Alliance wants to help build South-South partnerships

Efforts to build collaborative South-South research-driven partnerships stand to benefit from another round of funding set aside by the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP).

The AAP, co-created by the Michigan State University (MSU) in the United States and African thought leaders in 2016 as a consortium of MSU and universities in Africa, has called on institutions to apply for available funding that could support projects to transform institutions.

Since 2018, the AAP has already funded more than 80 researchers from across the consortium and has supported projects that have contributed to building the institutional capacity of consortium members.

According to the AAP, it has set aside about US$100,000 which will fund successful proposals by partner African universities whose ultimate objective is to help transform institutions.

Under its Transforming Institutions Strategic Funding Programme, the alliance is offering seed grants of up to US$20,000 for proposals (by consortium members) to develop international strategic partnerships with other universities, research organisations in the public sector and NGOs.

While the funding will support international collaborations, projects that incorporate South-South collaborations are encouraged and have been identified as an AAP priority, and will be factored into the selection process.

The call, published on 24 January, also encourage collaboration efforts between universities in francophone and anglophone countries or consortium members, in an attempt to close the divide between West, Eastern and Southern regions in Africa, brought about by the French and English languages division.

Proposals should focus on institutional financial management structures, building the capacity of administrative units or leaders, improving structures for outreach and research dissemination, and creating new and innovative curricula or pedagogical approaches in priority areas, among others.

Leveraging strengths

“The AAP consortium model enables all members to access and leverage each other’s strengths. The structure enables South-South collaborations, which are vital to fostering relationships among institutions that can scale up solutions to local, national, and global challenges,” said Amy Jamison, the co-director of the AAP, who also oversees the programme.

Such collaborations, she said, leveraged shared experiences, challenges and perspectives, promoting mutual learning and tailored solutions to regional issues. They also enable resource-sharing, innovation and capacity-building in a “contextually relevant manner”, she added.

“Additionally, such collaborations can reduce dependence on traditional North-South paradigms, leading to more balanced global knowledge exchange and contributing to the overall goal of the AAP to address the unique challenges of the African continent,” Jamison told University World News.

Five proposals to be funded

In the current call, the sixth so far, up to five proposals will be funded, with applicants required to raise 20% in cost-share matching from their home institutions, she disclosed.

The seed funding programme, Jamison explained, focuses on promoting sustainable and effective partnerships that enhance institutional resources and build institutional capacity development.

“Large-scale and impactful institutional partnerships that can help solve global challenges are not possible without strong partners who can effectively take part,” she said.

The AAP is an Africa-centric consortium, encompassing 10 African universities, the MSU and the African Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes, or ANAPRI, a policy network with multiple African members.

Consortium members include Kenya’s Egerton University and United States International University-Africa, Uganda’s Makerere University, Malawi’s Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Mali’s l’Université des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines de Bamako (University of Letters and Human Sciences of Bamako).

Others include l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop (Cheikh Anta Diop University) of Senegal, the University of Botswana, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, the University of Nigeria and the University of Pretoria in South Africa.