So far, 17 Science Granting Councils (SGCs) have plugged into the RIM project, 11 of which have already launched their calls for proposals while four councils have identified projects to fund.
Research and Innovation project manager at IDRC, Dr Ellie Osir, talking to SGCS from East Africa during a workshop in Mombasa, Kenya.
A project geared towards supporting Science Granting Councils (SGCs) in Africa to fund and manage research and innovation projects is fast gaining ground.
Barely eight months into implementation, the Research and Innovation Management (RIM) project funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), has covered significant ground as councils launch calls for proposals and identify projects to fund.
So far, 17 councils have plugged into the RIM project, 11 of which have already launched their calls for proposals while four councils – Kenya, Uganda, Senegal and Cote D’Ivoire- have already identified projects to fund. Two councils –Nigeria and Senegal – are working to launch their calls.
It is envisaged that over 60 research and innovation projects across Sub-Saharan Africa will be funded under the RIM initiative. Meanwhile, councils are also refining their respective research and innovation frameworks which will guide implementation of selected projects. In this respect, the ACTS project implementation team recently held meetings with SGCs in east and southern Africa to guide them on refining their respective frameworks.
The two workshops specifically aimed to enable councils to understand the importance of research and innovation framework, explore the key elements of research and innovation framework and learn how to design such a framework.
In addition, the workshops to discuss the effective methods for managing and evaluating research and innovation projects, facilitate sharing of the best practices among the Councils and understand the importance of synthesizing research results and developing knowledge products for effective communication and dissemination.
In addition, the workshops to discuss the effective methods for managing and evaluating research and innovation projects, facilitate sharing of the best practices among the Councils and understand the importance of synthesizing research results and developing knowledge products for effective communication and dissemination.
During a meeting with SGCs from East Africa, IDRC representative, Dr Ellie Osir, emphasized the need for conceptual coherence for the projects to be funded while ACTS Executive Director, Prof. Tom Ogada, asked councils to be clear on what they expect to achieve through the projects. Consequently, SGCs from both blocks have developed draft frameworks which will be further refined to reflect their national development priorities as well as SGC monitoring and evaluation frameworks.
The RIM project aims to strengthen the capabilities of SGCs in SSA to effectively fund and manage research and innovation projects. It is implemented by a consortium led by ACTS in collaboration with the Association of African Universities (AAU) and Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), Senegal.
