1. MagazineDecember 2014 | Issue 4
In this Issue
The Entebbe Forum
New CAAST-Net Plus Study
HLPD Bureau Update
CAAST-Net Plus Building Bi-regional Partnerships for Global Challenges

2. | Magazine December 2014 | Issue 42
Contents
CAAST-Net Plus is funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and
Technological Development (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n0
311806. This document
reflects only the author’s views and the European Union cannot be held liable for any use that may
be made of the information contained herein.
The CAAST-Net Plus Magazine is produced by Research Africa
Address: A307 Gate House, Black River Park, Observatory, 7925, South Africa
Phone: +27 (0)21 447 5484 Fax: +27 (0)21 447 9152 Email: info@research-africa.net
Web site: www.researchresearch.com/africa
Coordinators’
Message
Policy
Insights
Progress and Forward Plans 3
A message from the project coordinators
Dr Andrew Cherry & Dr Eric Mwangi
Transferring Knowledge Into Solutions 4
Reflections from the Entebbe forum
Ismail Barugahara & Stefan A. Haffner
Africa-EU Climate Change Research Collaboration 5
Findings from a CAAST-Net Plus study
James Haselip
Food and Nutrition Security on the Agenda 6
An update from the HLPD Bureau
Nienke Buisman
Visualising CAAST-Net Plus 8
Where we fit in and what we do
Research Africa
Building Bridges 10
Challenges and opportunities in the EU-Africa health research and
innovation cooperation environment
Gerard Ralphs, Dr Najia Musolino & Katharina Kuss
Lessons in Co-financing 11
Second phase of ERAfrica planned
Refilwe Mashigo & Jean Albergel
Ideas to Projects to Impacts 12
Results and learning from two FP7 projects
Refilwe Mashigo, Aurore Guieu, Els Duysburgh & Marianne Meijboom
Research and Innovation for Global Challenges 15
Next year South Africa will host a major conference on the role of
universities in development
The Association of Commonwealth Universities
Pin it to CAAST-Net Plus 16
Events, links and opportunities
Learning
and Uptake
For Your
Diary
[Image credit: Flickr, National Eye Institute]
[Image credit: Flickr, Studio curve]
[Image credit: Flickr, Joyce Seitzinger]
[Image credit: Flickr, Kristian Niemi]
For Your
Diary

3. December 2014 | Issue 4 Magazine | 3
Progress and Forward Plans
A message from the project coordinators
Last month CAAST-Net Plus convened its first
stakeholders’ forum in Entebbe, Uganda. In the
context of present global societal challenges,
including most pressingly the unfolding Ebola crisis,
the central theme of the forum — Transferring
Knowledge Into Solutions — was chosen precisely to
focus attention on the collective action by European,
African and other partners that is needed to address
these challenges.
Specifically, we asked participants to reflect on the
points of intersection between food and nutrition
security, climate change, and health challenges,
as well as how new solutions at both the level of
policy and implementation can be leveraged through
bi-regional science, technology and innovation (STI)
collaboration. As the article about the forum in
this issue reveals (Page 4), the discussion was both
buoyant and robust, and from participants we heard
that bridges between private and public sectors
across health, food security and climate change
challenge areas must be more effectively bridged
through cross-sector partnership.
To coincide with the Entebbe forum, CAAST-Net
Plus also last month launched a new report, which
critically analyses Africa-EU research collaboration in
the domain of climate change (Page 5). This report
forms part of a series of three themed studies that
are designed to provide substantive inputs into
ongoing policy-level discussions, including those
taking place within the High Level Policy Dialogue
on STI (HLPD). In the coming months, we expect
to launch a second report, focusing on food and
nutrition security, which coincides with ongoing
HLPD work on developing a roadmap for cooperation
in this area (Page 6). We are also excited about a
series of health consultations, one of which took
place alongside the launch of EDCTP-2 in South
Africa in December 2014, and one of which will be
hosted in Botswana in 2015. These consultations
will inform a third analytical study in preparation.
Our ambition is that all three studies will form part
of the background to the second CAAST-Net Plus
stakeholder forum to take place alongside a major
conference on research and innovation for global
challenges in South Africa, in May 2015 (Page 15).
CAAST-Net Plus aims to advance STI cooperation
between the two regions. But what does this
mean in practice? Cooperation activities emerge
in various forms: joint innovation platforms, joint
funding schemes in areas of mutual interest,
public-private partnerships, networks of excellence,
capacity building programmes, and the plethora
of informal configurations that may emerge from
researcher and innovator stakeholder interaction.
All of these types of interaction fall well within the
scope of interventions that, through its work to
support the creation of an enabling environment for
collaboration, CAAST-Net Plus can catalyse moving
forward. We hope you will continue to journey with us.
Dr Andrew Cherry
Project Coordinator
Dr Eric Mwangi
Africa Region Coordinator
The end of 2014 marks the end of the second year of the CAAST-Net Plus
project cycle. We’re pleased with our progress and looking forward to
new challenges in 2015.
CAAST-Net Plus partners held their first Annual Meeting in June 2014,
in Lisbon, Portugal [Image credit: CAAST-Net Plus]
Around 60 delegates attended the first CAAST-Net Plus stakeholders’ forum in Entebbe,
Uganda, from 24-25 November 2014 [Image credit: CAAST-Net Plus]

