SFA Foundation support of Africa's scientists and innovators seeks to enhance the quality and productivity of science on the continent while developing globally-competitive science leaders through research training, leadership skills and career pathways for early-stage researchers.
The Foundation supports initiatives that enhance research quantity, quality, and impact that is based on knowledge systems, shared resources, equitable access, partnerships, robust ethical standards, and contributions to regulatory affairs, research culture, capacity development, impact and utilisation in and beyond academia.
The Foundation supports the development of robust innovation ecosystems by funding bold and innovative ideas, advocating for government funding and incentives for private-sector investment, and engaging with the private sector to support bold, innovative ideas addressing continent-wide challenges.
The SFA Foundation's strengthened governance and robust oversight ensure stability, growth and sustainability of science and innovation funding in Africa, guided by global principles of good grants practice, research management standards, accountability, monitoring and evaluation, and value-for-money -- strengthening the continent's science ecosystem and institutional governance.
We believe that collective effort through strategic partnerships, and thoughtful positioning of its brand as a leading organisation in continental and global discourse on science and innovation in Africa, will result in true advancement of scientific research on the continent.
Our Science
The SFA Foundation prioritises three interconnected thematic areas: agriculture, climate & environment, and health. Programmes are organised around four portfolios designed to accelerate progress toward a healthier and more sustainable future for Africa:
Within the four portfolios are 10 long-term programmes that drive science and innovation forward and span various disciplines, including basic, applied, and translational sciences, as well as social sciences, humanities, and arts.
Broad consultation led to the expansion of the remit to include social sciences and humanities, proportionally more focus on low-resourced institutions, and the addition of North African and Lusophone countries.
Strong science leadership is a prerequisite to creating a sustainable science ecosystem on the continent.
In March 2023, the SFA Foundation funded 14 consortia to develop world -class Africa research and scientific leaders on the continent, while strengthening African institutions. $70 million has been provided through the joint funding support of Wellcome and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and marks a refined approach through broad consultation, expansion to include social sciences and humanities, proportionally more focus on low-resourced institutions, and the addition of North African and Lusophone countries.
Fourteen consortia in nine African countries, with partnerships and networks in 75 institutions across 36 countries, have been funded to produce quality scientific data and information for evidence-based decision making generated by world class science leaders working in conducive and enabling environments. The 14 consortia, led from Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Zimbabwe, are advancing evidence and knowledge in Africa on key R&D priorities, including infectious diseases (malaria, HIV, tuberculosis), neglected tropical diseases, non-communicable diseases, and social sciences and humanities. The 14 were announced at a meeting held in Nairobi, Kenya, attended by scientists, funding partners and policymakers from 15 countries across the globe.
One in seven adolescents globally experience mental health issues; suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 15-to-29 year-olds. In low- and middle-income countries, the mental health needs of up to 90% of young people remain unmet, due mostly to resource constraints. These challenges can lead to social exclusion, discrimination, stigma and poor physical health. In 2023, the SFA Foundation joined the Being initiative — a global partnership to improve the mental wellbeing of young people aged 10 to 24. Through the Being initiative, the SFA Foundation is managing longitudinal research programmes in low- and middle-income countries to understand and predict the long-term effects of stressors (such as COVID-19, urbanisation and emergency circumstances) on the mental health and wellbeing of young people.
Global partners include Fondation Botnar, Grand Challenges Canada (funded in part by the Government of Canada), United for Global Mental Health, Orygen and the UK Department of Health and Social Care (through the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research.) Being is focused in 13 priority countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Romania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Vietnam. This is the first intercontinental collaboration of low-resourced countries for the SFA Foundation, which gathered experts to inform the design of a funding call to be issued in 2024.
Being, works with young people from 13 priority countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Pakistan, Romania, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Vietnam to improve their mental wellbeing.
Social sciences and humanities contribute valuable insights into society, yet in Africa these disciplines are underfunded, with little national government or continental alliance support. The little support that exists for research in these important fields relies heavily on international funding. The SFA Foundation joined with the Carnegie Corporation of New York to establish Preparing Outstanding Social Science Investigators to Benefit Lives and Environments in Africa (POSSIBLE-Africa) to advance social sciences and humanities research in Africa by driving the production of evidence to inform sustainable development on the continent. In 2023, twelve grantees across Africa were selected to receive preliminary awards and are to participate in an intensive training workshop, enabled by an MoU with the Africa Humanities Association and the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa.
Prof Adamu Addissie based at the University’s College of Health Sciences and an SFA Foundation grantee educating communities on cancer. PHOTO | Corporate and Science Communication Department
In 2021, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) launched the Calestous Juma Science Leadership Fellowship to cultivate scientific leadership in global health post-COVID-19. The SFA Foundation joined as a partner in 2023 to enhance communication skills of the current cohort of 14 CJ fellows, elevating their visibility and impact on local, regional, and global audiences, preparing them to disseminate knowledge and evidence to the public through multiple media channels and platforms.
Creating sustainable clinical trials and innovations ecosystems in Africa will foster economic growth, improved livelihoods and productivity and healthy individuals.
