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South of Sahara Region
High quality statistics that improve lives globally
Office for National Statistics
High quality statistics and data are essential to enable evidence-based decision-making at local, national, and global levels. This ONS project supports its partners – national statistics offices (NSOs) in low- and middle-income countries – to strengthen their technical and organisational capacity, using its world leading expertise in statistical production and NSO management. Through a range of in-person and remote assistance, the project supports the production of higher quality, valuable and trustworthy statistics for the global good.
UK financial support to Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG)
HM Treasury
UK financial support through HM Treasury to support the strengthening of anti-money laundering/counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) systems in developing countries, in line with the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group's (ESAAMLG) Mission Statement and Strategic Plan. The support will contribute to regional efforts to combat money laundering and terrorism financing through effective implementation of anti-money laundering / counter terrorism financing (AML/CTF) standards in all ESAAMLG member countries covering: Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Funding to build capacity and support cross-border action on the conservation of wildlife within countries in the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA)
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The funding will be used to support KAZA countries to develop African-led trans-frontier approaches to support conservation of wildlife, including iconic species such as elephants through efforts in integrated land-use planning, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, community livelihoods and illegal wildlife trade. This funding will be used to provide technical assistance and build capacity within the KAZA countries to address areas for immediate action, provide a foundation for future work programmes and support access to wider funding options.
Establishing and enhancing veterinary surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and use in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
This project aims to help establish effective surveillance for longer term capacity building for AMR in the terrestrial and aquatic veterinary sectors in selected LMICs, and to enhance veterinary medicines regulatory training.
Fleming Fund - Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship Scheme
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
This is an Official Development Assistance (ODA) funded UKaid programme from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)’s Fleming Fund to improve antimicrobial stewardship across Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria. The partnerships leverage the expertise of UK health institutions and technical experts to strengthen the capacity of the national health workforce and institutions in partner countries to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR) challenges. The project aims to: (1) Develop partnerships between NHS Trusts (hospitals) and clinics/hospitals in low- and middle-income Commonwealth countries; (2) Share UK expertise abroad as well as bring skills and knowledge back to NHS Trusts; (3) Create focused partnerships on the theme of AMR, that includes activity on: Antimicrobial stewardship, including surveillance (AMS); Infection prevention control and antimicrobial pharmacy expertise and capacity; and (4) More generally improve the knowledge, skills and empowerment of healthcare professionals and pharmacists in partner institutions. Improving the healthcare workforce to ultimately contribute to a strengthened health system. Projects funded through the Fleming Fund will benefit people in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of drug-resistant infection is greater.
Fleming Fund - Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship Scheme
UK - Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)
A partnership programme to improve antimicrobial stewardship across Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria. The partnerships leverage the expertise of UK health institutions and technical experts to strengthen the capacity of the national health workforce and institutions to address predefined antimicrobial resistance (AMR) challenges. The project aims to 1. Develop partnerships between NHS Trusts (hospitals) and clinics/hospitals in low- and middle-income commonwealth countries. 2. Share UK expertise abroad as well as bring skills and knowledge back to NHS Trusts. 3. Create focused partnerships on the theme of AMR, that includes activity on; Antimicrobial stewardship, including surveillance (AMS); Infection prevention control and Antimicrobial pharmacy expertise and capacity; and 4. More generally improve the knowledge, skills and empowerment of healthcare professionals and pharmacists in partner institutions. Improving the healthcare workforce to ultimately contribute to a strengthened health system. Projects funded through the Fleming Fund will benefit people in low- and middle-income countries, where the burden of drug resistant infection is greater
Royal Academy of Engineering - Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa (HEP SSA) addresses the urgent engineering skills gap in sub-Saharan Africa by aligning higher education with industry requirements. Through grants to universities for projects spanning six months to two years, the program enhances academia-industry relationships, producing engineers with the skills and knowledge to meet local challenges and industry demands. Utilizing a hub and spoke model, HEP SSA maximizes impact through bilateral secondments with local industry partners and spreads knowledge to regional universities via workshops, reports, and other collaborative activities. Partnering with UK universities, HEP SSA not only strengthens engineering education but also highlights engineering's role in economic development. This initiative supports the International Science Partnerships Fund's (ISPF) mission to empower institutions in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) to address global challenges with a well-trained workforce focused on locally relevant research and innovation. By building the capacity of universities in ODA-eligible countries to produce employable engineering graduates, the program ensures these graduates contribute to sustainable community and national development. This positions the UK as a preferred partner in achieving the primary goal of Official Development Assistance (ODA) purposes: fostering sustainable development and improving the quality of life in developing countries.
