Shs50.7b to benefit scientists in research training

KAMPALA: Uganda is one of the African countries set to gain from the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) fund worth $14m (about Shs50.7 billion) to train scientists in grant management, as part of efforts to boost research on the continent.
The fund is intended to strengthen the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST), a body charged with integrating science and technology into the national development system, to move research evidence based policies.
Mr Ismail Barugahara, the Deputy executive secretary of UNCST said the overall target is to enable the trainees identify key interest areas for allocation of research grants and promote appropriate technology.

"Ordinary people will therefore benefit from the research findings steered by the council," Mr Barugahare explained.
He told Daily Monitor in an interview during the Science Grating Councils Initiative regional training workshop organised by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) , an economic development program of the African Union in Kampala.
Started in 2015, SGCI is a brain child of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Department for International Development (DFID) and the National Research Foundation of South Africa, meant to solve research challenges in sub-Saharan Africa.

Speaking on behalf of Mr Elioda Tumwesigye, the minister for science technology and innovation, Dr Peter Ndemere, the executive secretary of UNCST, said unlike in the past where training grants have been limited to scientists in the public institutions, they are opening the window to scientists in private intuitions as well.
“Government will use the research fund to employ competitive grants so that technology and research become the drivers of economic growth,” he said.

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