Africa Biosciences Challenge Fund (ABCF)
Empowering African scientists to solve Africa’s agricultural challenges
Rob Skilton
11 Sept 2012

BecA-ILRI Hub: Capacity building
• Research placements and individual/small
group trainees (270 individuals; 21 African
countries)
• Training workshops (48 workshops; 1100
trainees; 21 African countries)
• Institutional capacity building
• Linkages, information, creating awareness
• Conferences

Components of ABCF
• ABCF Research Fellowships
• Training workshops
• Creating awareness and
institutional capacity building

ABCF Research Fellowships
• Large demand for Hub, inadequate
funds
• Capacity building through research
• NARIs and universities
• Up to 6 months at Hub
• Competitive; targeted

ABCF Research Fellowships
• Country priorities
• Pathway to impact
• Deliver new technologies
• Strengthen ongoing projects
• Innovative research
• Attach to BecA-ILRI Hub activities
• Leverage funding
• Partnerships for research

ABCF Research Fellowships
Research outputs, plus:
Building capacity to do research
 Technical skills
 Analytical skills
 Good lab practice and H&S
 Science communication
• Presentations
• Publications
 Develop partnerships
 Research sustainability

Growing numbers of ABCF Fellows
2010-2012
30
25 Total: 51
20
15 Women: 33%
10
Men: 67%
5
0
Sept 2010 - Mar 2011 - Sept 2011 - Mar 2012 -
Feb 2011 Aug 2011 Feb 2012 Aug 2012

ABCF Fellows: represented countries
BecA countries
(12)
Non-BecA countries
(3)

ABCF Fellows: Thematic groups
• Cassava viruses in Congo
• Trypanosomiasis epidemiology in
Uganda
• Cavies, goat and chicken diversity for
improvement
• Taro tissue culture and disease
diagnostics
• Control of theileriosis in East Africa

ABCF projects: examples of outputs
• Striga resistance in sorghum
• Passion fruit virus diagnostics
• Maize-Sorghum Hybrid
• PPR thermostable vaccine in Sudan
• New molecular tools to study theileria
diversity
• East Coast Fever: rapid sero-diagnostics
• ‘Disease reports’

Example of outputs: ‘Disease reports’
• Cassava virus -CBSD (DRC)
• Potential new races of Ug99 (Kenya)
• Possible new Taro virus (Ethiopia)
• Ndumu virus in pigs (Uganda)
• ASFV diversity (Uganda)
• Theileria (Sudan and South Sudan)

ABCF Fellows: leveraging funding
Alex Bombom (Uganda)
• Maize-Sorghum Hybrid
• Invited BMGF proposal
Felix Meutchieye (Cameroon)
• Cameroon goat diversity
• BecA-Sweden project
Dora Kilalo (Kenya)
• Passion fruit virus diagnostics
• BecA-Sweden project

ABCF: Annual Workshops
• Introduction to Molecular Biology and
Bioinformatics (2011, 2012)
• Advanced Genomics and Bioinformatics
(2011, 2012)
• Scientific Research Paper Writing
(2010, 2011, Nov 2012)
• Laboratory Management and
Equipment Operations (2012)
BecA countries: 15
Non-BecA countries: 2

Raising awareness in the 18 BecA countries
• Country Visits: 39 institutions and
organisations visited in 2011/2012
2011/12 Planned
Burundi Equatorial Guinea
Cameroon Madagascar
DR Congo São Tomé and Príncipe
Ethiopia
Rwanda
Sudan
Tanzania
• Mailing list
• Website
• Meetings/Conferences
• Annual letter

Country visit : Burundi
Mushroom Lab
partner on FANS
project
• Burundi University; 4 workshop participants
• Institut des Sciences
Agronomiques du 3 ABCF
Burundi (ISABU) Fellowships (Taro)
BecA-Sweden plant
tissue culture and
diagnostics project
• Agrobiotec
h
• Phytolabu

Institutional capacity building
• National Agricultural
Biotechnology
Centre, EIAR, Holetta, Ethiopia
• Gulu University, Uganda
• Mikocheni Agricultural Research
Institute (MARI), Tanzania

Partners
• AusAID through the BecA-CSIRO partnership
• Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs through
the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (sida)
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
• Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable
Agriculture

Other capacity building partnerships
• African Women in Agricultural Research
and Development (AWARD)
• Association for Strengthening Agricultural
Research in Eastern and Central Africa
(ASARECA)
• United Nations Educational Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
• International Foundation For Science (IFS)

Partners
…and growing

Thank you