4. | Magazine December 2014 | Issue 44
Transferring Knowledge Into Solutions
Reflections from the Entebbe forum
The event was co-hosted by three CAAST-Net Plus partners: Uganda’s
National Council for Science and Technology, the Project Management
Agency at German Aerospace Center, Department for European
and International Cooperation, for the German Federal Ministry
of Education and Research, and the South African Department of
Science and Technology. It brought together 60 African and European
stakeholders from business, academia, government and civil society.
The Entebbe forum offered CAAST-Net Plus an opportunity to achieve
three results:
1. The forum provided a multi-disciplinary and intellectual platform
for discussion and dissemination of ongoing analytical work
being undertaken by CAAST-Net Plus. It added value to this work
by providing contextual perspectives to the societal challenges,
demonstrating their interconnectedness and concrete examples
of how knowledge has been successfully translated into practical
solutions to societal challenges using thematic or holistic approaches.
2 It increased participants’ awareness about the new AU and EU
policies, programmes and instruments for science, technology
and innovation (STI) underpinning cooperation among stakeholder
communities in Africa and Europe. In particular, the forum
dedicated a session to the presentation and discussion of Horizon
2020, the European Union’s research and innovation funding
instrument, and STISA-2024, the African Union’s new strategy.
3. Participants collectively contributed to ongoing STI policy
dialogue processes in Africa and Europe through engaging in
animated discussion about a food, nutrition and sustainable
agriculture roadmap produced by the Expert Working Group
of the High Level Policy Dialogue on STI. Several of the forum
participants have accepted an invitation to participate in a survey
towards the finalisation and eventual implementation of the
roadmap.
CAAST-Net Plus organised its first stakeholders’ forum from 24-25
November 2014 in Uganda. Our focus? Africa-EU strategies for science,
technology, and innovation in addressing societal challenges.
Co-organisers Ismail Barugahara and Stefan A. Haffner share key results.
A forum report is in preparation and will be published on the
CAAST-Net Plus website (l.caast-net-plus.org/8g).
Dr Garry Aslanyan
World Health Organisation’s Special Programme for
Research and Training in Tropical Diseases
Synergies between health, climate change and
food and nutrition security research need to be
enhanced beyond just conversations.
Patrick Worms
Senior Science Policy Adviser, World Agroforestry Centre
Far too much valuable research is not being
considered by the private sector. Regardless of
where the research is coming from, entrepreneurs
need to take up the knowledge provided to produce
even better services and products.
Dr Jason Mochache
Chief Education Specialist and Architect,
African Development Bank
African researchers have not created strong linkages
with the industry. Researchers need to know what
industry needs, so they can incorporate these
needs into research processes in order to actually
improve what industry is trying to produce.
Dr Eric Mwangi
CAAST-Net Plus Africa Region Coordinator / Ministry of
Education, Science and Technology, Kenya
African partners in Africa-EU partnerships need to
be willing to fund programmes in health, climate
change and food and nutrition security, and not only
rely on research funding from other regions.
Ismail Barugahara
UNCST
Stefan A. Haffner
PT-DLR