NEW AFRICA PRIZE FOR ENGINEERING INNOVATION 2023 -2025
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Africa Prize awards commercialisation support to African innovators developing scalable engineering solutions to local challenges. These innovators show the importance of engineering in improving quality of life and economic development. This funding strand is specifically for the design and delivery of the 2024 and 2025 Africa Prizes for Engineering Innovation, and the support of the 2024 cohort of shortlisted innovators. It also supports other activities and awareness raising around the 10th anniversary of the Africa Prize- including alumni support grants. It is distinguished from other GCRF Africa Prize funding strands that are focused on legacy activities around the prize and its awardees from 2023 and earlier. The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation aims to stimulate and reward engineering entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. The Africa Prize encourages ambitious and talented sub-Saharan African engineering innovators from all disciplines to apply their skills to develop scalable solutions to local challenges, highlighting the importance of engineering as an enabler of improved quality of life and economic development. Crucial commercialisation support is awarded to a shortlist of innovative applicants, through an eight-month period of training and mentoring.
British Council - South Africa Programmes -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The South Africa Research Initiative (SARChi) has previously launched significant programs, such as the Bilateral and Trilateral Research Chairs and the South Africa (SA). University Staff Doctoral Programme, aimed at increasing the number of black and female academics with PhDs in South Africa, thereby driving systemic reforms. This initiative now encompasses two new activities: the Sub-Sahara African Analysis Centre (SASAC) Programme, which promotes regional research collaborations and capacity building for students, scholars, and academics from South Africa and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Research Commercialisation Capacity Strengthening Programme, designed in collaboration with Universities South Africa, to facilitate the transfer of academic research into practical products and services that benefit society and the economy. The SARChI chair themes focus on critical areas such as marine ecosystems, food security, gender inclusivity, and clean energy, and these chairs are established in partnership with UK universities. The programme supports the enhancement of research practices and policies, expands research impact in the region, and strengthens research capacities, particularly in Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The initiative is ODA eligible as its primary objective is to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries, ensuring the benefits are specifically directed towards enhancing academic and research capacities in these regions.
Royal Academy of Engineering - Africa Catalyst -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Africa Catalyst aims to strengthen professional engineering bodies in sub-Saharan Africa, ensuring these institutions can effectively promote the engineering profession, share best practices, and enhance local engineering capacity to drive development. This initiative awards grants to professional engineering bodies in ODA eligible sub-Saharan African countries for projects lasting between six months and three years. The primary objective of this ODA-eligible program is to catalyze and bolster these professional bodies, ensuring they become robust institutions capable of leading the profession locally, with strong Continuing Professional Development (CPD), accreditation systems, and governmental linkages. By partnering with UK counterparts who have advanced further in institutional development, African bodies can learn and share best practices tailored to their local contexts. This program is designed to support sustainable development by enhancing the professional capabilities of engineers who, in turn, contribute to the development of their communities and countries. The focus on building capacity in ODA eligible countries aligns with the overarching goals of ODA to promote economic development and welfare, ensuring the program's alignment with international aid objectives.
Royal Academy of Engineering Core - Africa Catalyst
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
GCRF Africa Catalyst aims to strengthen professional engineering bodies in sub-Saharan Africa so that they can effectively promote the profession, share best practice and increase local engineering capacity, to help drive development. This is supported by high-quality research focusing on expanding the evidence base for the importance of robust engineering institutions and the role they play in delivering sustainable growth, and mapping engineering capacity and diversity in sub-Saharan Africa.
