📋 Tender Overview
PROJECT ID
110985
TOTAL FUNDING
CAD 1,499,300.00
PROJECT STATUS
Active
DURATION
46 months
Description:
Since the inception of the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) in 2015, the National Research Foundation of South Africa has played a pivotal leadership role in driving institutional capacity development, joint programming and strategic partnership management across Sub-Saharan Africa. Through this project, the Foundation will leverage its institutional expertise, infrastructure and regional and global networks to strengthen the capacity of Science Granting Councils and science systems across the continent. It will also provide a critical link to related activities led by the German Research Foundation, contributing to a coherent, sustained and coordinated approach. This sustained engagement will help Councils and their key stakeholders transition from local capacity toward coordinated, equitable and globally influential African research systems. Ultimately, this project will position Science Granting Councils to become proactive agenda-setters capable of designing and steering national science systems.
The Science Granting Councils Initiative is funded by IDRC, the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the Wellcome Trust. Since it began in March 2015, the Initiative has strengthened the capacity of Science Granting Councils to support research and evidence-based policymaking for economic and social development. Two five-year phases—Phase One (2015–2020) and Phase Two (2020–2025)—have driven transformative change in Councils in 17 countries in areas related to their core national mandates. Improvements have been made to: the design and management of high-quality research competitions; research and innovation management systems and practices; and strategic communication and knowledge translation. In addition, the Councils have helped make gender equality and inclusion more mainstream, improved frameworks and strategies for private sector partnerships and increased the commercialization of research outputs. Councils have been able to develop robust monitoring, evaluation and learning plans, review and implement science, technology and innovation policies and generate and use data and evidence for policy- and decision-making