5. December 2014 | Issue 4 Magazine | 5
The report, prepared by a team of CAAST-Net Plus
partner representatives, seeks to provide new and
relevant analysis in the context of Joint Africa-EU
Strategy objectives and the role of STI especially
within the bi-regional partnership.
“Our overall aim was to investigate the extent to which
– and how – research-based knowledge is being used
to inform policy-makers in developing effective
responses to climate change, as well as whether and
how bi-regional research and development outputs
are being translated into technologies, goods and
services,” says lead author, James Haselip, a researcher
at the UNEP DTU Partnership.
UNEP DTU Partnership (formerly UNEP Risø Centre)
is a Collaborating Centre of the United Nations
Environment Programme and a leading international
research and advisory institution on energy, climate
and sustainable development, based at the Technical
University of Denmark. The report’s findings are
intended to be both instructive and constructive
for programme owners, project leaders and policy-
makers alike, Haselip says.
“We highlight various findings, however its main
significance is in revealing the low level of ‘outcome
thinking’ among those working at the interface of
research and policy, which appears to explain the
difficulty stakeholders have in attributing research
outputs to demonstrable outcomes.
“Furthermore, based on our primary research
with key actors, there is a general lack of clarity
regarding the mechanisms or theories of change,
which undermines efforts to reflect upon the
implementation of research projects, or face the hard
question of what difference they made.”
Says Haselip: “This study had a broad and ambitious
aim and, in reality, we have only touched upon
the main issues. However, we believe this report
provides a relevant and important basis upon which
to conduct further, more focused, work.” This report
is the first in a series of three CAAST-Net Plus reports
that focus on the impact of research cooperation
between European and African actors in three global
societal challenge areas: health, climate change, and
food and nutrition security.
Africa-EU Climate Change
Research Collaboration
Findings from a CAAST-Net Plus study
CAAST-Net Plus is pleased to announce the release of a new study:
Africa-EU Research Collaboration on Climate Change: A Critical
Analysis of the Scope, Coordination and Uptake of Findings.
James Haselip
UNEP DTU Partnership
Research Questions
+ To what extent does the climate change knowledge produced by Africa-EU collaborations correspond to the bi-regional
political priorities?
+ What is the thematic and geographical distribution of this knowledge?
+ To what extent is this knowledge being appropriately interpreted and applied to public policy-making processes?
What are the barriers and constraints to this uptake?
+ To what extent is this knowledge being applied to private or public-sector technology development and investment?
What are the barriers and constraints to this uptake?
To download this report go to
l.caast-net-plus.org/83

6. | Magazine December 2014 | Issue 46
Food and Nutrition Security on the Agenda
An update from the HLPD Bureau
At their November 2013 meeting, senior officials of the EU-Africa High-
Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation agreed to
start working towards a jointly funded EU-Africa Research and Innovation
Partnership.1
Their starting point? Food and nutrition security and
sustainable agriculture, writes Nienke Buisman.
Nienke Buisman
European Commission *
The focus on food and nutrition security and
sustainable agriculture (FNSSA) recognises that while,
broadly speaking, there are differences in the FNSSA
situations between African and European countries,
there is also substantial convergence around regional
goals and policy objectives. Moreover, FNSSA is
high on the global agenda, but there is a clear
fragmentation of efforts that need to be overcome.
Taking forward the HLPD’s conclusions, the HLPD
Bureau, currently co-chaired by the European
Commission (DG Research and Innovation) and Congo
Brazzaville (as chair of AMCOST), convened a working
group of leading African and European FNSSA experts,
and charged the group with developing an input for
a roadmap towards building the EU-Africa Research
and Innovation Partnership, setting out short, medium
and long-term-milestones.2
What is exciting and different about this process is
that this is a real departure from the past. It is about
developing a framework for cooperation based on
mutual interest and mutual benefit. As such, it is a
distinct and deliberate departure from what were
once traditional cooperation frameworks based on
Africa’s development priorities and it directly reflects
the shared core values of the new EU-Africa Research
and Innovation Partnership.
Although a final version of the roadmap is not
expected until June 2015, the Expert Working Group
(EWG), which kicked-off at the end of April 2014
with a meeting in Brussels with the HLPD Bureau,
delivered a first preliminary draft input in July of
this year. Working mostly in a virtual environment,
there has been an iterative exchange between EWG
and Bureau members to develop an input to the
roadmap that is due to go out for consultation very
shortly. There will be a couple more face-to-face
EWG meetings in early 2015 to incorporate feedback
from consultations beyond which the final input will
be delivered to the HLPD Bureau, anticipated in April
2015. The HLPD Bureau will then further discuss and
develop the roadmap amongst policy-makers and
potential funders in view of the third meeting of the
EU-Africa HLPD, anticipated in the second half of 2015.
The current draft input to the FNSSA Roadmap
proposes an EU-Africa Research and Innovation
Partnership with two broad avenues. The first
avenue focusses on the potential priority topics
for research and innovation cooperation under the
FNSSA umbrella. The second avenue focusses on
the mechanisms by which the partnership could be
implemented.
In defining the indicative research and innovation
themes for the first avenue, experts drew on a series
of agreed criteria for prioritisation: Relevance to
African and European priorities; Expected impact of
research and likelihood of uptake; Capacity for joint
research based on comparable and complementary
*
Nienke Buisman is Policy Officer STI Cooperation with Africa, DG Research and Innovation, in the European Commission’s International Cooperation Directorate.
1
Adopted by the Heads of State at the 2010 Africa-EU Summit.
2
The experts include: Helena Gómez Macpherson, Philippe Petithuguenin, Joachim von Braun, Luís Goulão and Jeff Waage from Europe; and ,from Africa, Johnson A
Ekpere, Paco Sereme, Daniel Nkoola Kisauzi, Ibrahim RM Benesi and Mohammed Jeenah.

