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South Africa
Ocean Country Partnership Programme
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) supports countries to manage the marine environment more sustainably, including by strengthening marine science expertise, developing science-based policy and management tools and creating educational resources for coastal communities. The programme is funded through official development assistance (ODA) as part of the UK’s £500 million Blue Planet Fund. Through the OCPP, the UK government partners with ODA-eligible countries to deliver positive impacts for coastal communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems. Bilateral partnerships under the OCPP are primarily delivered by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), agencies of the UK government that possess unique expertise in marine science and management. The OCPP also funds two international initiatives that align with its aims and help to develop global public goods, the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) and the Friends of Ocean Action (FOA). GOAP is a global, multi-stakeholder partnership established to enable countries and other stakeholders to effectively measure and manage progress towards sustainable ocean development. FOA is a platform hosted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which brings together ocean leaders from a wide range of sectors to encourage action and investment into sustainable ocean projects. GOAP and FOA are both strategic partners of the OCPP, and are funded by the Blue Planet Fund (BPF). They do however remain independent organisations from OCPP, BPF, and Defra. Their work, and its intended outcomes and impacts, are strategically aligned with the OCPP and complement its programming in bilateral partnerships. GOAP and FOA were originally developed as separate business cases under the BPF, then in 2022 introduced as integrated components under OCPP to provide a clearer overall BPF offer to recipient countries. The investment to GOAP supports ODA-eligible countries to develop 'ocean accounts' to more accurately and comprehensively capture data on the natural capital assets contained within their oceans. Using this data - and through further technical, advisory, and capacity building support - GOAP aims to ensure that biodiversity is valued and integrated into policy making, decision making, and infrastructure investments in these countries, resulting in the inclusive and sustainable use and management of the ocean. An initial investment of £1million was awarded to GOAP in FY 2021/2. Following good performance in year one, a further £6million of investment was awarded, split evenly over FY's 2022/3, 23/4, and 24/5; giving a total of £7million. From December 2023, following evidence of strong value for money, this investment has since been uplifted to a total of £14.2million, involving new and expanded scope for certain activities, as well as extending the strategic partnership into FY 2025/6. FOA is a multi-stakeholder platform hosted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which brings together ocean leaders from a wide range of sectors to encourage action and investment into sustainable ocean projects. FOA, working closely with the High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy, aims to mobilise ocean leaders to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. Through OCPP the investment supports pillars of FOA's work that strategically align with OCPP's own outcomes. There was an initial investment of £1million to FOA in FY 2021/2. After FOA performed well against investment and performance criteria in year one, a further investment of £2million was awarded in both FY's 2022/3 and 2023/4; rounding total investment for FOA to £5million.
A contribution to Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSDA) the United Nations Development Programme Biodiversity Finance Initiative (Biofin) to support delivery of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The programme will support low and lower-middle income countries to grow their economies in ways that help to protect and restore their natural capital and so drive sustainable economic development. It is designed to provide practical support to governments, businesses, and financial institutions to integrate nature into their economic and financial decision-making, understand and manage nature-related risks, and capitalise on growing opportunities to invest in their natural assets. As such, it will support low and lower-middle income countries to transition to nature positive, net zero economies and so protect the poorest communities. Through an integrated set of activities, the programme will deliver the following outcomes: • Private Sector Disclosure Readiness: private sector actors in low and lower-middle income countries – including financial institutions, businesses, and policy-makers - will have the tools they need to understand and manage nature-related financial risk. In particular, the programme will ensure that key institutions have the tools and capacity to respond to growing demand to disclose nature-related financial risk. • Integrating nature at country level: governmental and regulatory decision-makers in low and lower-middle income countries will have the knowledge, skills and data to design and implement policies and programmes that will help to manage nature-related risks, unlock new nature markets, and rebuild natural capital. • Action Plans for Nature: partner governments will develop clear and comprehensive plans to finance the protection and restoration of nature. These plans will act as platforms to mobilise and guide both public and private financial flows. • Evidence Sharing Mechanisms on Nature: better evidence will be available to, and used by, decision makers in low and lower middle-income countries to guide their work. The programme will help to build the evidence about how to best integrate consideration of the natural environment into economic and financial decision making. It will also help decision-makers in governments and the private sector to access and use that evidence easily by building communities of practice and robust approaches to sharing knowledge and information. The outcomes will support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), agreed at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting COP15. As protection and restoration of critical ecosystems is also critical to tackling climate change, it will also support the UK goal to keep global temperature rises within 1.5c degrees.
