The Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF) provides research fellowships and training to empower African scientists to address agricultural challenges in Africa. Through ABCF, over 270 individuals from 21 countries have received research placements or training. ABCF fellowships support innovative agricultural research projects conducted by African scientists at the BecA-ILRI Hub laboratory. The fellowships help build technical and research skills while generating outputs like new disease reports that contribute to agricultural development in Africa.

1. Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF)
Empowering African scientists to solve Africa’s agricultural challenges
Rob Skilton
11 Sept 2012

2. BecA-ILRI Hub: Capacity building
• Research placements and individual/small
group trainees (270 individuals; 21 African
countries)
• Training workshops (48 workshops; 1100
trainees; 21 African countries)
• Institutional capacity building
• Linkages, information, creating awareness
• Conferences

3. Components of ABCF
• ABCF Research Fellowships
• Training workshops
• Creating awareness and
institutional capacity building

4. ABCF Research Fellowships
• Large demand for Hub, inadequate
funds
• Capacity building through research
• NARIs and universities
• Up to 6 months at Hub
• Competitive; targeted

5. ABCF Research Fellowships
• Country priorities
• Pathway to impact
• Deliver new technologies
• Strengthen ongoing projects
• Innovative research
• Attach to BecA-ILRI Hub activities
• Leverage funding
• Partnerships for research

6. ABCF Research Fellowships
Research outputs, plus:
Building capacity to do research
 Technical skills
 Analytical skills
 Good lab practice and H&S
 Science communication
• Presentations
• Publications
 Develop partnerships
 Research sustainability

7. Growing numbers of ABCF Fellows
2010-2012
30
25 Total: 51
20
15 Women: 33%
10
Men: 67%
5
0
Sept 2010 - Mar 2011 - Sept 2011 - Mar 2012 -
Feb 2011 Aug 2011 Feb 2012 Aug 2012

8. ABCF Fellows: represented countries
BecA countries
(12)
Non-BecA countries
(3)

9. ABCF Fellows: Thematic groups
• Cassava viruses in Congo
• Trypanosomiasis epidemiology in
Uganda
• Cavies, goat and chicken diversity for
improvement
• Taro tissue culture and disease
diagnostics
• Control of theileriosis in East Africa

10. ABCF projects: examples of outputs
• Striga resistance in sorghum
• Passion fruit virus diagnostics
• Maize-Sorghum Hybrid
• PPR thermostable vaccine in Sudan
• New molecular tools to study theileria
diversity
• East Coast Fever: rapid sero-diagnostics
• ‘Disease reports’

11. Example of outputs: ‘Disease reports’
• Cassava virus -CBSD (DRC)
• Potential new races of Ug99 (Kenya)
• Possible new Taro virus (Ethiopia)
• Ndumu virus in pigs (Uganda)
• ASFV diversity (Uganda)
• Theileria (Sudan and South Sudan)

12. ABCF Fellows: leveraging funding
Alex Bombom (Uganda)
• Maize-Sorghum Hybrid
• Invited BMGF proposal
Felix Meutchieye (Cameroon)
• Cameroon goat diversity
• BecA-Sweden project
Dora Kilalo (Kenya)
• Passion fruit virus diagnostics
• BecA-Sweden project

13. ABCF: Annual Workshops
• Introduction to Molecular Biology and
Bioinformatics (2011, 2012)
• Advanced Genomics and Bioinformatics
(2011, 2012)
• Scientific Research Paper Writing
(2010, 2011, Nov 2012)
• Laboratory Management and
Equipment Operations (2012)
BecA countries: 15
Non-BecA countries: 2

14. Raising awareness in the 18 BecA countries
• Country Visits: 39 institutions and
organisations visited in 2011/2012
2011/12 Planned
Burundi Equatorial Guinea
Cameroon Madagascar
DR Congo São Tomé and Príncipe
Ethiopia
Rwanda
Sudan
Tanzania
• Mailing list
• Website
• Meetings/Conferences
• Annual letter

15. Country visit : Burundi
Mushroom Lab
partner on FANS
project
• Burundi University; 4 workshop participants
• Institut des Sciences
Agronomiques du 3 ABCF
Burundi (ISABU) Fellowships (Taro)
BecA-Sweden plant
tissue culture and
diagnostics project
• Agrobiotec
h
• Phytolabu

16. Institutional capacity building
• National Agricultural
Biotechnology
Centre, EIAR, Holetta, Ethiopia
• Gulu University, Uganda
• Mikocheni Agricultural Research
Institute (MARI), Tanzania

17. Partners
• AusAID through the BecA-CSIRO partnership
• Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs through
the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (sida)
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable
Agriculture

18. Other capacity building partnerships
• African Women in Agricultural Research
and Development (AWARD)
• Association for Strengthening Agricultural
Research in Eastern and Central Africa
(ASARECA)
• United Nations Educational Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
• International Foundation For Science (IFS)

19. Partners
…and growing

20. Thank you