Fakultät für Gesundheitswissenschaften

AG 2: Bevölkerungsmedizin und Versorgungsforschung

Campus der Universität Bielefeld — © Universität Bielefeld

Advancing a decolonial lens in global health research

Advancing decolonial approaches in global health, including within Germany, is essential for addressing colonial legacies and power imbalances contributing to health inequities. A group of early career researchers in the School of Public Health at Bielefeld University developed a set of resources to assist other early-career researchers in taking meaningful action. These resources were created following and based on a self-organised online training titled “Developing a Decolonial Lens in the German Global Health Research Context,” funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the German Alliance for Global Health Research (GLOHRA). The training aimed to empower early-career researchers by fostering an understanding of coloniality, providing a reflective space for discussion, and enhancing skills for building allyship practices in global health research. See more information about the training below in section Background: About the training.

Resources

Dismantling colonial continuities and structures in global health is a life-long journey. However, throughout the training, we strived to build networks and communal power to act for change wherever we are: in our research, projects, teaching, and institutions. Many participants wanted to take action but didn't know where to start. We therefore developed the resources below which reflect the training discussions and lessons learned, in order to support efforts and keep momentum going after the training. We hope they will help others reflect upon colonial continuities in knowledge production, research projects, and collaborations and take action.

The materials provided may be used freely for non-commercial purposes, provided that proper citation of the original source, as indicated in each resource, is included. Any modifications or adaptations of the materials should also acknowledge the original source. We would be very interested to receive feedback on the resources and hear how they are being adapted and applied – reach out to us for exchange!

Training facilitators’ manual

The manual "Advancing a Decolonial Lens for Global Health Research Contexts" is a resource designed to support the planning or a training or workshop on decolonisation approaches in global health research. Aimed in particular at early- to mid-career researchers, it offers adaptable materials and a framework for organising similar initiatives, promoting shared learning and critical engagement in decolonisation efforts.

Download the Training Manual

Published article

The publication "Lessons on advancing decolonial approaches in global health among German early career researchers" aims to share insights from the online training organised by early- to mid-career researchers in Germany, focused on integrating decolonial and intersectional approaches in global health scholarship. It highlights the need for reflection, collaboration, and capacity building among young researchers to address colonial legacies and promote inclusive practices within academic and research contexts.

The article is scheduled to be published in May 2025 in a special issue on “Diversity and racism in the university context – shiny facades and broken promises” in the journal ZDfm (Zeitschrift für Diversitätsforschung und ‐management).

Illustrations

We also developed illustrations that capture some of the main issues and challenges related to decoloniality in global health, which were discussed throughout the training. For this, we collaborated with the illustrator Zeynep Alpay.

We hope the illustrations can help global health professionals and students engage more deeply with complex topics around coloniality while also challenging hegemonic/mainstream notions of what knowledge is and looks like.

The illustrations may be used freely for non-commercial purposes under license CC-BY-ND, ensuring that the proper citation indicated for each illustration is cited/included.