Darwin Initiative
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Darwin Initiative is the UK’s flagship international challenge fund for biodiversity conversation and poverty reduction, established at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. The Darwin Initiative is a grant scheme working on projects that aim to slow, halt, or reverse the rates of biodiversity loss and degradation, with associated reductions in multidimensional poverty. To date, the Darwin Initiative has awarded more than £195m to over 1,280 projects in 159 countries to enhance the capability and capacity of national and local stakeholders to deliver biodiversity conservation and multidimensional poverty reduction outcomes in low and middle-income countries. More information at https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/the-darwin-initiative. This page contains information about Rounds 27 onwards. For information about Rounds 1 to 26, please see the Darwin Initiative website -https://www.darwininitiative.org.uk/
British Academy - UK-South Africa Bilateral Research Chair -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This Chair in Digital Humanities will play a key role in building capacity; creating networks; and creating intellectual agendas, a multivalent humanistic platform, grounded outreach, and new modes of material engagement and interpretative frameworks. National Research Foundation (NRF) and the British Academy will work together to design a joint call with a focus on digital humanities. Digital humanities (DH) is a relatively emergent academic discipline in South Africa, however, South Africa's Department for Science & Innovation has identified it as a discipline that has great potential for growth and impact. Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and National Research Foundation (NRF) therefore see an opportune moment for a catalytic intervention through this chair. The Chair will play an important role in supporting the development of an inclusive and active community of practice in Digital Humanities (DH) in South Africa, leveraging Digital Humanities (DH) champions in academia, building programmes for greater cross-disciplinary collaboration, establishing cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional training and development programmes, and creating a mentorship programme for newcomers to digital scholarship or for those who want to develop open educational resources for Digital Humanities. The focus for this chair could enable challenges to be tackled such as the integration of innovative technologies and interpretative methodologies such as big data and AI systems, 3D modelling, data mining, machine learning, AI and adding value to contemporary digital discussions of democracy. The Academy will work with National Research Foundation (NRF) to finalise a MoU and build to a joint call text with the expectation this will be launched in the new year with an award beginning in 2023-24. The award would be for 5 years in duration with the Academy's contribution being met in the first 2 years and National Research Foundation (NRF)'s contribution coming thereafter. The South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) was established in 2006 and is designed to be a strategic intervention to increase research leadership, to develop research capacity, and stimulate the generation of new knowledge whilst significantly expanding South Africa's research base in a way that results in the realisation of South Africa’s transformation into a knowledge economy in which the generation of knowledge translates into socio-economic benefits. They are a significant instrument in South Africa's 'Decadal Plan' which is aligned to the SDGs through which National Research Foundation (NRF) is actively aiming to engage with international partners.
Climate Science for Service Partnership (WCSSP) South Africa - Calls- tender-UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Collaborative project between meteorological services in South Africa and UK focusing on capacity building for improved weather and climate services, enabling mitigation of risk from extreme weather events. Research into improving representation of Climate Variability and change over Africa by using Machine Learning as a tool for Data Rescue.
Climate Science for Service Partnership (WCSSP) South Africa - Calls- tender-UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTH
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Collaborative project between meteorological services in South Africa and UK focusing on capacity building for improved weather and climate services, enabling mitigation of risk from extreme weather events. Research into advancing rip current forecasts for beach locations across South Africa.