7. December 2014 | Issue 4 Magazine | 7
scientific expertise; Scalability; and Efficiency - the
likelihood that investment will fill a research gap or
synergise investments in similar area.
The first suggested theme of sustainable intensification
recognises the common challenges that are faced by
Africa’s and Europe’s converging trajectories as they
move towards a knowledge-based intensification
system, producing more and better food in the face
of rising input costs, increasing competition for and
degradation of natural resources in the context of
climate change.
The second suggested theme of agriculture and
food systems for nutrition acknowledges the failure
of food systems today to generate acceptable levels
of nutrition. While global dietary inadequacy takes
many different forms, are all linked to limitations in
the production, availability, access, affordability and
consumption of highly nutritious foods.
The third suggested theme of expansion and
improvement of agricultural markets and trade draws
attention to the role of joint research in reducing
constraints to more and better trade such as in
lowering non-tariff barriers around food quality
and safety, in creating monitoring surveillance and
diagnostics, in reducing price volatilities, and in
developing mechanisms for linking smallholders to
markets.
The final suggested theme in the first avenue of the
draft input to a roadmap brings together three cross-
cutting topics which separately and collectively have
the potential to support the overall partnership:
enhanced coordination, innovation and capacity building
(human resources, research infrastructure, ICT).
To assure effective and equitable implementation,
the second avenue suggested by the draft input
of the EWG considers some of the modalities for
supporting the EU-Africa Research and Innovation
Partnership. While this part of the draft input
remains to be further developed, it is already
clear that implementation could rely on a basket
of mechanisms. It sets out short- to medium term
milestones, building on existing instruments of
cooperation such as the ERAfrica initiative or
FP7 support actions, such as CAAST-NET Plus and
PAERIP. It also sets out ideas in the domain of
capacity building. In the long-term, the draft input
is suggesting to learn from existing platforms of
cooperation that are based on the principles of co-
ownership and co-funding.
The added-value of a potential EU-Africa Research
and Innovation Partnership lies in the fact that it will
be based on lessons learnt from past cooperation
activities, proposes to put in place an enhanced
system of coordination, involves the broader
mobilisation of research and innovation actors on
both continents, is designed jointly and will link
research to innovation.
The EU-Africa HLPD Bureau looks forward to
continuing its endeavours towards the development
of this potential EU-Africa Research and Innovation
Partnership in the area of FNSSA.
Kick-off meeting of the EU-Africa High Level Policy Dialogue Expert Working
Group on 30 April 2014 in Brussels [Image credit: European Commission]
CAAST-Net Plus is cooperating with the HLPD
Bureau to organise the upcoming Expert Working
Group meeting in February 2015. More information
will be available on www.africa-eu-partnership.org.

8. | Magazine December 2014 | Issue 48
Visualising CAAST-Net Plus
Where we fit in and what we do
Infographic 3: CAAST-Net Plus Goals
Infographic 4: The Political Context for CAAST-Net Plus: 4th
EU-Africa Summit Priorities
PEACE AND SECURITY
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
DEMOCRACY, GOOD GOVERNANCE
AND HUMAN RIGHTS
GLOBAL AND
EMERGING ISSUES
Advancing Sub-Saharan
Africa-EU Cooperation in
Research and Innovation
for Global Challenges
+ Support the EU-Africa STI cooperation policy dialogue
+ Strengthen EU-Africa STI cooperation and partnerships
+ Address global challenges of health, climate and food security
through collaborative platforms
Infographic 1: Actors in the EU-Africa STI
Cooperation Landscape
Infographic 2: How CAAST-Net Plus Interacts in this
Landscape
Global
Local
EU-Africa
Policy
Environment
EU-Africa
Implementation
Environment
EU-Africa
Research and
Innovation
Environment
Key focus areas: Human Security, Political Stability, Governance, Sustainable
and Inclusive Growth
Key Focus Areas: Economic, Social, Civil, Political and Cultural Rights
Key Focus Areas: Investment, Infrastructure, Continental Integration,
Agriculture, Food Security and Food Safety
Key focus areas: Climate Change and Environment, Arms Control,
International Governance
Key focus areas: Higher Education, S&T, Mobility, Migration and Employment
SUSTAINABLE AND INCLUSIVE
DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH
AND CONTINENTAL INTEGRATION