Africa bears ~25% of the global disease burden, but only about 4% of global clinical trials occur in Africa. Clinical trials that do take place in Africa are unevenly distributed and concentrated in few countries. As a result, most medicines are developed based on clinical trials conducted outside Africa, which may result in their failure to be fit-for-use in African patients or health systems. To help address these inequities, the Clinical Research and Trials Community (CRTC) programme is creating a sustainable clinical trials ecosystem in Africa. CRTC seeks to increase investment in ethical clinical trials in Africa, foster trust among researchers, regulators, sponsors, funders and the community, strengthen capacity in clinical research and create a sustainable clinical trials ecosystem in Africa. These efforts are implemented through:
The Clinical Trials Community Africa Network (CTCAN) was launched in the year to provide a network for clinical research stakeholders in Africa to facilitate increased, sustainable and coordinated clinical trials on the continent. The initiative is a partnership among nuvoteQ.io, the Science for Africa Foundation, BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH), Global Public Health R&D, a Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Fondation Merieux, and Medicines Development for Global Health Ltd (MDGH).CTCAN is a platform for all African stakeholders including clinical researchers, regulators, industry partners, and other relevant stakeholders; it is identifying priority diseases for clinical research.
The Cross Pharma Capacity Development Initiative (CPCDI) to increase the number of clinical research and trial investments on the continent by drawing together local and sector partners to collectively develop clinical trial capacity and sustainably bring more trials to Africa. CPDI is implemented with the support of the Johnson & Johnson Foundation (Scotland).
The Clinical Trials Community (CTC) platform to raise the visibility of African clinical trialists and sites to increase clinical trial investment in Africa.
Africa faces over 100 ongoing disease outbreaks at any given time, with risks intensifying due to rapid demographic growth, increased connectivity and environmental degradation. Investment in African epidemic and pandemic research and preparedness, drawing from lessons of resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, will protect healthcare systems and bolster economic stability by mitigating future health and socio-economic impacts of epidemics and pandemics. The SFA Foundation partnered with the Pandemic Sciences Institute at the University of Oxford and Mastercard Foundation in 2023 to issue a call for proposals for networks of transdisciplinary research excellence in pandemic sciences across Africa.
Africa's unique genetic diversity has the potential to provide insights into why certain diseases are more prevalent and severe on the continent compared to other regions, which can lead to tailored public health interventions that reduce disease burden and healthcare costs through preventive medicine. Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) supports population-based studies using genetic, clinical, and epidemiological tools to understand how genes interact with the environment to influence disease susceptibility, pathogenesis and prevention, ultimately improving the health of African populations. H3Africa was launched in 2010 as a partnership among the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Wellcome, and the African Society of Human Genetics (AfSHG). The SFA Foundation managed the Wellcome component of H3Africa, consortia for which were based in Ethiopia, South Africa, the Gambia and Uganda. The programme concluded in 2023.
Community engagement is essential to ensure that research is conducted ethically and in service to the community. Such engagement also fosters a supportive environment for science and innovation to thrive. The SFA Foundation’s Public Engagement with Science programme seeks to empower scientists in Africa to engage and co-create science with the public and provide mechanisms for society to shape, trust and access science, and use research evidence. In 2023, the SFA Foundation launched the inaugural Art for Science Exhibition, featuring 42 science and medical still images and 24 short video clips aligned to research thematic areas, including cancer and malaria. The British High Commission, Africa CDC, and the African Organisation for Research and Training in Cancer are coordinating with the SFA Foundation to mount similar exhibitions.
Science journalism must be strong in Africa in order to enable its people to confront its numerous development challenges. It is of particular importance in this era of misinformation, which can cause serious damage to public wellbeing, as seen in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, resources for science coverage often loses out to more popular beats, such as sports, politics and entertainment. To raise the visibility of quality science reporting, the SFA Foundation conceptualised and launched the Africa Science Journalism Award (ASJA) The Award recognises excellence in science journalism across the continent. Over 200 applications were received from 17 African countries in all five regions of the continent for the 2023 awards. Winners for Best News Story/Feature and Innovative Story of the Year were announced at the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Conference on Public Health in Africa.
The SFA Foundation both generates scientific knowledge directly and supports institutions in Africa to generate knowledge. The Science Policy Engagement for Africa programme (SPEAR) seeks to influence science, technology and innovation policy and facilitate the translation of research into policy and practice. SPEAR implemented the AI and Data Mapping Initiative to represent an African perspective in the governance of Artificial Intelligence in global health. SPEAR convened African stakeholders and global partners to identify AI and data science policy gaps in global health. Participants came from 47 countries from all five regions of Africa. Findings have already informed the Africa CDC technical working group on Africa's digitalisation and innovation agenda; the Africa Union Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA) 24, STISA 34 strategy, and the WHO Afro pandemic Preparedness R&D agenda.
The SFA Foundation recognises that a strong human resource structure is essential for its success. Fifteen new FTEs were recruited in the year, bringing the total staff count to 51 (28 women and 23 men). SFA Foundation staff come almost exclusively from African countries – a plurality from Kenya, plus Uganda, Cameroon, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Zimbabwe. A small number of individuals are nationals of the United Kingdom and the United States of America. In 2023, the SFA Foundation introduced a paid internship programme to offer professional exposure and experience to young Kenyan university graduates and to serve as a recruiting pipeline for the organisation. Three interns started in 2023, one in operations, and two in programmes. To streamline operations and enhance efficiency we have implemented robust, fit-for-purpose systems and established an ICT Steering Committee to guide these efforts, monitor the management of ICT-related risks, and enhance ICT governance.
