International Development Research Centre and Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada have announced the 2015 open call for proposals under the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund. With a strong focus on taking effective, pilot-tested innovations to a wider scale of use and application, this call will fund outstanding research-for-development projects that promise consistent and meaningful development outcomes (i.e. reaching important numbers of end-users) by testing, demonstrating and effectively scaling up models, delivery mechanisms, and approaches. This is an open, competitive call for proposals, and will fund projects submitted by strong partnerships between research, development, private sector, and other organisations from Canada and from eligible countries.Projects are anticipated to begin in October 2015. The size of the projects funded by this call will be in range from CA$0.5 to $1.5 million.
Jobs and Announcements
The Community Development Resource Association (CDRA), a civil society organisation, established in 1987, based in Cape Town, South Africa, is conducting courses on Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning between 9 March - 27 November 2015 in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The pressure that organisations face for external accountability leave many tasked with ticking the boxes and filling in the blanks with a sense of unease. The same questions tend to plague researchers. Does the evaluation framework represent what the project is about? Are researchers bringing learning into practice adequately? Are partners learning and growing? This five-day course is for those keen to design monitoring and evaluation processes that foster learning.
The Child Health Foundation is currently accepting letters of intent from interested health workers, investigators, or community organisations for innovative research or innovative service projects directed at improving the health of infants, children, and pregnant women. Selected individuals or groups will be notified to further send a full proposal. The Foundation has been supporting innovative approaches to adapting ORT to the health care and social situations around globe. Small innovative projects can make a major impact on child health in diverse settings, and find out the answers to some persistent health problems. The number of projects approved depends on the amount of funding available. The 2014 Innovative Small Grants have been awarded for the health and well-being of children to organisations in Tanzania, India, Kenya, Colombia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Forum 2015 is a unique global platform to promote the role of research and innovation in creating better health, enhancing equity and stimulating development. The Forum 2015 organisers invite abstract submissions from policymakers, business and community leaders, researchers and scholars, non-profit and international organisations, and any others from various disciplines and sectors whose work addresses key concerns in research and innovation for health and development. The abstracts may be research-focused, clinical-focused, policy-focused or program-focused. The abstract should describe clearly developed-work that is evidence-based. Abstracts describing work that is in early stages of development will not be considered. At the time of the abstract submission, authors may request a poster presentation, an oral presentation, or both. The Forum 2015 will make the final decision on what type of presentation method will be awarded based on the overall program needs
Over the last 20 years, the District Health Information System in South Africa and in many countries in Sub- Saharan Africa and Asia has evolved significantly from a paper based system to a web based system. The conference is expected to be a platform through which this evolution is explored and where best practices and lessons learned are being shared. The conference will bring together a wide range of practitioners from health information users, systems developers, health leaders ranging from programme managers, district managers, provincial managers and health planners from South Africa and around the world. The audience will also include public health and health informatics students as well as researchers. The conference hopes to provide a platform to explore new developments, innovations and possibilities around health information systems development and information use. The conference will be preceded by 2 days of field visits to selected health facilities on 23rd and 24th March 2015 where candidates will be taken through practical aspects of the development process and where they can experience the use of the DHIS software first hand. Delegates may also wish to join the DHIS2 Academy which will be held from 13 – 22 March 2015 at the same venue
The Ministry of Health and Child Care, the National Institute of Health Research and the Training and Research Support Centre in collaboration with the Technical Working Group on Universal Health Coverage and the ‘Rebuild programme’ is holding a one and a half day National Research Forum with the THEME “Evidence for advancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Zimbabwe” on 19th and 20th March 2015 at the Harare Holiday Inn, in Harare. The forum will gather people from all constituencies and sectors doing or using research on any aspect of UHC in Zimbabwe, to present and share their research findings, discuss the policy implications and identify priorities for future work. The conference has four theme areas: i. Health Equity: Reducing the gap in access to and coverage of health care and of social determinants of improved health. ii. Health financing: Mobilising financial, health worker, medicines and other resources for health, pooling of funds, reducing out of pocket spending and fair allocation and effective use of health resources. iii. Widening services to meet new challenges, such as non communicable diseases, Ebola and multiple/co- morbidity. and iv. People centred approaches: partnerships in health between communities, health workers, institutions and private sector.
With 2015 being the target date for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the conference will provide an opportunity to reflect on the challenges faced by South Africa and Africa in trying to achieve the MDGs. The focus of the conference though will be on moving forward and identifying potential solutions both within and outside the health system in order to improve the health status of our population. This is reflected in the theme of conference “Health and Sustainable Development: The Future”. The 2015 PHASA Conference will be more interactive than previous PHASA conferences. A panel debate involving politicians, civil society and academics is set to be one of the highlights of the 2015 PHASA Conference. There will be a greater media and social media presence at the 2015 PHASA Conference ensuring that research findings and key issues reach a broader audience.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) announces the twenty-sixth session of its Small Grants Programme for Thesis Writing. The grants serve as part of the Council’s contribution to the development of the social sciences in Africa, and the continuous renewal and strengthening of research capacities in African universities, through the funding of primary research conducted by graduate and postgraduate students. Candidates whose applications are successful are encouraged to use the resources provided under the grants to cover the cost of their fieldwork, the acquisition of books and documents, the processing of data which they have collected and the printing of their theses/dissertations. As the Council is strongly committed to encouraging African researchers to engage one another on a sustained basis, recipients of the small grants will also be supported to order books and journals produced by African scholarly publishers, including CODESRIA itself. They will also be encouraged to apply for participation in CODESRIA research methodology workshops.
This call is for applications from universities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to host and manage the TDR international post graduate training scheme on implementation research (IR). The long term goal is to strengthen capacity of disease endemic countries for identifying public health needs, develop appropriate solutions and translate them into policy and practice for improved health and wellbeing of their populations.
Veteran and young Pan Africanist leaders will meet to discuss Pan Africanism and a vision for Africa’s future in March 2015 in Accra. Towards the 8th Congress in 2015, the Local Organising Committee is inviting papers from all Africans on the continent and the Diaspora. Some of the papers will be presented at the plenaries and working groups during the 8th Congress and the will be published as part of post Congress for knowledge building. Authors can choose to write one or two papers from a list provided or propose a topic of interests within the wider Pan African discourse. Papers can either be in French or English and will be subject to peer review. Submissions should be presented in soft copy, double spaced and not more than 3,000 words. For information on the themes please visit the link and email papers to zyeebo@gmail.com.