Measuring the environmental, economic and health impacts of deploying the SunstorePowerpan - a combined food processing and electricity generating solar appliance - in townships across South Africa
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Sunstore Technologies Ltd has invented and patented a new solar hybrid cooking and electricity generation unit; the Sunstorepowerpan XLM. The unit is designed to cook all food types, and can produce up to 2000 portions of rice (or equivalent) in any 24 hour period, using either a 30 or 60 litre cooking pan. It comes with an insulated solar pre-heat serving counter that can keep the food piping hot for up to 8 hours, so it is possible to serve a hot breakfast to around 500 people as well as produce 100 portions every hour. This makes it ideal for situations where large volumes are required eg community feeding stations, emergency relief set-ups or refugee camps, as well as schools where meals are often served to incentivise attendance. The unit can simultaneously generate up to 200 Watts of electricity to charge eg phones or computers during the day, or to provide illumination at night. This is done by burning smokeless bio-char in an enclosed and protected fire tray. 200Watts is significantly more electricity than is produced by the equivalent photo-voltaic panel array at less than half the capital cost. By means of a water tower, the unit can solar track, allowing it to be left unattended for several hours at a time. This water tower can also filter over 300 litres per day to provide safe drinking water. The unit is attempting to improve the quality of life for the 3.5 billion people currently reliant on biomass for their daily cooking needs, while reducing air pollution, deforestation and the associated species loss. It can provide electricity to the 1.2 billion currently off-grid. It can also improve human productivity by freeing up those currently spending up to 4 hours per day collecting wood. If deployed across Africa and Asia in large numbers, it will reduce global CO2 emissions (savings of up to 40 tonnes per unit are possible depending on what type of fuel is being displaced) while alleviating food poverty and allowing off-grid communities free access to electricity and IT connectivity. Sunstore Technologies in partnership with Defy ZA, is attempting to provide ecological nutrition and power to off-grid communities; feeding the people while protecting the planet. This patented technology is both disruptive and transformative and can, if widely deployed, alleviate food and fuel poverty across the world while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Our mission is to: Disrupt-Transfom-Diversify-Empower- Sustain
SEBA - Smart Energy Blackout Avoidance
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
In South Africa, energy generation is regularly too low to meet demand. Eskom, the national energy company, performs scheduled Load Shedding; sections of the grid are powered off, so that limited generation can supply demand. There are widespread deployments of local backup generation and battery storage at commercial premises such as offices and hotels so that they can cope with load shedding, but socially disadvantaged people do not have such resources. Eskom supplies municipalities, who then distribute and sell the energy to energy consumers. On average, 27% of municipal revenue is derived from selling energy. Changes to Eskom tariffs, with higher price periods, cause municipalities financial challenges. For example, Hessequa are losing 3Million rand per month. This project will provide demand side control to municipalities. In its simplest form this involves temporarily turning-down electrical demands such as air-conditioning or water pumps, at times of high price. This will be controlled by Gridimp's innovative iDSR (Intelligent Demand Side Response) technology which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reduce maintenance and configuration costs. The installation involves an engineer installing the control appliance on-site and connecting it to local sensors using our engineering console. This project will create new software to integrate with IoT sensors, plus a new interface to the microgrid controller to enable control or charging/discharging of batteries. Gridimp will be the lead UK partner and provider of demand control technology. GreenSun will be the South African partner, leading the installation work. The project demonstration customer will be Hessequa Municipality. Hessequa Municipality have provided their support to this project, are recognised as a green leader amongst municipalities in South Africa and are committed to helping us to create a model for other municipalities to follow. The main impacts of the project will be: Use demand response at scale to avoid load shedding, supporting greater reliability -- key to multiple UN objectives (including GESI) Avoid excessive charges to municipalities & direct Eskom customers. Increase available funds for investment in network reinforcement and social projects Create a low-carbon balancing reserve to enable an increased uptake for intermittent renewable generation This project will address load-shedding in South Africa, reducing blackouts and delivering cheaper, cleaner, more reliable energy to all, supporting GESI, ODA and the Energy Trilemma goals. The project will bring smart energy skills training to local people, focussing on social inclusion (GESI), to secure these gains as a project legacy.
Learning health systems: fostering participatory learning and action to equip rural health workers as change agents for maternal and newborn care.
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC JHSRI l aim is to understand if and how a participatory learning and action (PLA) intervention can improve organisational learning culture amongst rural health workers (HWs) and experiences of person-centred maternal and newborn health (MNH) care amongst women in rural South Africa.
