NAS academy award to Nigerian Academy
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Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda win academy funds
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/02092005?OpenDocument
Date: Feb. 9, 2005
Contacts: Vanee Vines, Senior Media Relations Officer
Chris Dobbins, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail <news@nas.edu>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U.S. National Academies Select Partners
For Initiative to Develop African Science Academies
WASHINGTON – The U.S. National Academies have selected the science academies of
Nigeria, Uganda, and South Africa as initial focal points for a program to
strengthen African scientists' ability to inform government policy-making and
public discourse with independent, evidence-based advice. The initiative,
supported by a $20 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will
be carried out in Africa over the next decade, focusing on efforts to improve
human health.
"Ultimately, the goal is to enhance life for all Africans by making it possible
for Africa's scientific community to more effectively tap its potential, both in
meeting national needs and in creating a strong science base for public policy,"
said Bruce Alberts, president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Nigeria,
Uganda, and South Africa's academies were chosen based on their vitality and
potential for success, the willingness of each country's government to draw on
scientific expertise in decision-making, and the pool of available scientific
talent in each nation.
The initiative will help the three academies – which have limited experience in
providing policy guidance – engage broader communities of African scientists,
medical and health care professionals, and engineers in policy issues. The U.S.
National Academies will guide efforts early on, in part by carrying out a series
of joint activities, but the aim is to create the capacity in each nation for
efforts to thrive under the leadership and support of the African academies
themselves. Thus, some of the preliminary activities will center on helping the
three academies develop the skills to plan and conduct scientific studies,
organize major conferences, raise and manage funds, create and implement
administrative procedures, and build lasting relationships with government
officials and other stakeholders in their countries.
The U.S. National Academies have also awarded strategic planning grants to the
science academies of Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, and Kenya. And the initiative
will support various meetings and symposia to promote collaboration and joint
learning among sub-Saharan Africa's science academies. Furthermore, Canada's
International Development Research Centre will work with the U.S. National
Academies to bolster the initiative and will provide financial assistance for
the participation of a fourth initial partner in Africa.
The U.S. National Academies comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National
Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.
They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and
health policy advice under a congressional charter.
[ This news release is available at http://national-academies.org ]
Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda win academy funds
David Dickson
10 February 2005
Source: SciDev.Net
Academies of science in Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda have been chosen to
receive funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help boost their
ability to provide African governments and the public with advice on
science-related issues.
The funding will come from a US$20 million grant that was awarded last year to
the US National Academies — a consortium of bodies the includes the National
Academy of Sciences (NAS) — to provide support for building the capacities of
Africa academies during the next decade (see 'African science academies get
US$20 million boost').
In line with the goals of the foundation, set up by Microsoft founder Bill
Gates, the programme will include specific efforts intended to improve
policymaking on issues relating to human health.
"The goal is to enhance life for all Africans by making it possible for Africa's
scientific community to more effectively tap its potential, both in meeting
national needs and in creating a strong science base for public policy," Bruce
Alberts, president of the NAS, said in a statement.
Alberts says he is keen for African academies to play the same role in providing
science-based advice to top decision-makers as the NAS does in Washington, for
example through the work of the National Research Council.
Following the announcement of the grant from the Gates Foundation last year,
seven African countries were visited by a small team to assess their ability to
absorb extra funding and use it effectively. In addition to the successful
candidates, the team also visited Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal.
According to the academy, the science academies in Nigeria, South Africa and
Uganda were chosen as the focal points of the new programme "based on their
vitality and potential for success, the willingness of each country's government
to draw on scientific expertise in decision-making, and the pool of available
scientific talent".
The main goal of the initiative is to help the three academies engage broader
communities of African scientists, medical and health care professionals, and
engineers in policy issues.
Although the NAS says that it intends to guide such efforts during their early
stages — for example by carrying out various joint activities — it is eventually
hoped that each nation will create its own capacity to carry out such
activities, under the leadership and support of the African academies.
"Some of the preliminary activities will [therefore] centre on helping the three
academies develop the skills to plan and conduct scientific studies, organise
major conferences, raise and manage funds, create and implement administrative
procedures, and build lasting relationships with government officials and other
stakeholders in their countries," the NAS said in a press statement.
