Knowledge for Development

Regional S&T organizations

African S&T organizations dedicated to a particular region.


African Centre for Biosafety (ACB)

The African Centre for Biosafety (ACB) is a non-profit organisation, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It provides authoritative, credible, relevant and current information, research and policy analysis in issues pertaining to genetic engineering, biosafety and biopiracy in Africa. The website contains a wealth of biosafety information for South Africa and Africa. Navigate your way through Biosafety case by case assessments, the emerging fields of agrofuels and biopiracy.ACB is supported by EED, HIVOS, SWEDBIO, NORAD and is a member of the Third World Network and other networks in Africa.

15/12/2004


Rural Outreach Africa

After the unfortunate event of early 2008 when post election violence destroyed its offices and project materials, Rural Outreach Africa (ROP Africa) now has a new website: www.ropafrica.org (and a new logo). The programme exists to build on local strengths and mobilizes resources to empower rural communities for the realization of good health, improved family income, environmental protection, and enhanced literacy levels in an equitable, just, sustainable and gender sensitive manner. Rural Outreach Africa strives to create a healthy rural community able to live and enjoy an active dignified life, and to access and utilize both internal and external resources to the full, and willing to contribute fully to the development of families, communities, and the nation while upholding respect for others. The activities of the organization have since expanded to include fostering literacy, physical and mental health. It also provides a holistic socio-economic experience that empowers people to fend for themselves.

9/03/2012


Centre for training and integrated research in ASAL Development (CETRAD)

CETRAD is a Bilateral Institution between the Government of Kenya (through the Ministry of Water and Irrigation) and the Government of Swiss Confederation, through the Centre for Development and Environment of the University of Berne. CETRAD was established in July 2002 as a follow up of the then Laikipia Research Programme (1976 - 1997), and therefore builds on the long term pre-investment research facility.CETRAD is based in Nanyuki, Laikipia District, Kenya. It is concerned with research and training to design strategies for sustainable development, promote land use planning for sustained livelihood and optimal resource use, foster sustainable resource use and management for improved productivity and promote non-farm, non-pastoral enterprises, infrastructure and related services in arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL).

9/03/2012


Centre for training and integrated research in ASAL Development

CETRAD is a Bilateral Institution between the Government of Kenya (through the Ministry of Water and Irrigation) and the Government of Swiss Confederation, through the Centre for Development and Environment of the University of Berne. CETRAD was established in July 2002 as a follow up of the then Laikipia Research Programme (1976 - 1997), and therefore builds on the long term pre-investment research facility.CETRAD is based in Nanyuki, Laikipia District, Kenya. It is concerned with research and training to design strategies for sustainable development, promote land use planning for sustained livelihood and optimal resource use, foster sustainable resource use and management for improved productivity and promote non-farm, non-pastoral enterprises, infrastructure and related services in arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL).

29/02/2012


Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Composition Database

Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Composition Database (SSA Feeds) provides information on the nutritive value of 20,913 samples of 566 livestock feeds from 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The samples were analysed at the Animal Nutrition Laboratory of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2/11/2011


POL-SABINA : Policy and support actions for Southern African natural product partnership

The Policy and Support Actions for Southern African Natural Product Partnership (POL-SABINA) is funded through the European Union Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (EU-ACP) programme. The project will develop a ‘Virtual Research Environment’ for SABINA; provide training courses and workshops on a number of topics such as project management and fund management. It will address intellectual property management in the SADC region. SABINA (Southern African Biochemistry and Informatics for Natural Products) is funded by the Carnegie Corporation as a regional initiative in science and education. The programme aims to grow human capacity in natural products research through training of PhD and MSc students in the partner institutions.