Download the illustrations

Continuities through norms (Vitruvian man)
The illustration presents the Vitruvian Man to symbolise the prevailing "normative" standard in global health. The colonial and patriarchal patterns within global health continue to convey the understanding of a dominant shape that is considered the norm against which everyone else is categorised and compared. This narrow perspective, neglecting diversity and intersectionality, leads to problems of bias and marginalisation. When a dominant norm, typically embodied by the White male, is upheld, it results in reinforcing systemic inequalities and hindering equitable healthcare access and outcomes. The figures surrounding the Vitruvian man symbolise progress towards diversity and greater representation and inclusion of different people. This illustration can be used to transfer the importance of challenging prevailing norms and to embrace decolonial perspectives for genuine inclusion and diversity in global health.
Colonial continuities through bureaucracy (snakes & ladders)
This illustration derives from the game “Snakes and Ladders” to depict colonial continuities upheld by bureaucracy in research and funding institutions. It showcases differing experiences between researchers from Majority and Minority Worlds, with the former facing bureaucratic hurdles that resemble a complex game with unpredictable rules. Researchers owning a passport from a Minority World country or being affiliated with well-funded institutions may not understand their privileges as well as how heavy this burden of administration and bureaucracy is. This illustration may be used to highlight the structural hurdles and inequities encountered by Majority World researchers in global health. Even if allies strive for more equitable partnerships, they may be unable to remove the barriers. The allegory of the board game reveals the arbitrariness, unpredictability, and unfairness of the current structures.
Seeds-Doing what you can (planting seeds & pollination)
This illustration transfers the message that everybody has the ability to enact positive change by planting a seed wherever they are and thereby helping to make the world a more diverse and colourful place. Change can start at individual level, from where knowledge gained on decolonisation blossoms to the interpersonal level. Exchange and collaboration coalesce into collective efforts capable of altering the institutional level. The illustration visualises that small steps can lead to something meaningful. It can be employed to emphasise the transformative power of incremental action and to encourage researchers to embrace their agency and actively participate within their spheres of influence.
Suggested entry points to advance decolonisation (R&R)
This illustration is an output of the training initiative. Developed as a bottom-up and innovative approach during group discussions, the “Suggestion box” presents suggestions for entry points to address structural and systematic challenges of decolonising global health research, especially in terms of transnational cooperation aspects. It can be used to develop a similar exercise, to facilitate discussion among participants or to provide examples of entry points for action.
Decolonial lens (pluriversality)
This illustration visually depicts the idea of “Moving towards pluriversality and decoloniality”, i.e. a departure from Eurocentric research methods and ideas towards incorporating nuance, pattern, shade, and colour to our understandings of culture, health, and research. The illustration shows diverse people doing different research-related activities that contribute to human knowledge and understanding. It focuses on Indigenous research traditions as they are often overlooked or undervalued in other (Western, positivist) framings. With the focus on pluriversality, a concept that emphasizes the coexistence of multiple worlds, perspectives, and realities, the illustration can contribute to challenge the idea of a single, universal narrative or truth, advocating instead for the recognition and validation of diverse knowledge systems, cultures, and ways of being.

Project background: About the training

Background

Global health, while aimed at enhancing health equity, continues to primarily reflect "Global North" perspectives, focusing on biomedical and positivist approaches and neglecting its colonial past and diverse health practices. The field has been shaped by colonial legacies rooted in racist, white supremacist, and heterosexist assumptions from its origins in tropical medicine. This contributes to the perpetuation of power imbalances and health inequities. Recent years have seen a rise in decolonising efforts, driven by grassroots movements in the "Global South" and initiatives in the "Global North". However, these initiatives often face criticism for lacking critical self-reflection on privilege and exploitation.

Genuine change requires an intersectional approach and a commitment to unlearning entrenched norms. Germany is beginning to confront its colonial legacy in global health research, but universities still maintain colonial structures and inequalities due to their bureaucratic and competitive nature. Despite these challenges, the organised training shows that early career researchers hold the potential to drive meaningful change within this complex landscape.

Training overview

A group of early-career researchers at Bielefeld University and the University of Education Freiburg ran an online training entitled “Developing a decolonial lens in the German global health research context”, with financial support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the German Alliance for Global Health Research (GLOHRA).

The objectives of the training were:

To build a foundational understanding of coloniality and decolonial approaches in global health research,
To create a space for reflection and discussion on coloniality/decolonisation of global health, and
To build skills and capacities to develop a decolonial lens and allyship practice in global health research and institutional settings, generally and in Germany.

Training participants included 50 researchers from diverse disciplines and institutions in the field of global health in Germany and beyond. More than 70 people applied to participate, demonstrating the significant importance of and interest in this social justice agenda.

We are grateful for the financial support provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the German Alliance for Global Health Research (GLOHRA). We would also like to express our deep gratitude to the individuals and organisations who participated in and made a valuable contribution to the training and our follow up work.

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