SciDev.Net

AMMANET promotes using genetic marker-assisted selection (MAS) technologies to accelerate African plant breeding efforts and deliver food security and economic growth. Over 100 African scientists established the network in 2003, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation.

The network brings regional and international agricultural researchers together, publishing information about its activities and providing contact information of all its members. It also links to news, scientific articles and other useful resources on MAS.

The AMMA programme aims to study how the West African monsoon affects meningitis and malaria epidemics. While it focuses on one weather system, the climate factors it looks at can be generalised to other environments. For example, it examines how wind, dust, rainfall, temperature and humidity, amongst others, affect mosquito density and malaria or meningitis epidemics in people. The website also offers a key resource for researchers in the form of an open-access bibliographic database containing more than 250 scientific articles.

AORTIC aims to improve cancer research, control and prevention in Africa. The organisation runs research projects on cervical cancer screening, hosts biannual conferences and publishes a monthly newsletter, in English and French, with news and commentary on cancer-related activities around Africa as well as a list of upcoming events. AORTIC's website offers links to other organisations working on cancer in Africa, lists training opportunities for scientists and health workers, and provides free access to relevant training manuals, scientific articles, books and presentations.

AfricanCrops.Net — funded by the Rockefeller Foundations Biotechnology, Breeding and Seed Systems Programme and the Partnership to Fight Striga of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation — publishes a monthly newsletter with information on upcoming conferences, training programmes and funding opportunities. It also hosts a discussion forum where visitors can share experiences of issues such as crop improvement and molecular marker applications.

The website links to a wide range of documents and points to resources dedicated to specific African crops such as cassava, cowpea and sorghum. It also hosts an extensive collection of links to online databases, glossaries, bibliographies, search engines, genetic maps and statistics relating to African-focused biotechnology and plant breeding research.

This site provides access to reports of projects and case studies conducted as part of the international Assessments of Impacts and Adaptations to Climate Change in Multiple Regions and Sectors (AIACC) initiative. A searchable database of projects by country, region, and sector contains some of the final reports in pdf format.

The projects cover adaptation in almost all sectors, with five projects with final reports in southern Africa, one project in eastern Africa and three projects in western Africa. The site also provides accessible summaries of each project, as well as updates posted throughout the duration of the studies.

A project of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, AlertNet is a news aggregator that aims to raise awareness of humanitarian crises around the globe, particularly 'forgotten' emergencies that rarely make headlines. It publishes news from over 400 aid agencies and other media outlets across a range of topics, from natural disasters to climate change to health. AlertNet also provides tools for journalists, including facts and figures, crisis briefings and training modules.

AGRA — a joint initiative of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — aims to improve African agriculture through new technologies such as improved seeds and fertilisers, better cultivation practices and greater access to credit and marketing channels to help farmers sell their produce.

AGRA's initial investment — US$150m — will be used to develop stronger varieties of African crops, train African scientists and build distribution channels for agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilisers.

The AGRA website publishes information about the alliance's staff and activities and links to a selection of related documents, news and other information.

The ADEA website provides a forum for policymakers, educators and researchers to discuss education policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. It encourages dialogue and links between African education ministries and external partners through the ADEA secretariat and working group meetings — all activities, materials and presentations are available online.

ADEA publishes articles, books, papers, and reports on the development of education in Africa. It also hosts databases, including contact information for development agencies and African education ministries.

The AAU, based in Accra, promotes consultation, exchange of information and cooperation among higher education institutes in Africa. It provides fellowships and small grants for postgraduate studies and staff exchanges. It also runs programmes to study higher education management and assure the quality of its member institutions. The website gives summaries of all these activities and links to AAU newsletters and publications. It also offers a list of online resources relevant to higher education in Africa.

This web portal is the starting point for Africa-related biomass information. It contains the latest news on biofuels research on the continent, as well as an events calendar and discussion forum.

Biopact is a non-profit volunteer organisation connecting African and European citizens. It seeks to establish a 'mutually beneficial' biofuel and bioenergy relationship between the two continents. The group is web-based, and provides consulting services for a number of initiatives, including various bioenergy projects in the South.

Some of Biopact's ongoing projects include compiling an 'atlas' of biofuel production for use in estimating production factors, and exploiting Nica fruticans, a potential Nigerian biofuel crop.

This is a portal to the websites of associations that aim to advance our understanding of oncology and how to better treat patients with cancer, both in the developed and developing worlds.

Each partner association is represented in the portal with a website describing and providing information relating to the organisation, its structure, news, research projects, activities, membership, resource information, selected links, and so on.

Cancerworld also hosts the Cancer Media Service, operated by the European School of Oncology and aimed at journalists. The independent service aims to put cancer research into context, which it does by publishing well written and easy-to-read summaries of the latest cancer research. Perhaps even more useful is its list of resources for journalists that includes links to several medical dictionaries and cancer organisations worldwide.

This online resource captures current articles, reports, papers and books sourced from nongovernmental organisations and development agencies such as ActionAid, SouthSouthNorth, the International Institute for Environment and Development and the World Bank. The site features short summaries and links to full papers, all of which are relevant to adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Climate Prediction Centre's African Desk aims to create a partnership between the United States' National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the African Meteorological Services to encourage exchange of data and train meteorologists. 

The website contains weather summaries, rainfall, monsoon predictions and various short and long term weather forecasts. The African Desk also hosts two visitors at a time for training in climate change monitoring and predictions methods.