Needs assessment to strengthen capacity in water and sanitation research in Africa: experiences of the African SNOWS consortium

Abstract

BackgroundDespite its contribution to global disease burden, diarrhoeal disease is still a relatively neglected area for research funding, especially in low-income country settings. The SNOWS consortium (Scientists Networked for Outcomes from Water and Sanitation) is funded by the Wellcome Trust under an initiative to build the necessary research skills in Africa. This paper focuses on the research training needs of the consortium as identified during the first three years of the project.MethodsWe reviewed the reports of two needs assessments. The first was a detailed needs assessment led by one northern partner, with follow-up visits which included reciprocal representation from the African universities. The second assessment, led by another northern partner, focused primarily on training needs. The reports from both needs assessments were read and stated needs were extracted and summarised.ResultsKey common issues identified in both assessments were supervisory skills, applications for external research funding, research management, and writing for publication in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. The bureaucratisation of university processes and inconsistencies through administration processes also caused problems. The lack of specialist laboratory equipment presented difficulties, particularly of inaccessibility through a lack of skilled staff for operation and maintenance, and of a budget provision for repairs and running costs. The lack of taught PhD modules and of research training methods also caused problems. Institutionally, there were often no mechanisms for identifying funding opportunities. On the other hand, grantees were often unable to understand or comply with the funders’ financial and reporting requirements and were not supported by their institution. Skills in staff recruitment, retention, and performance were poor, as were performance in proposal and paper writing. The requirements for ethical clearance were often not known and governance issues not understood, particularly those required by funders.ConclusionsSNOWS believes that working with African universities to develop networks that support African-led research driven by the local context is an effective approach to develop and retain research skills needed to change policy and practice in water, sanitation, and hygiene in Africa.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1478-4505-12-68) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The post-award effort of managing and reporting on funded research: a scoping review

“…The need to better support researchers with post-award tasks was frequently cited. 6,7,[29][30][31][32][33] This stems from reports of significant workloads, a stressful environment in HEIs and issues in communications and working relationships.…”

“…63,64 However, we found that specific responsibilities for requirements, and the level of support offered to researchers in HEIs, depends on availability of research management and administrative (RMA) infrastructure (such as availability of RAs) and other factors in institutional set up. 6,7,[29][30][31][32]65 As such, while certain award tasks, such as negotiation of contracts and hiring, can be delegated to relevant HEI departments (such as Human Resources and Finance) the level of support offered for other activitiessuch as review and approval of research operations, managing direct information requests and reportingis not always clear due to differences in HEI facilities, resources, and internal funding. In addition, RMA appears to heavily vary by country, [65][66][67] and even where it is readily available (such as in dedicated 'grant offices' or 'post-award offices' 3 ) a 'systematic problem' of administrative burden and issues with compliance is still being reported, 68 with issues stemming from factors such as overburdened central offices, 31 poor leadership, 42 inadequate training, 30,65 and ineffective relationships between researchers and administrators.…”

“…6,7,[29][30][31][32]65 As such, while certain award tasks, such as negotiation of contracts and hiring, can be delegated to relevant HEI departments (such as Human Resources and Finance) the level of support offered for other activitiessuch as review and approval of research operations, managing direct information requests and reportingis not always clear due to differences in HEI facilities, resources, and internal funding. In addition, RMA appears to heavily vary by country, [65][66][67] and even where it is readily available (such as in dedicated 'grant offices' or 'post-award offices' 3 ) a 'systematic problem' of administrative burden and issues with compliance is still being reported, 68 with issues stemming from factors such as overburdened central offices, 31 poor leadership, 42 inadequate training, 30,65 and ineffective relationships between researchers and administrators. 29 The concern therefore is that not having the needed support for postaward tasks may affect the timely delivery of the research and reduce its impact, as well as return on the funders' investments.…”

Experiences of capacity strengthening in sanitation and hygiene research in Africa and Asia: the SHARE Research Consortium

“…Barriers to this, such as poor funding and lack of protected time for research pursuits, have been a common complaint from African researchers [25], which is why the Research Fellows scheme was a key success of the SHARE programme. Investing in postgraduate and doctoral studies in phases I and II was also an important achievement of the SHARE programme, as the need to provide more support for postgraduate training in health sciences in African universities is globally recognised [26, 27] if we are to increase the capacity of institutions. In both phases, locally driven research agendas were a priority.…”

Health research improves healthcare: now we have the evidence and the chance to help the WHO spread such benefits globally

“…Indeed, in the Introduction to the Call for Papers, the importance of capacity building is highlighted. This, too, is a topic described in recent papers in HARPS , such as those by Ager and Zarowsky [ 19 ], analysing the experiences of the Health Research Capacity Strengthening initiative’s Global Learning program of work across sub-Saharan Africa, and by Hunter et al [ 20 ], describing needs assessment to strengthen capacity in water and sanitation research in Africa.…”