Strengthening Research Institutions in Africa: Seven Country Needs Assessments
Abstract
The seven needs assessment reports provide a high-level assessment of the research and innovation systems and key research organisations across seven African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. These countries have been considered for inclusion in DFID’s ‘Strengthening Research Institutions in Africa’ (SRIA) programme. The reports seek to identify the main challenges to research capacity strengthening, and some priority areas for intervention, in order to support decision-making at DFID and among national partners. The study does not seek to explore issues such as the historical causes of the current situation or the role of the media and other political actors which, albeit important, fall outside the scope of these reports. The findings of the seven needs assessment reports are summarised in the synthesis report. Findings in all reports are based on quantitative and qualitative data collected through desk-based research and informant interviews conducted between March and October 2019. Over 100 indicators are used to assess each country’s research environment and political economy context, research production and research diffusion performance. Some of the qualitative findings are based on the views of a small but balanced number of stakeholders and should be verified through further research. This work was conducted independently by Research Consulting and is funded by the Department for International Development’s Strengthening Research Institution in Africa programme