Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) Call for Expressions of Interest: Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies

Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) Call for Expressions of Interest: Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies is sponsored by Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI). This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

Science and Technology | IDRC - International Development Research Centre Artificial Intelligence, African Style Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) SGCI Multilateral Research Call advancing Africa’s Science, Technology and Innovation priorities in alignment with STISA 2034 This FAQ summarizes key information from the call outline to support potential applicants in preparing a research proposal. 1.

What is the purpose of this research call? The multilateral call, developed under the Science Granting Councils Initiative ( SGCI ), supports multicounty, high‑quality research led primarily by African consortia working on one of the five thematic streams aligned with the African Union’s Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2034 (STISA‑2034): health, environment, artificial intelligence, energy and agriculture.

It aims to: Produce new knowledge and innovations addressing Africa’s development challenges. Strengthen pathways for policy uptake and application. Build a more integrated African STI ecosystem with lasting partnerships.

2. Who is funding and managing the call? The call is funded by participating African Science Granting Councils (SGCs), IDRC (Canada), the Government of Norway, FCDO (UK), and Wellcome Trust.

IDRC manages the call on behalf of funders and councils. Note that selected projects will receive funding for this call directly from SGCs. A grant agreement between the councils and selected organizations is expected.

Review the call document carefully, including all annexes for full eligibility considerations. 3. What are the thematic streams?

Applicants must apply to one primary stream: Health – resilient health systems, One Health surveillance, traditional medicine. Agriculture – climate‑smart systems, precision agriculture, value addition. ICT and Artificial Intelligence – AI applications, skills development, entrepreneurship.

Energy – renewable energy, storage, efficiency, local manufacturing. Environment – water security, biodiversity, climate resilience. Each stream includes specific research avenues that proposals must align with.

4. Who is eligible to apply? A consortium must include one lead applicant institution and a minimum of two and a maximum of four co-applicant institutions, each from a different participating SGCI country.

The consortium may include up to 5 institutions in total, with no more than one co-applicant institution per country, and no institution in the consortium, including the lead, may share a country with another. 5. Where can I find country specific requirements?

Please review the call document, including Annex 1 (EOI stage) and Annex 2 (full proposal stage) for detailed requirements, including budget ceilings and eligibility restrictions. Note that in addition to the general eligibility requirements indicated in the call document, councils have outlined any additional national requirements in the Annex. Applicants should review these documents carefully before applying.

6. What is the project duration and funding level? Maximum duration: 36 months .

Funding per consortium member: CA$50,000–CA$300,000 , with the maximum depending on country specific limits indicated in the call document. Indirect costs: maximum 13% or the country specific lower rate. For the expression of interest phase, budgets should be prepared in Canadian dollars for ease of review.

7. How many phases does this call have? This is a two-phase call, starting with Expressions of Interest (EOIs).

Following evaluations, proposals deemed “fundable” will be contacted by email to prepare a full proposal with accompanying documents, including a full budget. Note that the EOI phase is longer than the full proposal phase. This is in recognition that building a quality consortium is a key objective of the call and adequate matchmaking takes time.

8. What languages can I apply in? Applications are welcome in English, French and Portuguese.

9. What can I do if I am an organization interested in joining a consortium but have not created one? Does this call support matchmaking efforts?

Organizations interested in joining a consortium are welcome to fill out a matchmaking form indicating their streams of expertise and contact details. This is intended to facilitate making connections across institutions. Similarly, IDRC will organize information session(s) to answer questions about the call and facilitate opportunities for interested organizations to meet.

Councils will advertise the call across vast national and regional networks and can serve as a resource. Note that these efforts do not signify approval or validation by call funders about any given organization. It is ultimately the responsibility of lead applicants to select suitable consortium members in line with call requirements.

10. What are the key dates for the EOI phase? Launch date for EOI: June 25, 2026 (9:00 EDT) EOI deadline: September 25, 2026 (23:59 EDT) Late submissions will not be considered.

11. What is required at the Expression of Interest (EOI) stage? Applicants will be guided through a basic eligibility screening to confirm they are able to advance with a full submission.