30/08/2011


The Soil, Food and Healthy communities (SFHC) Project

The Soils, Food and Healthy Communities (SFHC, http://soilandfood.org) project in Ekwendeni, northern Malawi, began in 2000 with thirty farmers, and is now working with over 4000 farmers. It is a participatory project, in which farmers try to improve soil fertility, food security and nutrition through the use of grain or perennial legumes (e.g. peanut or soyabean). Subsequently it is hoped that this will lead to an increased food productivity which will in turn enhance food availability within households of resource-poor farmers. The end goal is to improve food security, soil fertility, and child nutritional status.The research done by SFHC project has taken an ‘Ecohealth’ approach. An ecosystem approach takes a holistic approach to understanding how humans interact with their environment, and the implications for human health. The SFHC research project attempts to improve child nutritional status, household food security and soil fertility through use of different legume options which can improve the quality and quantity of food available within the household as well as provide organic inputs to improve soil fertility. The project’s approach sits on the three following concepts of : Transdisciplinarity (involve people from multiple disciplines in carrying out research and in analysis and dialogue about research findings and development activities); Participation (use a participatory approach, rely on input from the Farmer Research Team and villages committees, assuming resource-poor farmers have valuable knowledge to contribute to the assessment of organic matter technologies for improving food security and health); Equity and gender (integrating equity concerns into programming and research activities). A recent paper has been published using data from the project, seeRachel Bezner Kerr, Peter R Berti and Lizzie Shumba. Effects of a participatory agriculture and nutrition education project on child growth in northern Malawi. Public Health Nutrition, 09 Nov 2010, pp. 1-7. Available on http://goo.gl/h18fk.

3/05/2011


African Centre for Crop Improvement

The African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI) is based on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. In January 2004 the University of Natal merged with the University of Durban-Westville to form the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The new university (with a combined student population of 42 000 students in 2004) is now the largest in South Africa. The University of KwaZulu-Natal is a multi-racial, multi-cultural, English medium university with increasing numbers of international students. The Faculty of Science and Agriculture, within which the ACCI is located, has eleven agricultural disciplines plus a full complement of biological and physical sciences.The ACCI aims to train African plant breeders in Eastern and Southern Africa, on African crops, to breed better crops using conventional and molecular breeding tools. The focus is on the breeding of African and African grown Crops (cereals, roots and tubers and pulses) for increased drought tolerance and improved food security for the poor in Africa.

22/03/2011


AGRHYMET Regional Centre

Created in 1974, AGRHYMET is a specialized agency of the 'Permanent Inter-State Fight against Drought in the Sahel' (CILSS), composed of nine member states: Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Chad, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, and Gambia. It is a public multistate organisation with legal representation and financial autonomy. Its headquarters are based in Niamey, Niger. AGRHYMET’s main objectives are: to contribute to food security and increased agricultural production in the CILSS member countries to help improve the management of natural resources in the Sahel region by providing information and training for development actors and their partners in the areas of agro-ecology in the broadest sense (agro-climatology, hydrology, plant protection, ...). It is a regional knowledge tool, specialized in science and technology applicable to the sectors of agricultural and rural development and natural resource management. (Region: West Africa)

17/02/2011


SSA Feeds: Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Information System

'SSA Feeds', launched in October 2006 by the CGIAR Systemwide Livestock Programme, is a web-based software and associated database that provides information on the nutritive value of feedstuffs used in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It is intended for extension, development and research agents to design scientifically-based feeding systems for meat, dairy and draught animals. This unique resource is the culmination of 26 years of extensive research and data collection. It makes available twelve years of initial data collection that started in 1981, and is now being updated with thousands of additional entries encompassing 14 years of subsequent research. This makes SSA Feeds the Web’s most comprehensive and authoritative resource on the nutritional values of livestock feeds in African agriculture.

25/05/2007


Barnesa - Banana Research Network for Eastern & Southern Africa: For sustainable increased banana production

Barnesa’s 'super goal' is having an increased contribution of bananas to food security and economic growth within ECA (eastern and central Africa) . Its goal is to contribute to increased and sustainable agricultural productivity in the regionwith the purpose to establish a sustainable commercialized banana sector in the East and Central African region . Barnesa’s strategic objectives are:(1) To promote and support streamlined structure and process of banana marketing systems in the region; (2) To develop/adapt sustainable banana production and utilization technologies addressing key user needs; (3) To enhance capacity for the development/adaption and utilization of banana and banana products; (4) To provide effective co-ordination for collaborative regional banana Research and Development.At its web site the historical background of Barnesa is given as well as its activities, linkages and (regional) partnerships nowadays. Barnesa is an ASARECA (Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa) network coordinated by INIBAP.

