Q&A: Partnerships key to collaborating for impactful outcomes

African scientists are trying to elevate their global presence through innovative partnerships. Copyright: Image by Freepik

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Abraham Mathodi – Acting Deputy Director, Ministry of Communications, Knowledge and Technology, Botswana speaks to SciDev.Net during the 2024 Annual African Science Granting Councils Meeting in Gaborone, Botswana.

How can partnerships – such as those within the SGCI – can be harnessed to create more resilient and sustainable funding models for SGCs in Africa. What do you think are some of the core elements required for resilient and sustainable models for funding science in Africa?

Thank you very much. Let me start by highlighting that partnerships are very, very key, especially for African countries where we, well, we almost have the same social, economic and developmental challenges, and we need funding or support for us to address our challenges. And over time, African governments have relied, or research institutions have relied primarily on  their governments for funding, and we know that with the challenges that we have as African countries, it may not be pretty much sustainable for the government to solely fund research, because we’ve got various challenges, social, economic etc.

Like I’ve mentioned, and it is therefore very important that we look at other modalities or models of funding research and partnerships is one of them. So when you talk about sustainable or resilient partnerships, in my world, we need to establish partnerships in a view of addressing the issues that we have in Africa, starting from national issues to regional issues and continental issues. 

So we must come up with partnerships that are willing to address what are the needs of the nations. So this is where it is very important that we talk about issues of funding, in a manner that creates a win-win situation for all the partners. So in my view, that’s what resilient partnerships is all about.

Can you describe one or two initiatives that your organization is involved in that are enabling this kind of resilience and sustainability of funding for science?

Well, we are currently a member of the Science Granting Council Initiative and the instruments that we have benefited through the participation in the science quarantine council, but we have also been able, through our participation in the science quarantine council, been able to get involved in other partnerships, arrangement with the National Research Foundation. 

For example, under the OR Tambo Africa Researchers Initiative, we have been able to to be one of the countries that have benefited from the first African researchers. 

And it is very key in the sense that even though the bulk of the funding is coming from the National Research Foundation in South Africa as from Botswana as well, we have been able to contribute a certain amount so that we are able to also have a meaningful participation in the partnerships. 

We also, by virtue of being members of the SGCI, participate in the Africa-Japan collaborative research program the AJ Core. And there, of course, we are responsible for financing the activities of our researchers, but we see the signs that are created by virtue of our researchers, working with researchers from South Africa, researchers from south of Japan and other members of the SGCI. So, to us, that created a lot of value of knowledge, knowledge generation, knowledge sharing and, you know, impact in so far as funding that goes into this partnership is content. So, this is how, in my view, we are building, you know, resilient partnerships in the sense that it creates co-production among the research communities across different countries.

Any other lessons you can share on building partnerships that support greater independence of African countries in how they build their ecosystems.

Well, yes, we are relatively new in the space as Botswana, and we are learning and you know, and we really take solace from the fact that the SGC has given us a very solid platform to learn from those we have been in the space, from those we have in the trenches for solo, and we are learning quite a lot from that. 

And one of the things that I really want to highlight is that for partnerships to be sustainable and resilient, there’s a lot of, you know, political will that is needed among the nation. There’s also, you know, trust, honesty and transparency. 

Those are very critical. But what is very key is for nations, or for countries to have at country level, some form of agreements or some form of understanding that enables the players to be able now to implement the program that they could be conceptualizing. 

But it’s very key that countries at the country level have some form of instruments, memorandum of understanding. So Memorandum of agreements, that makes things very easier. So it really talks to the international relations that are there among the countries. So I think, in my view, it starts at country to country level. 

How has your participation in the SGCI helping to increase the visibility voice and also open doors for the council within the country’s science, technology and innovation system, within the African science ecosystem, more broadly and on the global science stage.

Our participation in the SGCI has really, you know, contributed a lot in so far as our growth is concerned. Earlier, when I mentioned that we are very, relatively new in the space in terms of, you know, development and technologically, we are still very much far behind in terms of technology development. 

But you know, since we got involved with the SGCI, we have seen a lot of traction. In so far as you know, funding for research is concerned, this is so far as our visibility, we, even within the country, is concerned regionally and continental globally. 

You know, to start with Botswana, where we are right now, we still don’t have a Research Council in the form of semi-autonomous or autonomous agencies like other countries. So over the past years, we’ve been having a little difficulties in terms of funding our research, but since our participation in the SGCI over the years, between 2016 and now, in the intervening years, we have seen growth in terms of the money that has been channelled towards research.

We have seen a lot of traction in terms of the willingness to establish a Research Council, which will now be able to manage research funds. And if I give you an example in the last financial or this financial year that we have been able to give more than, you know, triple of our previous budget, that is after the realization that indeed research is working, because we are able to demonstrate through the funds that we’re giving we’re getting through the SGCI, through the AJ-CORE, through the Africa OR Tambo initiatives, we are able to demonstrate the value of research. 

We are able to demonstrate the need to increase investment. We are able to demonstrate the need to engage, the need to provide capacity building for our researchers. So nationally, I think that has given us a lot of visibility. 

And in the region, yes, we have been able to collaborate with countries that we haven’t collaborated with before. Notably, we now have projects with the Research Council of Zimbabwe, and this has helped us to have a country to country, MOU – Botswana and Zimbabwe. 

Before then, we didn’t have that kind of MOU. Now we have and our researchers are working together. We also have, we had an MOU with Mozambique, which was dormant. 

Nothing was happening. But through the SEC, we now have four research projects that are ongoing between the universities in Botswana and the universities in Mozambique, and we have also been able to work with countries that we have never worked with before. 

I remember, and during the time of COVID, we jointly, co-hosted the SGCI meeting virtually with Zimbabwe and Bucha, a French speaking country. And we have never had relations with Burkina Faso before, but now I can tell you that it is easier for me to approach Burkina Faso. It’s easier for me to talk to Yaya Sangar in Kodi, Senegal, any place, political speaking, we can work very easily. 

And this is a way of you know, from an African perspective, we are talking about regional integration, and we think the SGCI has really brought importance in terms of implementing the regional integration programs in so far as research science, technology and innovation are concerned.

Is there anything you felt they should have asked or you want to

Maybe the last point that I can talk to is the issue of, you know, the global footprint. I think that our participation in the SGCI has also given as a platform to be part of the Global Research Council, and it has really opened windows for us to be able to, solicit other partnerships, even within or without the SGCI and without the GRC, we are able now to dialog. 

We can talk to other potential funders, that prior to participating in the SGCI and the GRC, we didn’t have access to them, and this involvement in the GRC has given us a global impetus to be able to collaborate, even in the Global North. So this is something that we are very, very much grateful to as Botswana.

I think you mentioned earlier some of the collaborations. Do you have any projects that you can share with us afterwards, in terms of the impact it’s had on society and communities as a result of the collaboration.

Most of our projects are still in the research process. They’re still ongoing, so we haven’t been able to come to a point now that we are rolling them out into the communities, but when you look at the potential in terms of the outputs that are there? We strongly believe that these are the projects that are going to really improve the lives of our people. So we were able to demonstrate in the next regional meeting, if you were in the meeting yesterday, there was a project that was presented from the Botswana University of Science and Technology. 

So the potential that is there in terms of changing the landscape is very massive, and this is something that we are looking forward to as we conclude some of the projects that we have, some of them are still starting, but we I can assure you that the envisaged impact and value in terms of what is going to come out is going to be something that is very massive and really, you know, profitable in terms of improving the lives of our people.