Gender and Inclusivity

Strengthening the Capacities of Science Granting Councils in gender equality and inclusivity

We work with Science Granting Councils (SGCs) in sub-Saharan Africa to promote gender equality and inclusivity (GEI) throughout their grant-making cycles. This is done through an intersectional approach, supporting the councils to advance systemic change towards greater GEI mainstreaming in all their systems and practices.

As influential actors in national innovation systems, SGCs are well placed to drive gender transformation. They do this by shaping research agendas, funding projects, and encouraging research designs that use a gender-transformative lens..

SGCI aims to improve the integration of GEI in the SGCs’ work. It also seeks to increase women’s participation and leadership in research, development, and innovation.

We support SGCs to mainstream an intersectional and transformative approach in developing, implementing, and monitoring gender-related policies, programmes, and research in Africa.

We partner with SGCs to:

• Advance the integration of sex, gender, diversity, and intersectionality (SGDI) in research content, methods, teams, and environments. The SGCI Gender Equality and Inclusivity (GEI) Policy Framework provides flexible guidance to ensure relevance across diverse local contexts. For example, National Research Fund-Kenya developed its own GEI framework to embed diversity and inclusion principles into its operations—an effort that earned the Council a National Diversity and Inclusion Award (DIAR).
• Promote women’s leadership in STI. Support empirical research focused on addressing the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, and innovation (STI). This contributes to creating more inclusive, diverse, and supportive research environments across Africa. For example, Ghana is applying the ‘3Fs’ approach—Fixing the numbers (increasing women’s participation), Fixing the institution (promoting gender equality through structural changes), and fixing the knowledge (enhancing research by integrating gender equality and inclusion into methods and content).
• Adopt the integration of GEI considerations into the grant-making cycle and research environments, to enhance inclusivity at every stage of the research process.
• Increase the participation of SGCs in global and regional platforms that promote gender equality, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Through engagement in initiatives such as GEI sessions at SGCI Annual Forums, the Gender Summit, and the Global Research Council’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, SGCs strengthen collaboration and drive inclusive research systems.

Through this intersectional and transformative approach, we are creating more equitable research environments, ensuring that diversity and inclusion shape national science and innovation agendas in Africa. SGCI promotes women’s leadership in STI, contributing to a more inclusive and balanced research landscape across the continent.