DARA Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy Phase 3
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This proposal is to continue, deepen and expand the Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) project. DARA is a human capital development programme with the principal aim to develop high tech skills in radio astronomy in the eight developing African countries that partner with South Africa in the hosting of the mid-frequency telescope of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The first two phases utilized the Newton Fund and delivered a basic training to over 300 young people as well as Masters and PhD level training. This proposal is once again a bilateral UK-SA project bidding for Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding as part of the Tomorrow's Talent strand of the new International Science Partnership Fund (ISPF). In this new phase we will extend the HCD pipeline to establish postdoctoral fellows in African partner institutions for the first time. The aim is to complete the establishment of radio astronomy research groups in each partner country so that their citizens can fully engage with the SKA project. We will also continue the basic and Masters level training programme. This third phase will also encompass elements of the DARA Big Data sister project to deepen the training in machine learning techniques required to analyse SKA data and embed synergies with Earth Observation data. We will also continue and expand our partnership with the space sector to showcase how the skills of radio astronomy can be utilized to address development challenges in Africa. The industrial partners also bring entrepreneurship and business start-up experience. Overall, the DARA project addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in terms of increasing high tech skills, research activity and international cooperation.
Designing an intervention for snakebite prevention; a community-based participatory research approach
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC AGHRB Award to design an intervention to prevent snakebite in Rwanda and Eswatini that will subsequently be evaluated, potentially using a stepped wedge cluster randomized trial
Recognising & supporting informal mhealth in Africa through grassroots interventions (REIMAGINE)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
MRC AGHRB award to develop and trial a participatory intervention, to build on and support community health workers' (CHWs') "informal" use of personal mobile devices in their work in Ethiopia, Ghana and Malawi. A pre/post study design is used to assess acceptability, feasibility, costs and impacts of the intervention.
KTN Support to GCRF Agrifood Business Innovation for Development
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
1. Innovation Awards - GCRF AgriFood Africa Innovation Awards will encourage UK research partners, including Universities and Research and Technology Organisations to address AgriFood challenges in Africa. Up to £800k will be available to support a maximum of 20 awards up to 12 months in duration. The scope of these awards cover agriculture, food systems and nutrition. Awards provide funds to a UK research partner for a collaborative project to address the AgriFood challenges of an African partner. These Awards help to catalyse new international partnerships between an African partner and a UK research partner that is likely to lead to a longer-term relationship and follow-on projects, particularly in further rounds of the Agri-Tech Catalyst. Innovative applications from partners who have not worked together before are a focus of these awards. 2. Capacity building The capacity building activity will run for the duration of the programme and provide continuity of support and ‘after-care’ to projects to increase the potential for project outputs to realise benefit for African partners, and secondary business benefits for UK partners. Activities will enhance understanding of African needs across the AgriFood supply chain and encourage collaboration for future projects. Activities include missions, workshops, collaboration events, online seminar series and other networking activities. This activity will benefit Ethiopia; Ghana; Kenya; Niger; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; South Africa; Tanzania; Uganda.
Global Alliance Africa - Knowledge Transfer Network Ltd
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
UKAfrica KTN is a six year project designed to strengthen and scale local innovation and business environments in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. The project coordinates networking activities that can help foster longlasting, strategic partnerships between the three countries, their neighbours and the UK. COVID-19
(2REST) Responsibilities for Resilience Embedded in Street Temporalities: mapping street youth lived resiliences through analysis of secondary data
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
2REST aims to explore the experinces of homeless street youth and their resilient reponses to diffculties as they grow up in contexts of stress and vulnerability in African cities. Through secondary data analysis of the Growing up on the Streets qualitative data, the objective is to go beyond individual person-centred responses to stress and understand the multiple systems involved in overcoming difficulties over space and time as young people grow up. The resulting evidence will provide a better understanding of street youth resilience and all the factors involved. The 2REST project further aims to translate these findings and apply the learning to outcomes for policy and practice in order to improve street youth lives.