In addition to the three academies that will received the bulk of the funding,
separate strategic planning grants are being awarded to the academies of
Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya and Senegal that had also been short listed.
The initiative will also support various meetings and symposia intended to
promote collaboration and joint learning among sub-Saharan Africa's science
academies. This is partly a bid to counter criticism that focusing primarily on
three countries runs the risk of doing little for scientists in other African
countries.
In addition, Canada's International Development Research Centre has agreed to
work with the US organisation to support the initiative, and has promised
financial assistance to allow the participation of a fourth initial partner,
widely expected to be Senegal.
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/04192004?OpenDocument
Date: April 19, 2004
Contacts: Vanee Vines, Senior Media Relations Officer
Heather McDonald, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail <news@nas.edu>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
National Academies Receive $20 Million From Gates Foundation
To Help Build Capacity of African Science Academies
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. National Academies have received a $20 million grant from
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help African academies of science – and
the continent's scientific, engineering, and medical communities as a whole –
strengthen their ability to provide evidence-based advice to inform government
policy-making and public discourse. The initiative will be carried out over the
next 10 years, focusing on efforts to improve human health. Later this year, the
U.S. National Academies will select three science academies in Africa as
partners for the initiative.
The continent faces considerable challenges that require scientific and medical
expertise, including the HIV/AIDS epidemic, chronic malnutrition, and
life-threatening childhood conditions, including malaria and diarrheal diseases.
The initiative will help scientists and health care professionals contribute to
policy decisions to tackle these issues. For example, some of the funds will be
used to train staff members of the academies to plan and conduct scientific
studies and major conferences that offer policy guidance; raise and manage money
from outside sources; tap useful information technology; and cultivate
relationships with government officials and other stakeholders in their
countries.
"Understanding the critical importance of basing decisions on sound science and
incorporating it into the policy-making process could be an important step
forward for many African nations," said Bruce Alberts, president of the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences. "Regrettably, some countries currently lack the
resources and organizational systems to learn from policy successes and failures
– and to generate new knowledge that would benefit their own societies and the
world. The goal of integrating scientific advice and public policy can best be
accomplished by boosting both the capacity and the credibility of the
institutions that represent the scientific and medical communities in individual
countries."
Several academies of science across the continent are already working toward
these goals. But because most of these groups have been in existence for only a
few decades or less, they have limited experience in providing policy guidance
and marshaling national scientific and medical communities to examine important
issues. Through the recently formed New Partnership for Africa's Development,
however, African nations have collectively expressed their desire to pursue and
finance scientific research, and to apply science to meet the continent's
pressing needs.
"To eliminate global inequities in health between rich and poor, the world must
ensure that the fruits of science, technology, and medicine are available to all
countries," said Richard Klausner, executive director of the Gates Foundation's
Global Health program. "We hope that this important initiative will help achieve
the goal of better health for all by engaging the African scientific community
in critical African policy decisions."
The grant will be used for important efforts such as:
¨ Creating an ongoing forum in each of the selected academies, to bring together
representatives from a given country's scientific, government, industry, and
nongovernment communities to incorporate scientific evidence into the health
policy-making process.
¨ Completing advisory reports or holding major events that contribute to
improved health in Africa.
¨ Improving staff-development opportunities as well as technological, work
force, and material resources of partner academies.
¨ Developing an alliance of African science academies through annual symposia
and collaborative workshops.
"Every country needs an organized way to call upon its own scientific and
medical communities for guidance," Alberts said. "The ultimate goal of this
initiative is to help each participating academy achieve, by the end of the
10-year period, a well-developed and enduring capacity to provide credible
policy advice for its nation."
The U.S. National Academies comprise the National Academy of Sciences, National
Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council.
They are private, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and
health policy advice under a charter from the U.S. Congress.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is building upon unprecedented opportunities
of the 21st century to improve equity in global health and learning. Led by Bill
Gates' father, William H. Gates Sr., and Patty Stonesifer, the Seattle-based
foundation has an endowment of approximately $27 billion.
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