Africa Analysis: Harmonising R&D grant administration

在非洲协调研究赠款管理的一项倡议是个好消息，琳达·诺德林（Linda Nordling）写道。

当坦桑尼亚的国家科学funding机构，科学技术委员会（Costech），2010年预算增加，它并没有将所有这些花在研究上。

相当，COSTECH spent a significant chunk of the windfall on expanding its administrative capabilities例如财务管理和质量审查系统。

The reasoning behind this choice was sound. The funder was expecting its income — both from the Tanzaniangovernment从国际捐助者到未来几年的气球。
为了明智地花费这些不断增长的研究资金，Costech需要现代化其赠款实践。它知道，良好的财务实践并不便宜。

现在，建立非洲赠款管理标准的一项新生倡议可以帮助其他机构改善其管理实践，从而使其对捐助者更具吸引力。

但该计划将只实现这个职业mise if African researchers engage with its design to make sure it addresses their problems.

“该计划在肯尼亚内罗毕发起，是加强非洲科学自治的重要一步。”

Linda Nordling

这也可能意味着关于谁在非洲的资金的更好信息 - 鉴于捐助者的资金多样性，这个问题比听起来更难回答研究在大陆。

A necessary requirement

研究赠款管理可能不是最性感的话题，因为我们认为非洲的科学复兴。但这是一个重要的问题，它为非洲大陆的研究人员构成了重大问题。

主要的挑战不是国家资助系统中的管理，就像坦桑尼亚的Costech一样。相反，国际捐助者资助了整个大陆的大部分研究都有严格的审计要求。

Often, each foreign-funded research project that an African institution participates in comes with its own particular reporting criteria.

Where institutions get their funding from a variety of donors, these criteria turn into a morass of red tape, which often overwhelms these institutions’ scanty grant management capacities.
As a result, African scientists themselves tend to spend a lot of time dealing with grant administration, rather than focusing on their research.

It is just one of the many ways in which they are at a disadvantage compared with their better-resourced colleagues in the global North.

例如，英国和美国的大学雇用许多赠款经理来帮助机构应对赢得竞争赠款的行政负担。

Developing good practice

There are initiatives to boost research management capacity in Africa through regional research and创新管理协会，所谓的Rimas。

南部非洲萨里玛（Sarima）是大陆最大的，拥有约400名机构成员。它的东部，中部和西方同行（Earima，Carima和Warima）较小，但仍活跃在非洲大陆的角落。

“赠款管理的通用标准最终将帮助那些希望更好地监督非洲国际资金的资助者和观察者。”

Linda Nordling

这些举措将得到上个月内罗毕（1月27日至28日）发起的一项新计划，以协调整个非洲的财务报告要求。

The Good Financial Grant Practice (GFGP) initiative, which is being implemented by the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) inpartnershipwith NEPAD (the New Partnership for Africa’s Development) Agency and the African Organisation for Standardisation, aims to produce a standardised management system for African institutions and donors by the end of 2017.

The idea grew out of a discussion that began in 2012 between major funders of medical research and development aid in Africa, according to the AAS. Two of these funders — the UK Wellcome Trust and the UK Medical Research Council — are funding development of the standard.

The idea is to canvass African researchers as well as international donors as to what should be in the joint standard. The consultation started in Kenya last month.

本月，资助者将在伦敦开会，讨论他们想要的联合赠款惯例。3月初，将在塞内加尔的达卡举行西非会议。

Engagement is needed

该倡议在肯尼亚内罗毕发起，是加强非洲科学自治的重要一步。

By consolidating their financial reporting to donors, African research institutions will save time and money that they would otherwise spend on grant administration.

通过采用标准，他们还为资助者提供了管理赠款能力的保证，可以提高他们作为寻求赠款的信誉。

Indeed, the GFGP initiative is great news for Africa if it is truly shaped in the interest of the continent’s researchers.

For that to happen, the researchers must in turn engage with the initiative to make sure it meets their needs. And African researchers must also accept that they may need to be more open about their sources of funding.

因为，在赠款管理硬币的另一端是一个长期以来的野心，以绘制谁资助了非洲的资金，尤其是在医学研究方面，以避免在这种多出色的景观中重叠或差距。

A common standard for grant management will ultimately help those funders and observers who want better oversight of international funding in Africa.

总部位于南非开普敦的记者琳达·诺德林（Linda Nordling）专门研究非洲科学政策，教育和发展。她是非洲研究的创始编辑，并为scidev.net，《自然》和其他人撰写了写作。

这件作品由Scidev.net的撒哈拉以南非洲英语桌子制作。