9. December 2014 | Issue 4 Magazine | 9
Infographic 5: Select Findings from CAAST-Net Plus Research on EU-Africa Collaborations in Health,
Food Security, and Climate Change
The regional
or geographical
distribution of these
private project
participants
49
150
A total of
private sector
entities were
involved in the
sample of over
projects reviewed
The highest rate of
originated from
COUNTRY
AFRICAN
PRIVATE SECTOR
PARTICIPATION
SOUTH
AFRICA
The highest rate of
originated from
COUNTRY
EUROPEAN
PRIVATE
SECTOR
PARTICIPATION
FRANCE
Health
Food Security
How significant are the following as possible bottlenecks in
enhancing Africa-EU S&T collaboration for addressing the
global FNS challenge? (Rated out of 5)
Policy/political will
Bureaucracy (government)
Human resource capacity
Physical infrastructure
Private sector engagement
Farmer engagement
Financial resources
Markets/market access
Lack of ownership
Access to ICTs
Behaviour/culture
Answer options
3.65
3.95
4.00
3.96
3.52
3.78
4.22
3.61
3.74
3.90
3.52
Rating
average
Geographic focus of projects analysed.
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
East Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
West Africa
Central Africa
North Africa
Oceans general
All Africa
Europe
Non region specific
Mediterranean
Climate Change
Adaptation
Mitigation
Both
Division of EU FP6 and FP7 climate change projects according to their
overall focus.
Spider chart showing project focus areas in relation to food security pillars.
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%
0.0%
11.1%
Access
StabilityOther
Availability
Utilisation
Ecological FundamentalCapacity Building
Knowledge
/ Data Base
Platform for
Communication
& Dissemination
of Research
Focus on
Decision &
Policy
Processes
5.2%
25.9%
7.4%
11.9%
13.3%
17.8%
3.7%
3.7%
COOPERATION CHALLENGES:
Source: CAAST-Net Plus Magazine (June 2014).
Source: Africa-EU Research Collaboration on Food Security: A Critical Analysis of the Scope, Coordination and Uptake of Findings (forthcoming)
Source: Africa-EU Research Collaboration on Climate Change: A Critical Analysis of the Scope, Coordination and Uptake of Findings (2014)

10. | Magazine December 2014 | Issue 410
Building Bridges
Challenges and opportunities in the EU-Africa
health research and innovation cooperation
environment
Katharina Kuss
FCSAI **
What are some of the current priority areas of health
research and innovation cooperation between Africa
and Europe?
A key priority in health research cooperation between Africa
and Europe is to channel efforts and funds to capacity building,
transfer of knowledge, and skills development for research on
neglected and infectious diseases in Africa. Another priority
area is tackling non-communicable diseases (NCDs): according
to the World Health Organization, pathologies such as cancer,
diabetes and cardiovascular diseases will account for 46%
of mortality and nearly 40% of the disease burden in sub-
Saharan Africa by 2030. Gaps need to be filled in the sphere of
research for drug development to support health development
priorities in Africa. Among the many lessons we are learning
from the current Ebola crisis is that there is still a strong need
to prioritise a health research agenda and clinical plans that are
aligned with the public health challenges faced locally in Africa.
Cooperation in innovation between the two continents is
also a must. Innovation in health care is not just about the
development of sophisticated technology for diagnosis and
treatment. It is also about smarter and cost-efficient means of
health service delivery to local populations, keeping in mind
the social determinants of health.
CAAST-Net Plus is especially interested in building
bridges between public and private sector actors for
better health outcomes that meet the needs of citizens
in both regions. In what ways is CAAST-Net Plus helping
to realise this ambition?
CAAST-Net Plus partners have been working together
intensively to discover how to bridge the public-private sector
divide in order to deliver greater impact on health outcomes.
Over the past six months we have hosted three workshops in
Germany, Gaborone and South Africa during which we have
gathered key public and private actors to help us to think
through this important issue. A key task, moving forward, is to
produce a consolidated report documenting findings from these
consultations. The ultimate aim of this synthesis report will be to
inform policy-makers about the barriers to and niche opportunities
for involvement of the private sector in health research.
The European Developing Countries Clinical Trials
Partnership launched its second phase in South Africa
during December 2014. How are CAAST-Net Plus and
EDCTP working together?
Our joint interest in bridging the public-private sector divide led
to an EDCTP and CAAST-Net Plus joint session at the Seventh
EDCTP Forum in Berlin earlier this year. However, the mandate
of CAAST-Net Plus goes beyond poverty-related and neglected
diseases. We aim to identify new niches to enhance EU-Africa
health research cooperation and these aspects are discussed
with our stakeholders at workshops, such as the satellite event
to the EDCTP launch conference that took place in Cape Town
in December 2014. The Executive Director of EDCTP, Prof. Charles
Mgone, is a member of the CAAST-Net Plus external advisory
committee, which provides an important opportunity for synergy.
The Council on Health Research for Development, a
CAAST-Net Plus partner, recently launched its Africa
Office. Tell our readers about the genesis and objectives
of COHRED Africa.
With over twenty years of hands-on experience in developing tools
and delivering support to maximise the impact of research and
innovation on the health and development of LMIC populations,
COHRED has recognised the rising importance that LMICs give to
investing and building their own research systems and capacities.
Within this context, we have decentralised COHRED’s growth out
of Geneva and launched COHRED Africa in Botswana on 6 -7
November 2014 as a related independent, non-profit organisation.
COHRED Africa will implement COHRED’s programmes in Africa,
in particular its technical support to governments and the
private sector in research and innovation for health.
Dr Najia Musolino
COHRED *
*
Dr Najia Musolino is Senior Specialist, Global Action at the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED).
**
Katharina Kuss is EU Project Manager at the Foundation for International Cooperation, Health and Social Affairs (FCSAI).
The need for effective health research and innovation cooperation between nations
and regions, but also between sectors, has been highlighted in the context of the Ebola
crisis. Gerard Ralphs spoke to two CAAST-Net Plus representatives about the project’s
work to advance this bi-regional, inter-sectoral partnership.