'Highlight' Health financing for universal health coverage in the era of shocks, monitoring risks and opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
"The proposed research draws on the World Health Organization framework for monitoring progress towards UHC. The framework identifies three areas for monitoring: financing arrangements; intermediate outcomes of efficiency and equity; and UHC goals of service coverage and affordable health expenditures. Our research applies this framework to assess health financing at the national and subnational levels in five Sub-Saharan African countries with varied degrees of fiscal decentralisation and income levels: Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Our research describes the evolution of health financing arrangements before and after COVID-19, and progress in relation to efficiency and equity of health financing and UHC goals. This research draws on routine household surveys, government and donor expenditure information systems, and global data from the World Health Organzaition and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development" COVID-19
Tackling antimicrobial resistance across dentistry in Sub-Saharan Africa.
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
What's the challenge? Tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is crucial for global health and sustainable development. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), like Ghana and Uganda, are particularly affected. UK Government has pledged to play a leading role in improving health to deliver a safer and more prosperous world, including through an improved response to AMR. Globally, dental professionals are responsible for one-in-ten antibiotic prescriptions across human healthcare. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), dental teams are among the highest prescribers of antibiotics, with some studies finding nine out of ten prescriptions outside of guidance. Dental teams in SSA have an essential role to play in keeping antibiotics working. What are the aims and objectives of our research? We aim to develop and test ways for dental teams to play their part in tackling AMR in SSA. Our first objective is to understand what influences unnecessary dental antibiotic use in Ghana and Uganda. Our second objective is to work with dental teams and patients as well as policy makers, healthcare service managers and the general public to develop an evidence-based way to reduce antibiotic prescribing by dental professionals. Our final objective is to prepare for an African-led clinical trial to test whether our proposed approach works. How are we approaching it? First, to understand what drives unnecessary antibiotic prescribing by dental professionals, we will ask a range of people and observe dental visits in hospitals and community healthcare settings in Ghana and Uganda. The observed dental teams and patients will be invited to interview to share their experience and insights about what influenced decision making during the visit. To gain wider perspectives on managing dental infections, policy makers, healthcare service managers and members of the public will be invited to take part in interviews and/or focus groups. Next, we will work with our stakeholders to develop evidence-based ways to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescribing using information gathered in the first stage. Whilst we are not yet sure what these interventions will be, we think they might relate to hygiene and sterilisation procedures in dental clinics, prescribing guidelines, and education for dental teams. Finally, we will undertake eight in-depth case studies in urban and more rural areas of Ghana and Uganda to check whether the intervention is acceptable to dental teams and patients, and to prepare for a clinical trial by testing some of the details needed to make a trial practical. What will be the applications and benefits? The study results will form the basis of a grant application to conduct a clinical trial that evaluates the impact of the interventions on safely reducing antibiotic prescribing by dental professionals across SSA whilst still addressing patients' dental issues. The benefits of this research include expanding scientific knowledge about the factors influencing antibiotic prescribing by dental professionals in LMICs. Developing interventions to reduce antibiotic prescribing is just the first step; further testing will be needed. Ultimately, by reducing antibiotic prescribing in dentistry, this research will have a positive impact on global health and sustainable development by addressing AMR. Publicity To ensure visibility of the study and its findings, our research team members and collaborators will engage our stakeholders and audience through various channels, including their expert professional networks, social and other media, academic publications/conferences, and more novel ways using local traditional arts, story, illustrations and visual aids. Lay members from the UK, Ghana and Uganda will help create a plain English summary (and translation to local languages) for the public, and will ensure messaging promotes broader understanding and awareness of the important role of dental teams to keep antibiotics working.
Decolonising Peace Education In Africa
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Looking to expand peace education curricula in the context of everyday settings in rural areas facing conflict. Benefits education sector, practitioners, local communities, NGOs in Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. SDGs:4,16,17