Agreement with NRF South Africa on the expansion of the partnership with countries in the region / DFG President Katja Becker: “Establish equal and fair partnerships”

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is deepening its engagement in sub-Saharan Africa. At a meeting lasting several days in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, DFG President Professor Dr. Katja Becker concluded an agreement on the expansion of cooperation with the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. The two research funding organisations are joining forces in efforts to further intensify the partnership with a total of 17 countries under the “Science Granting Councils Initiative in sub-Saharan Africa” (SGCI). More German-African research projects are to be funded in future, while links between the German research community and African researchers are to be further improved. The SGCI Annual Forum and a regional meeting of the Global Research Council (GRC) for the sub-Saharan Africa region took place in Gaborone from 11 to 15 November.

“The Science Granting Councils Initiative shows how important it is to promote regional networking among African research systems and to share ideas with partners from around the world in order to further advance research in sub-Saharan Africa,” said DFG President Becker. “Our partnership with NRF South Africa will focus on strengthening funding systems in sub-Saharan Africa, promoting joint projects, and networking between the German research community and researchers in both South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. The aim is to establish equal and fair partnerships in the long term so that we can learn from each other,” said Becker.

Established in 2015, the SGCI is an initiative that currently consists of 17 funding organisations (Science Granting Councils) in sub-Saharan Africa. These organisations share the goal of expanding their own funding structures in order to strengthen research and evidence-based policy so as to ultimately advance economic and social development in the region. Participants include research funding organisations in the following countries: Ethiopia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda. For several years, the DFG has supported the SGCI in terms of subject matter at SGCI annual meetings and academic symposia and also by organising peer learning visits. Since November 2019, the DFG has also been one of the SGCI’s official funding bodies, supporting in particular the expansion of network-building measures to establish joint, regional calls for proposals for research project funding.

Together with the South African NRF, the DFG has set its sights on strengthening the research management capabilities of partner organisations in sub-Saharan Africa for the period from 2023 to 2025. This includes providing support for the Science Granting Councils in the area of bilateral and multilateral research funding, in establishing effective review processes, and in collaborating with partners outside the continent. Aspects of equity, diversity and inclusion are key factors in connection with all of these measures. This ties in with the expansion of DFG/NRF cooperation with partners in sub-Saharan Africa as recently agreed on in Gaborone, which is initially set to run until 2030. DFG Vice President Professor Dr. Matthias Koenig travelled to Botswana with Becker and held a number of bilateral talks with the leading representatives of individual councils.

The GRC meeting for the region of sub-Saharan Africa took place immediately after the SGCI annual meeting. DFG President Becker is the current co-chair of the GRC Governing Board and was the first European representative to attend such a gathering. The agenda of the various GRC regional meetings in all world regions currently includes research management in the era of artificial intelligence and forms of cooperation in tackling global challenges such as climate change. As Becker emphasised: “Both of these challenges reflect critical issues of our time and are of great importance in terms of the way research and research funding organisations work – as well as for our social well-being as a whole. This is why cross-regional dialogue within the GRC is so crucial.”

Further Information

To the website of the Science Granting Councils Initiative in sub-Saharan Africa: https://sgciafrica.org/