11. December 2014 | Issue 4 Magazine | 11
Why was ERAfrica created?
ERAfrica was created in late 2009 by European and
African countries, which wanted to consolidate
and advance their bilateral relations in science,
innovation and technology. The project is also one
of many being implemented as part of the Africa-EU
Joint Strategy adopted in 2007 to develop science in
Africa, among other objectives.
This was the first time that African
and European countries set up a joint
funding pot. How easy was it to put
the project together?
The entire process of jointly creating the necessary
funding mechanisms and processes for the first
ERAfrica call for proposals was a learning experience.
Partners participated on an equal footing and this
required us to constantly refine our interaction to
meet all national and institutional demands and to
ensure that all voices were heard and respected.
In the end, we were able to create an exceptional
working relationship to the point where numerous
partners described the coalition as a group of friends
or even a family.
What lessons can you share?
An equal partnership requires equal input from all
parties and consensus through patient negotiation
and mutual respect. Creating a joint fund can be a
complex process as each country has its own rules
and regulations but we were able to navigate them.
This should encourage more engagements of the
same nature.
What challenges did you face?
Aligning different national and institutional
regulations was difficult. Different levels of
experience and differing funding capacities required
careful planning to accommodate everyone and to
ensure that all participating agencies retained an
equal say in how the final product turned out. The
time was also shorter than we would have liked. The
European Commission gave us seed funding and
we were obligated to fulfil conditions of the grant
agreement. This sometimes meant spending a lot of
effort on tasks that were not necessarily vital to the
project’s main objective.
Will there be a second call for proposals?
There is a great desire among ERAfrica partners
to continue, and in particular for a second call to
be funded as soon as possible. There are many
preparations that need to be made for this ambition
to be realised so we are careful not to set any firm
deadlines. Nevertheless, the initiative has created
an interim secretariat that is shared by the South
African Department of Science and Technology and
the southern African office of the French Institute for
Research for Development. The secretariat will look
into the creation of a second phase of ERAfrica.
We want to recruit more partners for the ERAfrica
consortium, particularly from Africa before issuing
a second call, if that becomes a reality. It is likely
that future funding might include a mechanism to
help consortia funded in the first phase to publish or
commercialise their research.
An earlier version of this article was published on Research
Professional (http://researchresearch.com/).
Lessons in Co-financing
Second phase of ERAfrica planned
Countries participating in ERAfrica are negotiating a second phase of the initiative.
Jean Albergel of the Institute of Research for Development in France spoke to
Refilwe Mashigo about the negotiations, and shares lessons from the first phase
of the pioneering EU-Africa fund. The project involves 15 African and European
countries that jointly support bi-regional research and innovation projects.
Jean Albergel
ERAfrica Coordinator
Refilwe Mashigo
Research Africa

12. | Magazine December 2014 | Issue 412
Ideas to Projects to Impacts
Results and learning from two FP7 projects
The European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) supported
a plethora of projects in areas of interest for both Europe and Africa.
Representatives from two FP7 projects in the domains of health and food
and nutrition security spoke to Refilwe Mashigo about the outcomes of
their work.
Missed Opportunities in Maternal and Infant
Health | MOMI
To address maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality in
sub-Saharan Africa, the MOMI project is dedicated to improving
postpartum services by conducting health system research to
strengthen integrated postpartum health care delivery. The
project commenced in 2011 and concludes in 2016. Aurore
Guieu and Els Duysburgh are based at Ghent University’s
International Centre for Reproductive Health.
What are the objectives of the MOMI
project?
MOMI seeks to improve maternal and newborn health
through a focus on the post partum period, which has
too often been overlooked. By concentrating on the
first year after childbirth, our project aims at reducing
the risk of death and improving women’s well-being.
We believe that the integration of maternal, newborn
and reproductive health care during the postpartum
period can result in better postpartum care, which in
turn has the potential to improve health outcomes for
women and their children.
What was the nature of the research
that was undertaken?
The objectives are to be reached through health
system research undertaken in a district or sub-district
in four sub-Saharan countries, namely Burkina Faso,
Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique. Because we want to
point at missed opportunities in care delivery and find
out what are the determinants to improve this delivery,
we focus on health systems and services rather than
on clinical interventions per se. The interventions are
developed at our four sites under the condition they
are appropriate, sustainable, effective and replicable.
They are implemented in health facilities as well as in
communities.
What happens next? Will the project’s
research results be converted into, for
example, a new service, product, or
social outcome?
MOMI is developed in close cooperation with
stakeholders and policy-makers at the four research
sites, with the objective of strengthening support
for better postpartum care. Because sustainability is
critical to our interventions, the project has trained
health facility staff as well as community health
workers on postpartum care and family planning, a set
of skills that will remain when MOMI comes to an end.
Facilities and communities are also being equipped
with sustainable tools: logs to improve reporting and
follow-up of postpartum visits, dialogue sessions in the
communities, bicycles to facilitate home visits.
In what ways has the project already
achieved its objectives?
MOMI is currently in its third year and will run until
31 January 2016. Our interventions are consequently
ongoing. MOMI discerns that the Millennium
Development Goals 4 and 5, to reduce child mortality
and improve maternal health respectively, require a
Aurore Guieu, MOMI
Consortium Project Administrator
Refilwe Mashigo
Research Africa *

