Harnessing regional and national capacities to strengthen agricultural research and training in Africa: a Case Study of DAAD support to RUFORUM

Limited capacities in managing research, training and outreach programmes are among the notable challenges preventing Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and research institutions in Africa from effectively contributing towards the continent’s development agenda. The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), using a networks approach is implementing demand driven regional postgraduate training programmes to enhance the quality of postgraduate training and research in Africa. The programmes are designed to build a critical mass of agricultural scientists to support generation of knowledge and innovations for development in Africa. To support the implementation of these programmes, RUFORUM entered into a partnership with German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) through the in-region and in- country scholarship initiative. To date DAAD has provided 20 PhD scholarships for training at four RUFORUM Member Universities: Makerere University in Uganda, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya, Nelson Mandela University of Life Sciences in Tanzania and Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) in Malawi. The students have been drawn from six African countries (Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Zambia, Tanzania and Uganda). The purpose of this paper is to share lessons, outcomes and experiences from the partnership The partnership has led to important outcomes and impact in the regional agricultural research system including: increased access to quality demand driven regional PhD programmes in Africa, strengthened university and research staff capacities, locally relevant agricultural knowledge generated and used, enhanced learning and regional networking among ECSA Research and Development institutions, and internationalization of the training programs.