Brief About the Workshop

Deficiencies in proposal and scientific writing skills in universities make it difficult for them to win competitive grants and conduct quality research and guide graduate students. It also limits contribution of the regional scientists to advancement in science and knowledge, while poor communication skills impair the visibility of university Research for Development (R4D). Postgraduate students, academic staff and other scientists in universities and national research institutions play important roles in research for development. The capacity for proposal development and scientific and technical writing is weak in several universities, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. It is even weaker among postgraduate students who are mostly beginners in research, grantmanship and scientific communication. The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture RUFORUM) is mandated to support the wider sharing of research findings to inform policy and rural development.

A broad communication and scientific writing skills in young scientists and seasoned researchers in the region will help realize the dream of greater contribution of Southern African scientists to development and global knowledge. Rather than provide skill enhancement training at the individual university level, RUFORUM considers it is more efficient to tackle these deficiencies by group learning event organized for the benefit of postgraduate students from different universities in Southern Africa. RUFORUM jointly with the support of SADC conducted the eight-day workshop in Southern Africa on proposal development and scientific writing and scientific. The proposed workshop was held in Lusaka Zambia between 17th and 25th May 2010at Protea Hotel, Cairo Road. The proposed training workshop was expected to develop and strengthen proposal and scientific writing skills of postgraduate students in the Faculties of Agriculture and related sciences in not only RUFORUM member universities but also other universities in the region. The participatory workshop involved presentations, discussion and experience sharing as well computer based practical work. The training was heavily participatory and interactive. It was very practical involving output-based development of proposals and concepts targeting active calls for proposals including IFS young scientists’ grants and other calls.