13. December 2014 | Issue 4 Magazine | 13
Els Duysburgh, MOMI
Consortium Project Coordinator
substantial reduction in the rates of mortality among
women in postpartum and newborns. Project outputs,
such as the Cross-Country Situation Analysis of
Maternal and Newborn Care in Burkina Faso, Kenya,
Malawi and Mozambique report, have relevance not
only in African countries, but globally.
Learn More
About MOMI
Visit the MOMI project
website:
www.momiproject.eu.
The maternity ward of the Tete Provincial
Hospital in Chiuta, Mozambique
[Image credit: MOMI]
Part of the MOMI consortium at work during a visit to
Ntchisi, Malawi [Image credit: MOMI]
A MOMI-trained traditional birth attendant explains danger
signs during the postpartum period to mothers in Kaya,
Burkina Faso [Image credit: MOMI]
Marianne Meijboom
INSARD Project Coordinator
What were the objectives of the
INSARD project?
The project sought to help civil-society organisations
(CSO), both non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) and farmer organisations (FOs), become
more actively involved in influencing agricultural
research and development (ARD) in Africa. The
main objectives were to design a mechanism for
coordination and communication among European
and African CSOs (FOs and NGOs) involved in
influencing policies and practices around ARD;
agree on CSO research priorities and a strategy to
communicate these to other stakeholders, bringing
them into the international agenda; and lobby key
African and European research organisations and
donors to involve smallholders in ARD.
What was the nature of the research
that was undertaken?
The research focused on how CSOs can better
contribute to influencing ARD agendas. Studies were
conducted to map CSO engagement and resource-
allocation processes in ARD in sub-Saharan Africa and
the EU and to identify opportunities and challenges
for achieving greater participation of CSOs in
prioritising, formulating, implementing, monitoring
and evaluating ARD. Furthermore, the project piloted
the joint development of smallholder-centred
research proposals by bringing together farmers,
researchers and CSOs. The project has demonstrated
that CSOs can play an important brokering role in
the development of good quality research proposals
based on farmers’ own research priorities.
Including Smallholders in Agricultural Research
for Development | INSARD
INSARD was a three-year project which ran from 2011-2013, with field
work in Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia and coordination and policy
dialogue in Europe. It aimed at improving agricultural research systems
in Africa by involving non-governmental organisations and farmer
organisations. INSARD was a partnership of the ETC Foundation, the
Eastern and Southern Africa Small-scale Farmers’ Forum (ESAFF),
Professionals for Fair Development (GRET), Participatory Ecological
Land Use Management (PELUM), and the Réseau des Plates-formes
nationales d’ONG d’Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre (REPOAC). INSARD
project coordinator, Marianne Meijboom, is a Senior Advisor at the
ETC Foundation.

14. | Magazine December 2014 | Issue 414
What happens next? Will the project’s
research results be converted into, for
example, a new service, product, or
social outcome?
INSARD developed a policy-influencing strategy
and made use of several key events to disseminate
its message of the importance of increasing the
participation of well-informed CSOs in ARD to
better address smallholder research needs. For
example, INSARD presented this key message at the
34th
Brussels Development Briefing, the European
Commission’s conference on Research Serving
Development, the Second Global Conference on
Agricultural Research for Development, meetings
of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research,
the European Forum for Agricultural Research
for Development, and the Platform for African
European Partnership on Agricultural Research for
Development (PAEPARD), and other international and
national workshops. INSARD also made use of strategic
networks such as Prolinnova and PAEPARD that are
committed to continue pursuing INSARD’s vision.
In what ways did the project achieve
its objectives?
INSARD even overachieved on some of its
deliverables. Farmers, CSOs and researchers in
Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia developed nine joint
research outlines instead of the three required
as project deliverables. INSARD partners grasped
opportunities to present their key messages in more
national and international events than foreseen. This
reflects the relevance of and interest in the subject:
for example, in Tanzania, high-level officials attended
a national meeting to discuss the future of local
seeds and smallholder farmers — the topic of a joint
research proposal developed in Tanzania. However,
much more still needs to be done to institutionalise
the involvement of CSOs in ARD to better address
smallholders’ research needs.
Learn More About INSARD
Download the INSARD Summary Periodic Report
published on the European Commission’s Community
Research and Development Information Service portal
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/58056_en.pdf
Farmers preparing cherry peppers for market [Image credit: Bawinile Mtolo]
Farmers and researchers in the field monitoring a fish farming experiment in Tanzania, and mutual learning
about local innovation processes in Benin [Image credits: Laurens van Veldhuizen and Bernard Triomphe]
- Quotation by Geoffrey Chonga, a farmer from Kanyongoroka village, Zambia,
during a INSARD national workshop
*
CAAST-Net Plus is grateful to both the INSARD and MOMI projects, and the interviewed participants, for their collaboration in the production of this article.

