Following the money: Tracking STI funding flows across Africa

Africa’s science, technology, and innovation (STI) landscape has long faced a fundamental challenge. While billions of dollars flow into research and innovation activities across the continent, there has been surprisingly little visibility into where the money comes from, where it goes, and who benefits.

A new report, The State of STI in Africa: Funding Flows and the Role of the Science Granting Councils, commissioned under the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI),tracks more than US$35 billion in research grants disbursed to Africa according to the AU regional classification between 2000 and 2024. It maps who is funding African science, where the money goes, and which fields and organisations are benefiting and which are not.

Health sciences dominate the funding landscape, while fields such as engineering, the humanities, and basic sciences remain significantly underfunded. Official development assistance agencies and international foundations drive much of the external funding, raising persistent questions about African ownership of research priorities. Universities absorb the largest share of grants, but the report documents a notable shift in how and where funds are landing over time.

For the 17 SGCI member countries specifically, the report provides a breakdown of 16,976 grants divided by funder type, scientific field, and recipient organisation. It also examines the science granting councils themselves, their organisational models, their grant management systems, their partnerships, and the challenges and opportunities they face in a rapidly changing international funding environment.

Beyond the numbers, the report provides a clearer picture of the organisations, countries, and research areas attracting investment, while highlighting opportunities to strengthen coordination, improve accountability, and align funding with Africa’s development priorities.

For research funders, policymakers, universities, and innovation stakeholders, the report offers valuable evidence on how Africa’s STI ecosystem is financed and what may be needed to make future investments more strategic and impactful.

Read the full report to explore the findings and discover what the data reveals about the future of science funding in Africa.

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Published on 24 June 2026

By Jackie Opara-Fatoye