Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda win academy funds

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http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/02092005?OpenDocument

Date: Feb. 9, 2005

Contacts: Vanee Vines, Senior Media Relations Officer
Chris Dobbins, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail <news@nas.edu>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

U.S. National Academies Select Partners
For Initiative to Develop African Science Academies


WASHINGTON - The U.S. National Academies have selected the science academies of Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa as initial focal points for a program to strengthen African scientists' ability to inform government policy-making and public discourse with independent, evidence-based advice. The initiative, supported by a $20 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will be carried out in Africa over the next decade, focusing on efforts to improve human health.

"Ultimately, the goal is to enhance life for all Africans by making it possible for Africa's scientific community to more effectively tap its potential, both in meeting national needs and in creating a strong science base for public policy," said Bruce Alberts, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa's academies were chosen based on their vitality and potential for success, the willingness of each country's government to draw on scientific expertise in decision-making, and the pool of available scientific talent in each nation.

The initiative will help the three academies - which have limited experience in providing policy guidance - engage broader communities of African scientists, medical and health care professionals, and engineers in policy issues. The U.S. National Academies will guide efforts early on, in part by carrying out a series of joint activities, but the aim is to create the capacity in each nation for efforts to thrive under the leadership and support of the African academies themselves. Thus, some of the preliminary activities will center on helping the three academies develop the skills to plan and conduct scientific studies, organize major conferences, raise and manage funds, create and implement administrative procedures, and build lasting relationships with government officials and other stakeholders in their countries.

The U.S. National Academies have also awarded strategic planning grants to the science academies of Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, and Kenya. And the initiative will support various meetings and symposia to promote collaboration and joint learning among sub-Saharan Africa's science academies. Furthermore, Canada's International Development Research Centre will work with the U.S. National Academies to bolster the initiative and will provide financial assistance for the participation of a fourth initial partner in Africa.

The U.S. National Academies comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a congressional charter.

[ This news release is available at http://national-academies.org ]

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Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda win academy funds

David Dickson
10 February 2005
Source: SciDev.Net


Academies of science in Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda have been chosen to receive funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help boost their ability to provide African governments and the public with advice on science-related issues.

The funding will come from a US$20 million grant that was awarded last year to the US National Academies - a consortium of bodies the includes the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - to provide support for building the capacities of Africa academies during the next decade (see 'African science academies get US$20 million boost').

In line with the goals of the foundation, set up by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the programme will include specific efforts intended to improve policymaking on issues relating to human health.

"The goal is to enhance life for all Africans by making it possible for Africa's scientific community to more effectively tap its potential, both in meeting national needs and in creating a strong science base for public policy," Bruce Alberts, president of the NAS, said in a statement.

Alberts says he is keen for African academies to play the same role in providing science-based advice to top decision-makers as the NAS does in Washington, for example through the work of the National Research Council.

Following the announcement of the grant from the Gates Foundation last year, seven African countries were visited by a small team to assess their ability to absorb extra funding and use it effectively. In addition to the successful candidates, the team also visited Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal.

According to the academy, the science academies in Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda were chosen as the focal points of the new programme "based on their vitality and potential for success, the willingness of each country's government to draw on scientific expertise in decision-making, and the pool of available scientific talent".

The main goal of the initiative is to help the three academies engage broader communities of African scientists, medical and health care professionals, and engineers in policy issues.

Although the NAS says that it intends to guide such efforts during their early stages - for example by carrying out various joint activities - it is eventually hoped that each nation will create its own capacity to carry out such activities, under the leadership and support of the African academies.

"Some of the preliminary activities will [therefore] centre on helping the three academies develop the skills to plan and conduct scientific studies, organise major conferences, raise and manage funds, create and implement administrative procedures, and build lasting relationships with government officials and other stakeholders in their countries," the NAS said in a press statement.

In addition to the three academies that will received the bulk of the funding, separate strategic planning grants are being awarded to the academies of Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal that had also been short listed.

The initiative will also support various meetings and symposia intended to promote collaboration and joint learning among sub-Saharan Africa's science academies. This is partly a bid to counter criticism that focusing primarily on three countries runs the risk of doing little for scientists in other African countries.

In addition, Canada's International Development Research Centre has agreed to work with the US organisation to support the initiative, and has promised financial assistance to allow the participation of a fourth initial partner, widely expected to be Senegal.

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http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/04192004?OpenDocument

Date: April 19, 2004

Contacts: Vanee Vines, Senior Media Relations Officer
Heather McDonald, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail <news@nas.edu>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

National Academies Receive $20 Million From Gates Foundation
To Help Build Capacity of African Science Academies

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. National Academies have received a $20 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help African academies of science - and the continent's scientific, engineering, and medical communities as a whole - strengthen their ability to provide evidence-based advice to inform government policy-making and public discourse. The initiative will be carried out over the next 10 years, focusing on efforts to improve human health. Later this year, the U.S. National Academies will select three science academies in Africa as partners for the initiative.

The continent faces considerable challenges that require scientific and medical expertise, including the HIV/AIDS epidemic, chronic malnutrition, and life-threatening childhood conditions, including malaria and diarrheal diseases. The initiative will help scientists and health care professionals contribute to policy decisions to tackle these issues. For example, some of the funds will be used to train staff members of the academies to plan and conduct scientific studies and major conferences that offer policy guidance; raise and manage money from outside sources; tap useful information technology; and cultivate relationships with government officials and other stakeholders in their countries.

"Understanding the critical importance of basing decisions on sound science and incorporating it into the policy-making process could be an important step forward for many African nations," said Bruce Alberts, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. "Regrettably, some countries currently lack the resources and organizational systems to learn from policy successes and failures - and to generate new knowledge that would benefit their own societies and the world. The goal of integrating scientific advice and public policy can best be accomplished by boosting both the capacity and the credibility of the institutions that represent the scientific and medical communities in individual countries."

Several academies of science across the continent are already working toward these goals. But because most of these groups have been in existence for only a few decades or less, they have limited experience in providing policy guidance and marshaling national scientific and medical communities to examine important issues. Through the recently formed New Partnership for Africa's Development, however, African nations have collectively expressed their desire to pursue and finance scientific research, and to apply science to meet the continent's pressing needs.

"To eliminate global inequities in health between rich and poor, the world must ensure that the fruits of science, technology, and medicine are available to all countries," said Richard Klausner, executive director of the Gates Foundation's Global Health program. "We hope that this important initiative will help achieve the goal of better health for all by engaging the African scientific community in critical African policy decisions."

The grant will be used for important efforts such as:

¨ Creating an ongoing forum in each of the selected academies, to bring together representatives from a given country's scientific, government, industry, and nongovernment communities to incorporate scientific evidence into the health policy-making process.

¨ Completing advisory reports or holding major events that contribute to improved health in Africa.

¨ Improving staff-development opportunities as well as technological, work force, and material resources of partner academies.

¨ Developing an alliance of African science academies through annual symposia and collaborative workshops.

"Every country needs an organized way to call upon its own scientific and medical communities for guidance," Alberts said. "The ultimate goal of this initiative is to help each participating academy achieve, by the end of the 10-year period, a well-developed and enduring capacity to provide credible policy advice for its nation."

The U.S. National Academies comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council. They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under a charter from the U.S. Congress.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is building upon unprecedented opportunities of the 21st century to improve equity in global health and learning. Led by Bill Gates' father, William H. Gates Sr., and Patty Stonesifer, the Seattle-based foundation has an endowment of approximately $27 billion.

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