15. December 2014 | Issue 4 Magazine | 15
Key research and innovation constituencies –
including universities, funders, policymakers, and
the private sector – must be able to respond to
individual opportunities as well as addressing global
challenges through their day-
to-day operations. Stakeholders
– including universities, the
business community, and civil
society – must ensure that the
research agenda and its outputs
are relevant, in order to use this
potential to maximum benefit.
The key to achieving this is
bringing together research
institutions, funders, policy-
makers, and the private sector in
an open, honest, and international dialogue. To this
end, the Association of Commonwealth Universities,
in conjunction with Southern African Research and
Innovation Management Association and South
Africa’s National Research Foundation, will hold an
international conference in 2015 on the theme of
Research and Innovation for Global Challenges.
Specifically, the conference will establish the practical
structures, policies, and incentives needed to ensure
that science, technology, and innovation play a
critical role in development.
It will also move beyond making the case for and
identifying good practice in universities and other
research institutions, to examine how they can be
supported in a coherent way to ensure impact.
Research and Innovation for Global Challenges
Next year South Africa will host a major conference on the role
of universities in development
Universities, funders,
policy-makers,
and private sector
actors must address
global challenges
in their day-to-day
operations
2015 is a critical year for global policy on international development.
The contribution of science and technology, and innovation, to achieving
development goals is beyond question. But donors and policymakers
must consider these contributions in their new global development policy
frameworks.
ACU-SARIMA Conference Aims
+ Emphasise the importance of a strong science base to addressing common global challenges – highlighting first-hand examples of
how the relationship works in practice
+ Highlight successful policy initiatives – and their scaling up – in the promotion of science as a tool for development, and how
governments and funding bodies can use their resources to maximum effect
+ Identify barriers to the uptake of science as a tool for development, and address how these can be overcome
+ Build effective collaboration between the next generation of researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders, ensuring the
sustainability of key relationships
+ Identify ways to develop capacity among the next generation of researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders
www.acusarima.com
The event will take place from 11-14 May 2015 at the Indaba Hotel and Conference Centre, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
CAAST-Net Plus @ the Conference
CAAST-Net Plus will hold a joint session with
the DFID-funded Development Research Uptake
in Sub-Saharan Africa (DRUSSA) project on
the relationships between university research
partnerships, the policy environment, policy
uptake and the contribution of the private sector
for solutions to global challenges. For more
information about the CAAST-Net Plus role at
this important meeting, write to
andy.cherry@acu.ac.uk.

16. | Magazine December 2014 | Issue 416 The next issue of the CAAST-Net Plus Magazine will be published in June 2015
Follow us online
Pin it to CAAST-Net Plus
Events | Links | Opportunities
Research Uptake Symposium
and Training Exchange
When: 9 – 12 February 2015
Where: Nairobi, Kenya
Contact: For more information and to register
(l.caast-net-plus.org/86)
Africa Climate Resilient
Infrastructure Summit 2015
When: 27 – 29 April 2015
Where: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Contact: For more information and to register
(ma@grvevents.com)
ACU-SARIMA Conference 2015
When: 11 – 14 May 2015
Where: Johannesburg, South Africa
Contact: For more information and to register
(acusarima@easternsun.co.za)
CAAST-Net Plus Annual Meeting
When: 10 – 11 May 2015
Where: Johannesburg, South Africa
Contact: Dr Andrew Cherry (andy.cherry@acu.ac.uk)
International Health, Human,
and Food Security Summit 2015
When: 29 – 31 March 2015
Where: Abuja, Nigeria
Contact: Dr. Uzodinma Adirieje
(hefossnigeria@gmail.com)
www.caast-net-plus.org
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Google +
Find us on LinkedIn
www.twitter.com/CAAST_Net_Plus / @CAAST_Net_Plus
enquiries@caast-net-plus.org