3/04/2006


Central Africa (DRC and RC): the Makala project

Website of the Makala project launched in early 2009 for a period of 4 years, taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo, around Kinshasa and Kisangani, and in the neighbouring Republic of Congo, around Brazzaville. The need for domestic energy in cities of Central Africa continues to grow, putting pressure on scarce timber resources. In this context, the Makala project aims to ensure sustainable supply of wood energy in cities, while limiting the impact on the environment. It serves several audiences: public and private policymakers, support organizations and rural communities in the supply pools. Funded by the European Union (under the head of the environment and natural resources management, including energy), the project is coordinated by CIRAD.

8/06/2010


The Rural Hub - Support rural development in West and Central Africa

Website of the Rural Hub, whose mission is to support rural development in Western and Central Africa. The Rural Hub aims to assist Western and Central African stakeholders (states, intergovernmental organizations, civil society organizations, development partners) to promote coherence in rural-development programmes worldwide. This site has coverage of a workshop on ‘Agroforests in Western and Central Africa: dynamics, performance and future?’ which was organized by CIRAD, IRAG and ISAG from 11 to 15 November 2008 at Seredou, Guinea (workshop on field visits).

8/06/2010


African Biodiversity Conservation and Innovations Centre (ABCIC)

ABCIC was established in 2010 as a non-profit regional organization enhancing the conservation and sustainable utilization of biodiversity for posterity, environmental preservation and sustenance of livelihoods for the African rural communities. ABCIC primarily focuses on agrobiodiversity and adopts an integrated approach that carefully balances conservation imperatives with the sustainable use through facilitating and promoting production, product development and enhancing marketing of biodiversity products through a value chain approach. ABCIC bridges the gap between international agricultural and biodiversity research organizations and community level NGOs by blending good scientific principles and concepts with practical application of technologies at the community level using efficient and flexible style of work.

16/08/2010


Institut du Sahel (INSAH)

L'Institut du Sahel est une institution spécialisée du CILSS chargée de la coordination, de l'harmonisation et de la promotion de la recherche scientifique et technique dans les pays du sahel.

15/12/2004


CGIAR/FARA Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Program

SSA CP’s purpose is to address the most significant constraints to reviving agriculture in Africa, i.e., failures of agricultural markets, inappropriate policies and natural resource degradation with a new paradigm, Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D). This will foster synergies among disciplines and institutions along with a renewed commitment to change at all levels from farmers to national and international policy makers IAR4D’s major thrusts. The programme will develop technologies for intensifying subsistence oriented farming systems; develop smallholder production systems that are compatible with sound natural resource management; improve the accessibility and efficiency of markets for smallholder and pastoral products; and catalyze the formulation and adoption of policies that will encourage innovation to improve the livelihoods of smallholders and pastoralists. SSA CP Partners include NARS, SROs, FARA, NARIS, CGIAR, advanced research institutes, NGOs, civil society, policy-makers.

5/10/2007


Nelson Mandela Institution (NMI)

The NMI will promote excellence in science and engineering and their applications to foster development in sub-Saharan Africa and narrow the growing scientific and technological gaps between Sub-Saharan Africa and the rest of the world. The two pillars of the Institution will be the African Institute of Science and Technology (AIST) and the Sub-Saharan African Learning Network. AIST will become a world-class institution based on the successful model of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), leading US institutions of excellence in science and engineering, as well as other models of excellence in science and engineering around the world. The Learning Network will enhance broad-based knowledge creation, dissemination and flows across sub-Saharan African countries through continuing education and the African Knowledge Forum.

7/02/2007


Centre de recherches régionales sur bananiers et plantains (CRBP)

Avec 22 millions de tonnes produits en 1997 en Afrique sub-saharienne, le plantain et les bananes de consommation locale sont une composante majeure de la sécurité alimentaire régionale. La production repose essentiellement sur des systèmes de production extensifs basés sur le brûlis forestier. Intensifier les systèmes de production pour satisfaire les besoins alimentaires croissants, sans dégrader les réserves forestières à travers une agriculture durable et respectueuse de l'environnement, tels sont les principaux enjeux auxquels le CRBP cherche à répondre.

15/12/2004


ASARECA: Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa

ASARECA is a non-political organization of the National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) of the ten member countries that aims to increase the efficiency of agricultural research in the region. Programmes include the R&D network FoodNet and the Eastern and Central Africa Programme for Agricultural Policy Analysis, ECAPAPA.

14/12/2004


Nigerfish

This site offers you the opportunity to partake in the agricultural development programmes of the Federal Government and Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria, which focus on fish rearing and development research.

8/06/2010