University of Makeni - Governance Research Think Tank

The University of Makeni was established in 2005 to address underdevelopment and a lack of tertiary level education offered in the Northern Province. The University is committed to academic excellence and individual and community growth through teaching, community service and research, the three main pillars of any university.

The Good Governance Programme seeks to develop new ways to engage positively with state actors on governance and human rights issues in a bid to foster sustainable development. With this objective, the University has developed a think tank for research and policy action, which aims to become a driving force for Sierra Leone and West Africa. This think tank is dedicated to conducting quality research on the dimensions of human rights and governance focusing on marginalised populations and previously untapped areas while simultaneously building local capacity to design and conduct independent research and analysis. In a bid to promote an evidence based approach to governance, programming, and development, this research will then be disseminated to national, regional, and local government actors as well as both local and international NGOs to influence policy and thematic focus areas. The think tank is also designed to actively scrutinise human rights monitoring and evaluation mechanisms and use the data of research conduct to formulate and implement capacity building programme work across the Northern Province in Sierra Leone.