Strengthening the capacity of Africa’s science granting councils in the use of data and evidence in policy and decision-making
The Science Granting Councils Initiative in sub-Saharan Africa (SGCI) is a multi-donor Initiative funded by IDRC, the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, South Africa’s National Research Foundation, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and the German Research Foundation. Since its inception in 2015, SGCI has strengthened the capacities of science granting councils in sub-Saharan African countries to support research and evidence-based policies that will contribute to economic and social development. Specifically, SGCI is strengthening the capacities of councils in managing research, using data and evidence in policy and decision-making, funding research and innovation projects, strategic communications and knowledge translation, and gender equality and inclusivity. As part of the SGCI’s second phase, IDRC and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation agreed on a new partnership to deepen and extend SGCI’s strategic engagements with up to 17 councils over four years (2022–2025) in areas that complement SGCI’s ongoing activities. These areas include supporting the councils to fund and manage research and innovation projects.
Supported by these partnerships, this project will strengthen the councils’ capacity to use data and evidence in policy and decision-making and enhance their roles as national and regional policy champions. The project will also provide monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) support to the SGCI.
Through contextualized training and coaching, in-country technical support and opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, councils will develop plans to implement national science, technology and innovation policy and MEL and data management while integrating gender considerations and indicators. This project is expected to contribute to the SGCI’s medium-term outcome of supporting councils to invest more effectively in research, development and innovation.