Shaping research together: The SGCI All Partners Forum in Windhoek marked the beginning of the initiative’s second decade

The 2026 SGCI All Partners Forum was held under the theme “From Commitment to Action”, marking the beginning of the second decade of the Science Granting Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (SGCI). Discussions focused on how existing partnerships and shared objectives can increasingly be translated into concrete joint action.

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Impression of the event

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Established in 2015, the SGCI is a multilateral initiative that currently brings together 20 research funding organisations (“Councils”) from sub-Saharan Africa. The initiative aims to sustainably strengthen national and regional research systems through joint funding activities, capacity building and international cooperation.

The DFG has been actively involved in the SGCI since 2019 in partnership with the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. The SGCI is an outstanding platform for mutual learning and for strengthening connections between research communities in Germany, South Africa and the other participating African countries.

The annual SGCI All Partners Forum brings together the presidents of the participating Councils, representatives of research funding organisations from around the world, and stakeholders from development cooperation and policymaking. The aim is to jointly shape the future direction of the SGCI, align funding activities and structures, and discuss current research policy issues. This year, discussions focused in particular on implementing the "Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2034" (STISA 2034), further integrating gender equality, inclusion and indigenous knowledge, and exploring how global partnerships can be shaped to further strengthen African leadership.

In this context, this year’s forum highlighted the growing ownership of the SGCI by its participating African research funding organisations. While the initiative initially focused primarily on capacity building, the Councils are increasingly taking responsibility for designing their own funding activities, setting their own thematic priorities and assuming greater leadership roles within the SGCI’s governance structures. This development underscores the initiative’s transformation into an increasingly pan-African network driven and shaped by African partner organisations.

During the forum, the DFG and the NRF South Africa, together with other Councils, presented their plans for a joint multilateral programme in the field of “Food Security and Agriculture” to support curiosity-driven research (CDR). A key principle guiding the programme’s design is joint programme development and collaboration on an equal footing among the participating research funding organisations.

The CDR Programme is structured in two stages. In an initial matchmaking phase, researchers from the 20 SGCI partner countries and Germany will have the opportunity to connect, establish new partnerships and jointly develop their research ideas. This phase deliberately provides dedicated time for exchange and the collaborative development of potential research projects. In a subsequent second phase, the ideas developed are intended to be implemented through project funding.

In addition, the DFG and the NRF South Africa presented a report prepared to mark the tenth anniversary of their partnership within the SGCI. The report documents the development and implementation of selected joint activities, provides insights into evaluation processes and also serves as an internal document archive.

Beyond its documentary function, the report highlights the shared understanding between the DFG and the NRF South Africa of their roles as cooperating research funding organisations within the SGCI. At the heart of their collaboration with the African Councils is mutual learning about funding structures, region-specific priorities and different institutional contexts.

The report is expected to be made publicly available in an appropriate format in the near future.

SGCI Africa Initiative – Science Granting Councils Initiative(externer Link).