08/12/16

Challenges of research funding in Africa

Africa Researcher Funding
Crédit image: PhotoSky

Lecture rapide

  • Mobilizing resources for research is a long-term task
  • Universities need to create resource mobilization and management units
  • Models of research funding have proved their worth on the continent

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Funding for research in Africa very often simply relates to cash. This definition limits the propensity of researchers to identify the diversity of resources needed to conduct meaningful research.
 
In fact, there are multiple types of resources, but three criteria mainly serve as the anchor for effectively attracting funds.
 
The first is the state of the institutional and technical environment of research; the second is the ability to foster working partnerships which in turn allow the pooling of resources with the expression of comparative advantages. They generate added value if key principles [1] are observed; the third represents the ability to attract research funds originating from bilateral and multilateral donors, be it foundations, private companies, philanthropists and very rarely from states [2] as far as Africa is concerned.
 
One of the key issues with funding from government bodies is the simple reality that research is expensive and the effects are generally not noticeable in the short term for basic research and this is rarely understood in Africa. Moreover, the current environment and the means of financing do not facilitate the expression of research in response to social and environmental challenges.
 
Figure 1: Making progress in one’s academic career is particularly difficult for young people and women
 
Apart from efforts by a few countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and recently Tanzania, Nigeria and Ethiopia, reaching the objective of devoting 1% of GDP to research is an anvil around the neck of many African nations, despite several strategies adopted to meet this target.
 
As a consequence, even if the criteria are sometimes to be questioned, African universities and especially Francophone universities are poorly ranked internationally, because of lack of quality research.
 
This in turn reflects poorly on the development level of most countries in key sectors, notably health, food and security.
 
Africa accounts for 15% of the world's population and 25% of the overall burden of disease. However, in view of these major challenges, the continent only concentrates 2% of research results and only 1% of capacity on the global stage.
 

Obstacles

 
As rightly pointed out by Professor Abegaz Berhanu, Executive director of the African Academy of Sciences, “in addition to their low proportion, research results are weak, unevenly distributed and inadequate funding dilutes scientific quality.”
 
This is due to insufficient infrastructure and a structural shortage of skilled scientific personnel.
 
With only about 80 scientists and engineers per million inhabitants compared with nearly 150, 2500 and 4000 respectively in Brazil, Europe and the United States, it is clear that research is the main driver of development and insufficiency of scientists has a negative impact on African development, while also being one of its consequences.
 
Other obstacles include a blatant lack of research culture, a esearch environment that is not conducive to the expression of talent, and lack of institutional mechanisms for access to competitive research funds and scientific production.
 
Clearly, whichever way the issue is analysed, the major perceived obstacle remains inadequate funding.
 
As can be seen, the constraints are multiple and unequally distributed. These obstacles are also the result of weak infrastructures and an almost inexistent maintenance strategy. In addition, absence of training in research and governance as well as research administration are real limitations to a productive research funding strategy.

“Training in governance, administration and research management is the least considered in universities and research centers in Africa.”

Bassirou Bonfoh

 
Indeed, training in governance, administration and research management is the least considered in universities and research centers in Africa. To meet this challenge, the Swiss Center for Scientific Research in Côte d'Ivoire (CSRS) set up a training module on governance, administration and management in 2012. This is a "learning package" offered in the form of a summer school that could be transformed into a master in research administration.
 

Possible Models

 
During a meeting at Oxford University (United Kingdom) in October 2016, Professor Berhanu Abegaz talked about the adaptation of research on the continent to the African Union's Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs) and its 2063 Agenda that provides a framework and guidelines for research priorities in Africa.
 
Four pillars have been identified: the establishment and / or modernization of research infrastructures, improvement of technical and professional excellence through research training, promotion and relevance of innovation associated with entrepreneurship and the creation of an enabling environment for the development of innovation, science and technology on the African continent.
 
Taking advantage of the demographic dividend and giving priority to the needs of African universities will also be essential.
 
The main recommendation was to focus on long-term partnerships, to target investments in universities, prioritize development needs of African countries, and establish solid mentoring programs with career support opportunities to ensure succession and sustained research.
 
In this regard, the transfer of the center of gravity of research to Africa is an imperative. Thus, the creation of African alliances and networks around skills clusters can help address issues relating to divergent capacities in Africa.
 
However, not everything is bleak in resource mobilization strategies or in the capacity of some institutions to serve as excellence centers for research.
 
The three examples below illustrate efforts to improve the research system in Africa.

The Swiss Center for Scientific Research in Côte d'Ivoire has 65 years of experience. It's an Ivorian-Swiss interdisciplinary research center with a regional research mandate on issues relating to the well-being of the population and sustainable environment management. It enjoys a strong level of autonomy and has a private management system.

Its annual operating budget is about CFA 1 billion – approximately $1.6 million (2016) – of which 30% represents grants from both countries while 70% is mobilized by researchers through competitive project management fees and services. The total annual budget for input-output research is estimated at CFA 2 billion (US$ 3.2 million), raised entirely through competitive national, African and international funds.
 