Neurobiological pathways from trauma exposure to child mental health outcomes in a high adversity South African Birth Cohort
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC NMHB RM 19 Award looking at the neurobiological pathways from trauma exposure to child mental health outcomes in a high adversity South African Birth Cohort
Improving the adoption and sustainability of evidence-based policies: A life course approach to reducing diet-related NCDs in adolescents
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
People, world-wide, are increasingly becoming overweight or obese (OO), even children. Being overweight or obese is a serious health concern and can lead to many diseases (called non-communicable diseases or NCDs) which reduce the quality of one's life or even untimely death. Many of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. One important contributor to overweight and obesity is eating highly processed foods, often termed 'junk food'. Children who are OO are more vulnerable to developing NCD's and this continues into later in life. Therefore, the World Health Organisation, and other organisations concerned with health, believe that governments should prioritise policies that prevent young people become OO. In South Africa, the rate of OO amongst children is high compared to countries with similar economic circumstances. Indeed, South African children are at risk of developing high blood pressure or diabetes during childhood and numerous NCD's later in life. While the South African government has taken steps to improve children's health through a sugary beverage tax, and limiting the salt content of food, the problem persists. This shows that food policies are currently not working as they should. It seems that there is a gap in the implementation of those policies. It is therefore important to investigate the nature of this gap. This study will look at various aspects of South African food policies aimed at decreasing NCD's, to identify the problem, particularly as they effect children aged 10-14 years old and 15-19 years old in an urban and rural province and make recommendations to resolve these gaps. The study will be conducted over four years (2023-2027), using an existing implementation research tool called the Exploration, Preparation, Implementation, Sustainment (EPIS) framework, which has four phases: Phase 1 - Exploration: We will review all South African policies aimed at improving diets and in particular those of children. Phase 2 - Preparation: We will engage with children, policy makers and enforcers as well as parents and other people with an interest to identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing policies, and whether they are being implemented as they should be. Phase 3 - Implementation: We will then develop intervention strategies to overcome identified weaknesses or harness existing strengths. We will cost these strategies and then with all the key stakeholders rank them in order of priority. Phase 4 - Sustainability: Finally, we will consider whether these strategies have the potential to be implemented in the long term. The main outcome of the study is a costed and prioritised list of interventions that will decrease OO of adolescents and decrease NCDs in South Africa.
Unravelling the mechanisms of neurological damage during cryptococcal infection of the brain
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC ARL award, This research will fill the existing knowledge gap on how the brain is injured in cryptococcal meningitis. This models and methods would then serve as a platform for studying the mechanisms of other infections of the Central Nervous System that are caused by bacteria, parasites and viruses to inform the development of the much-needed new therapies.
A gut feeling: How can gastrointestinal bacterial infections alter female reproductive tract immunity and control of sexually transmitted infections
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC ARL award to investigate the effects of a remote GI bacterial infection on Female reproductive tract immunity, how this affects control of common Sexual Transmitted Infections, as well as the effects on fertility
Caregiver influences on child psychological adjustment following trauma; a longitudinal study of a high adversity South African population
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
"Children who experience very frightening or traumatic events (such as car accidents, assaults, serious injuries) are vulnerable to developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological difficulties following their experiences. Such problems can be extremely distressing, and affect a significant proportion of trauma exposed children. One factor that has the potential to influence such outcomes is the informal support that children receive from their parents/caregivers posttrauma. In research we have conducted in the UK, we found that certain aspects of caregiver responses can have an impact upon children's psychological recovery following trauma. In particular, where caregivers encourage ways of coping in children that allow them to avoid being reminded of the trauma, and/or talk to children about what happened in a way that emphasizes high levels of threat associated with the trauma, children are more likely to experience persistent symptoms of PTSD. These caregiver responses may influence child symptoms as a consequence of children themselves then making more negative appraisals in relation to what happened, and by influencing child coping behaviours. We propose to extend our UK work to the study of a high adversity international population. To date, only a small proportion of PTSD research has been conducted in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs). This omission is important, as LMIC children may