By George Lakey, CIRCLE Programme Officer
Through renewed funding from the
UK’s Department
for International Development (DFID), the Association of Commonwealth Universities
(ACU) is continuing its commitment to supporting climate change research across
sub-Saharan Africa through its Climate Impacts
Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE) programme.
Since 2015, the ACU-led CIRCLE programme
has been working to strengthen the capacity of African researchers and research
institutions to undertake research into the impacts of climate change on local
development. Numerous reports have indicated
the success of the programme in building the capacity of both individual
researchers to undertake quality research and institutions to better support
the career development of their researchers.
DFID has been a long-standing
supporter of programmes designed to build the research capacity of individuals
and organisations, with a report
in 2010 noting this as one of their four key priorities. We are therefore
delighted that DFID will continue to support this capacity building programme
on both an individual and institutional level. On an individual level, the
programme will continue to support the Alumni of the CIRCLE Visiting Fellowship
(CVF) through two funds; the CIRCLE Publication Fund and the CIRCLE Research
Uptake Fund.
CIRCLE Publication Fund
The CIRCLE Publication Fund
supports CVF Alumni in paying article processing charges (APCs) to enable them
to publish their work open access and contribute more fully to the body of
knowledge on the impacts of climate change. To date, CIRCLE has used close to
£50,000 GBP to support the publication of over 50 articles. The additional
funding provided by DFID will substantially increase this number, contributing
further to the impact of CIRCLE.
All publications supported
through this fund must be in journals deemed to be prestigious. The majority of
journals published in are ranked on Scimajo Journal & Country Rank
(SJR), with a large proportion ranked in Quartile 1. The remaining journals have
been deemed to be prestigious, with many found on African Journals Online (AJOL), the largest online library of peer-reviewed,
African-published scholarly journals. AJOL works to change the flow of
scholarly information from North to South and West to East, as well as allowing
African researchers to access the work of other African academics to ensure
that research produced in Africa is readily available to Africans.
CIRCLE Research Uptake Fund
Research uptake – the process
through which research reaches its users – is another DFID priority area as it
enhances the impact of programmes and contributes to real change. To this end,
CIRCLE implemented a Research Uptake Fund to support CVF Alumni in activities
that will contribute to their CIRCLE research being put into use. Three
separate calls have distributed 65 awards, totalling over £125,000 GBP. An
impressive 3,400 stakeholders have been engaged through these funded
activities.
The ACU has extensive experience
in delivering programmes aimed at supporting research uptake processes. As a
facilitator of research uptake activities, the ACU seeks to ensure that key
stakeholders are engaging with important research that can have real-world
impact. The research conducted by CVF Alumni, with its focus on the impacts of
climate change on local development, is vital in mitigating against a changing
environment for communities across sub-Saharan Africa. We are therefore
delighted that DFID’s additional funding will allow CIRCLE to continue to
support its CVF Alumni in ensuring their research is reaching those who need it
most.
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| Image from Dr Abimbola Oluwaranti's CIRCLE Research Uptake Fund activity |
CIRCLE ISP Implementation Fund
As well as supporting
individuals, CIRCLE sought to strengthen the capacity of institutions to
support the career development of their researchers. 31 research institutions
across 9 African countries were supported through the CIRCLE Institutional
Strengthening Programme (ISP). The CIRCLE ISP Implementation Fund was designed
to provide small amounts of seed funding to institutions to enable them to
conduct activities related to their ISP Action Plan. Two rounds of
Implementation Funding have been taken place to-date, with approximately
£65,000 GBP being dispersed. In round 1, 18 institutions conducted 31
activities, while in round 2 16 institutions conducted 27 activities. A further
two rounds of this fund will allow CIRCLE-participating institutions continued
access to small grants to fund activities to help embed the ISP within their
institution.
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| Inauguration of the Mentoring Handbook at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria. Funded through the CIRCLE ISP Implementation Fund. |
Non-CIRCLE ISP Implementation Fund
The learning developed through
the CIRCLE programme in how to strengthen capacity building processes at
African research institutions has been captured in a series of six CIRCLE ISP
Good Practice Guides which outline how to design, deliver and monitor an ISP at
any institution.
In order to assess the
effectiveness and suitability of the guides for wider use, a small grants
scheme will be launched for non-CIRCLE institutions. As with the main CIRCLE
ISP Implementation Fund, universities would use the funding to support the
organisation of workshops, training sessions or developing support materials
such as in-house mentoring or training guides. This process allows the sharing
of learning from CIRCLE beyond the scope of the programme; extending and
enhancing its impact.
The Guides will also be widely promoted,
and the first grants scheme will be launched during our 2020 Developing the
Next Generation of Researchers workshop, which will be expanded to further
disseminate the learning and expertise produced by CIRCLE.
The Climate and Resilience Framework Programme (CLARE)
As well as allowing us to
continue to support our participants, the 2-year extension will allow CIRCLE to
use its experience and expertise in capacity strengthening to inform the design
of the capacity strengthening aspect of DFID’s new Climate and Resilience
Framework Programme (CLARE). CIRCLE will carry out several scoping exercises to
identify good practice across programmes within the DFID network, and contribute
to recommendations on how to expand on successes to date.
For more information about
CIRCLE, please email George.Lakey@acu.ac.uk