The Africa One consortium is a model initiated in 2009 by the Wellcome Trust and carried out by Africans within the framework of the African Institutions Initiative. Thanks to a funding of CFA 4.2 billion – approximately US$ 6.8 million – in 2009-2015, 11 African institutions (FIG 2) have made it possible to improve their research funding performance over five years (Table I). This was achieved by strengthening research capacities and improving the working environment of researchers in the "One Health" approach.
 
 
Table I: Africa One Performance in Financing Individual and Institutional Capacity Building (2009-2015)
 
This model confirms the urgent need to strengthen the capacities of African researchers and institutions and advocates the transfer of the center of gravity of African research to Africa, as indicated by Dr. Tom Kariuki of the African Academy Of the sciences (http://aesa.ac.ke/).
 
Based on this unique experience, a consortium of donors (WT, DFID, NEPAD) supports 11 African researchers from institutions with the view of accelerating science in Africa through the development of leadership and training programmes.
 
The Strategic Support Program for Scientific Research in Côte d'Ivoire (PASRES): to overcome the research funding gap in Africa, it is imperative to look for funding models that would boost research through state contributions to funding.
 
African nations indirectly contribute to research through the basic training of cadres and the creation of universities and research centers. But this contribution is often overlooked or underestimated. Researchers need a working capital to conduct their research.
 
Countries have set up mechanisms with perceptible results, such as the funding for chairs system in South Africa, initiatives by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) and efforts by the National Fund for Research and Innovation for Development (FONRID) in Burkina Faso, to name but a few.
 
In Côte d'Ivoire, through the Swiss debt relief fund, an Ivorian-Swiss program was established in 2008 with an initial fund of CFA 5 billion (US $ 8 million) in term deposits (TD) in a financial institution.
 
Only the annual interest generated is used to fund competitive projects (20% for operation and 80% for the financing of fellowships) (Figure 3) in research areas contributing to the fight against poverty (CFA 5-15 million, or $ 8,000 to $ 24,200 per project).
 
Ultimately, an additional package of CFA 5 billion – approximately US$ 8,132,000 – to the term deposit is envisaged by the Ivorian government to double the financial volume and create a fund for research, technology and innovation. The autonomous mechanism of the PASRES executive secretariat makes it possible to envisage autonomous governance, provided that the country adopts a policy Act for scientific research.
 
The autonomy of management of the executing agency (CSRS) remains a decisive success factor and allows the three governance bodies (executive secretariat-administration, scientific advisory council, steering-decision committee) to function flawlessly.
 
The expression of good research questions, the supervision of young researchers, the management of funds by the laureates and the valuation of research results represent, according to PASRES, the major constraints.
 
These three "successes" have common elements which may constitute "preliminary" conditions which are certainly necessary but not sufficient.
 
The first condition is time horizon. It is difficult to develop an effective approach to mobilizing resources and producing good science in a short period of time. The need for time goes with a long-term partnership and mutual learning.
 
Mechanisms for collaboration and support (technical and financial) must be established over a period that allows understanding and appropriation of approaches.
 
Finally, autonomy in governance and planning (elaboration of a realistic strategic plan) facilitates evaluation, correction and continuation of these approaches.
 

Outlook

 
New dynamics are evident on the horizon at all levels (states, donors, researchers) to enable mobilization and use of resources devoted to the research agenda. The African Academy of Sciences (ASA) wishes to support the African Union research agenda for 2063.
 
But to achieve this, certain conditions must motivate donors and states: improvement of the research environment with basic resources, establishment of project mobilization and management facilities in Universities and research centers, training of researchers not only in drafting of projects, but also in administration and management, and a repository for the financial management and governance of research institutions.
 
In addition to these conditions, it's crucial to adopt an institutional framework that puts research at the center of academic and political strategies, in order to establish national, regional and even pan-African conventions of research objectives with resources allocated within the framework of African Union's strategic plan of research and Technological innovation.
 
The Alliance for Accelerating Scientific Excellence in Africa (EFSA), initiated by NEPAD/AU and a consortium of donors (Wellcome Trust, DFID and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), is one of the avenues to explore in order to create a viable research ecosystem in Africa.
 
In addition, the Bill & Mellinda Gates Foundation has launched an initiative encouraging African researchers to develop an original incentive-based communication approach for African countries to fund research and development.
 
This also reflects the inability of or difficulty for researchers to communicate on their outcomes and needs; for the most part, only academic promotions are generally communicated.
 
Countries must therefore place science and technology at the center of their development of competitive and autonomous research funds and involvement of academies of science as well as the private sector.
 
For this purpose, researchers will have to prepare to report their results on the basis of performance indicators: (i) patents, scientific and technical production in all forms with a protection system, (ii) volume of funding raised for research and improvement of the research environment, (iii) the number of human resources trained in the academic training value chain, and (iv) the audited financial accounts of their institutions.
  
This article is part of a series on the future of research funding in low and middle income countries, supported by the International Development Research Center (IDRC).

Références

Bassirou Bonfoh, a Togolese scholar and academic, is the Director General of the Swiss Center for Scientific Research in Côte d'Ivoire (CSRS) and Director of the Africa One Consortium.

[1] 11 Principes et 7 Questions: Sciences Switzerland [in French]
[2] [In Côte d'Ivoire, of a budget of nearly 6,000 billion FCFA, only 5.5 billion, or 0.09%, would be devoted to research (2016).