Nominees from Bingham University recently participated at the just concluded 4-days intensive workshop in Uganda organised by the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC).

 The workshop whose main objective was to build on the skills and expertise of grant proposal development was essentially designed for staff who are directly involved in fundraising and grant management. It drew participants from 15 institutions across Africa,with Bingham University as one of the 3 institutions and the only private institution to participate from Nigeria.

Participants were privileged to attend the Eastern Africa Research and Innovation Management Association (EARIMA), tagged 7th EARIMA Annual Conference under the theme: “Driving Research and Innovation for Socio-Economic Transformation” 

The conference addressed key areas such as:

* Driving socio-economic transformation through research and innovation.

* Preparing for the future of research management in a rapidly evolving world.

* Translating knowledge into actionable impact for a better society.

The conference offered a valuable platform for dialogue, learning, and collaboration from participants across Africa. It also provided key lessons in areas such as identifying funders, implementation and plan methods, abstract, problem statement, project management, budgeting etc. Facilitators of the workshop also provided a list of platforms worth considering when searching for funding opportunities some of which are:

1. Devex – This is a site that advertises global, development-focused

opportunities from multilaterals, bilaterals, and private foundations. It also

tracks high-value funding from USAID, FCDO, World Bank, European Union

(EU), the Gates Foundation among others.

2. FundsforNGOs – Is also an agency that advertises and highlights global

opportunities, with a strong focus on LMICs and Africa at Large.

3. Grants.gov – Is the official U.S. government portal that centralizes all federally

funded grant opportunities. Most opportunities require collaboration with US

states.

4. IDRC (Canada), Wellcome Trust, Gates Foundation (are major LMIC funders)

5. World Bank, AfDB, and EU portals (Fund large multi-country programs).

The 4 days intensive workshop was facilitated by top experts drawn from APHRC in Kenya including its Deputy Executive Director Dr Joseph Gichuru, others are Dr Patrick Owilo, Programme Manager, Prof Marcella Mwaka Training Coordinator, Dr Kirimi Sindi, Programme Manager, Dr Gift Dzombo Programme Coordinator and Kevin Kiiru, Programme Accountant APHRC.

Highlight of the event was the grouping of participants comprising 3 countries each to work collectively on a call for submission, presentation of certificate to participants and a group photograph. 

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Directorate of Public Affairs 

Office of the Vice-Chancellor 

Bingham University