be particularly vulnerable to trauma exposure for a variety of reasons (e.g., poverty, crime, regional conflict). It is essential to establish whether psychological and social processes that have been linked to child PTSD in lower risk settings still apply in contexts where levels of ongoing threat and the likelihood of exposure to recurrent traumas are high. In particular, although we know that caregiver support is a key predictor of child psychological recovery following trauma in high income countries, our understanding of the elements of support that can help children from high adversity, lower income contexts is almost non-existent. This is important, as such children are almost certain to rely on such informal support following trauma exposure, due to limited access to formal psychological services. To address this critical gap in our knowledge, we plan to study the psychosocial factors that contribute to PTSD in a group of children (aged 8-16 years) from a deprived community in South Africa, in which rates of serious trauma exposure are extremely high. We will recruit 250 children who have experienced trauma within 2 weeks following the event. We measure how caregivers provide support, as well as children's initial levels of symptoms. We will then follow-up children and caregivers 3 months and 6 months later, measuring their PTSD symptoms. We will examine whether there are particular elements of caregiver support in the aftermath of trauma that are associated with higher or lower levels of symptoms in children further down the line. We we also will test whether caregiver influences operate via changing key psychological processes (trauma appraisals, coping) in the child, and will take account of caregivers' own trauma-related distress in our study. In addition to helping us to understand what kind of social support is best for children who experience trauma, our project will provide much needed information about the development of PTSD in children from high adversity, low income communities. This is important: at the moment we are lacking even basic information about risk of PTSD in the acute aftermath of trauma among such children, including the proportion who will initially develop this disorder following trauma, the window of time during which children may recover naturally following the event, and the proportion likely to experience persistent disorder and need intervention. This is a major barrier to developing screening and intervention programmes, which our study will be able to address. " COVID-19
Strengthening the quality of adolescent primary healthcare in South Africa: preliminary work on a complex public health intervention
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC Adolescent Health award in strengthening the quality of adolescent primary healthcare in South Africa: preliminary work on a complex public health intervention
Host-virus interactions in KSHV-related malignancies: evaluating the role of STIP1 as a therapeutic target
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC ARL to investigate how the oncogenic herpesvirus, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), manipulates the function of host cell molecular chaperones to enhance both latent and lytic replication cycles, to foster mutually beneficial collaboration between research groups at the University of Leeds, UK and Rhodes University, South Africa
Adapting an evidenced-based intervention to reduce IPV for use among young heterosexual couples in South Africa
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC AGHRB Award to move towards SDG5.2 - eliminate all VAWG - through adapting the evidence-based intervention Stepping Stones and Creating Futures - for delivery to young (18-30) heterosexual couples in urban informal settlements in South Africa thus strengthening its outcomes in a project called Zithandani SSCF (Our Love SSCF).
Resilient and Equitable Nature-based Pathways in Southern African Rangelands (REPAiR)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Rangelands cover over half of the world's land surface, play a vital role in carbon sequestration, support biodiversity, supply freshwater, and sustain billions of livelihoods based on extensive livestock production globally. While there are efforts to extend Nature-based Solutions (NbS) in rangelands, standard approaches often carry assumptions of ecological stability and linear successional dynamics which do not align with the extreme 'non-equilibrium' dynamics characteristic of many rangeland environments, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. To date, only limited research addresses the suitability and feasibility of NbS to strengthen resilience in the face of climate change in the context of communal governance and in productive non-equilibrium socio-ecological systems. New evidence, knowledge and practical tools are therefore needed for NbS to be successful in such contexts.
Core - International Collaboration Awards
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
International Collaboration Awards enable outstanding researchers in the UK to partner with the best research groups in developing countries on projects that address issues faced by developing countries.
South Africa - Leaders in Innovation Fellowships Programme
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
South Africa - Leaders in Innovation Fellowships Programme is funded through the UK Government’s Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Newton Fund and delivered on the UK side by the Royal Academy of Engineering. This activity contributes to the Newton Fund’s work in building research and innovation partnerships with countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to support economic development and social welfare, tackle global challenges and develop talent and careers.