The Association of African Universities (AAU) says the ability of Ghana and other African countries to prudently manage research grants from donor partners has improved greatly due to the country’s participation in the Science Granting Council Initiative (SGCI).

According to Nodumo Dhlamini who is director of ICT Services, Communications and Knowledge Management at the AAU, increased transparency in how research money is used is making it possible for these countries to get enhanced donor support for research activities.

“One way of helping them (under the initiative) is through good financial grant practices. This is a benchmarking tool that councils are being taught to use so they can be certified as using good financial practices,” she explained in an interaction with the media.

“If they are certified, it means other donors and partners can be free to give them more money because they meet specific standards,” she added.

The SGCI is a multi–funder initiative aimed at strengthening the capacities of 15 Science Granting Councils in Sub-Saharan Africa in order to support research and evidence-based policies that will contribute to economic and social development.

The SGCI works to help nations manage research, monitor outcomes of research initiatives, support knowledge exchange with the private sector, and strengthen partnerships between Science Granting Councils and other science system actors. 

The first phase of the project run from 2015 to 2020, with the second phase running from 2021 to 2023. It is being implemented in Ghana under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI).

The overall goal of the second phase of the SGCI is to fortify the capability of country Science Granting Councils in explicit areas of research management, knowledge and use of tools such as Research Quality Plus framework, research ethics, emerging scientific practices (especially open data, open access, and citizen science), good financial grant practice (GFGP) benchmarking exercise, and development of online grant management systems.

The SGCI is currently being supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF).

The Association of African Universities (AAU) and the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) are the consortium partners for the second phase of the SGCI. Both AAU and AAS are two continental higher education and research bodies with experience in research management.

Madam Dhlamini says the initiative is seeking to enhance the capacity of Science Granting Councils across Africa to manage finances in an improved manner for the benefit of the ordinary people.

“It will mean that taxes will be more prudently utilized for research so researchers are able to come up with more research findings to help solve the problems,” she said.

“Research is fundamental to Africa and helps provide solutions to challenges… it’s important that research ecosystem is improved for high-quality research findings to be available… improvement in health, education systems, smarter technologies, and all,” she added.

Communications officer at AAU, Felicia Kuagbedzi said “we are also working with SGCIs to develop various frameworks, manuals, and procedures for quality research management.”

“These frameworks are supposed to make their work easier because they have manuals that we have developed together to help them with their work,” she explained.