporated as a NGO in Uganda in 2013. At the time, our founders were discovering effective methods for improving patient health; however, the traditional way that research was funded often meant these findings languished.

We got together and came up with a solution: an NGO that focused both on implementation science research (in other words, how to make things actually work) and on policy translation (leveraging science and relationships to get systems to change).