Passing that, applicants must elaborate on the following fields: Project title, thematic area, research avenue. Estimated duration and budget. Background description of the development challenge (500 words).

Research questions and justification (500 words). Institutional roles and capacity (500 words). Methodology, timeline, activities, outputs (500 words).

CVs (combined file) and signed letters of commitment. Disclosure of any use of generative AI. We recommend downloading the application form to review the full call details and preparing answers in a saved Word file, prior to online submission.

12. What happens if I am not deemed eligible to apply following the eligibility section of the online application for EOIs? If you are not deemed eligible to apply because you fail to meet one or more of the required criteria, those will be indicated by the system.

You are welcome to make any necessary edits and apply again later. 13. How are EOIs assessed?

EOIs will undergo an administrative review, eligibility screening and a thematic alignment check. To ensure equity across participating countries, following the EOI stage, no more than 40 full proposals per thematic area, and no more than 40 full proposals that include a given country may be accepted.

If the cap is reached, decisions on proposals will be determined by the quality of the proposal, including the following criteria: Alignment of institutional and individual profiles. Alignment with national and regional priorities and end-user needs. For a fuller description of the stages that follow, including full proposal review and final funding approval, see Q28 14.

Can I submit my application directly to a council or via email to IDRC? Applications are only accepted through the IDRC-managed online system before the submission deadline. Only complete applications will be reviewed.

15. How will I know that my application was well received? All applications completed before the deadline should receive an automatic message acknowledging submission.

16. How and by when will fundable EOI applicants hear back from IDRC? EOI proposals deemed fundable will receive an email from IDRC by October 2026 requesting a full proposal and sharing the application details.

Full proposals are expected by early December 2026. 17. How will I know if I am not selected?

Applications that are not selected to move on to the next phase will receive an email from IDRC by no later than November. It is at the discretion of IDRC to share or refrain from sharing feedback on individual proposals with non-selected EOI applicants. 18.

Are there limits on the number of proposals a principal investigator (PI) can join? A PI may lead only one proposal . A PI may be a co‑applicant on multiple proposals .

19. Can institutions from outside SGCI countries participate? Yes, but not as lead applicant or co-applicant.

Only institutions fully based in participating SGCI countries may hold those roles. Other organizations – including international organizations, NGOs, private-sector actors, ministries, and civil society organizations – may be involved as additional participants or consultants under an eligible lead or co-applicant institution. This kind of involvement is encouraged where it brings relevant expertise or end-user perspective.

Organizations outside Africa cannot directly or indirectly receive research funds from this call. If the organization in question is fully based in the participating country as a legal entity and meets the eligibility requirements as a public research organization, as well as the eligibility of each individual country in the Annex, then it may apply. Applicants are encouraged to write to SGCSSA@idrc.

ca , with any relevant institutional documentation attached. 20. What costs are eligible?

General eligible costs include: Research activities (fieldwork, lab work, travel). Personnel (researchers, assistants, technicians). Student stipends and fellowships.

Consultancies and subgrants. Indirect costs (up to 13%). Consult the call document annexes for full details on eligible expenses for specific countries.

21. What are the expectations regarding gender, equity, and inclusion? Demonstrate meaningful engagement of vulnerable populations.

Seek to center on vulnerable populations as key leaders and beneficiaries of the work Integrate gender, equity, and inclusion considerations throughout the project cycle. Follow guidance in call annex 3. 22.

What will be required at the full proposal stage?

While the full proposal application sections might vary, it is expected that selected teams address the following sections: Expanded problem statement and context explanation Detailed research questions and justification Institutional contributions and eligibility Methodology, timeline, theory of change Risk assessment and mitigation strategies Knowledge sharing and policy engagement plan CVs of the consortia members Up to 3 project support letters 23.

How will full proposals be evaluated? An independent peer review committee will assess proposals, in alignment with IDRC’s Research Quality Plus (RQ+) framework.

The evaluation criteria are as follows: Legitimacy, with a focus on EDI considerations and relevance to African STI and development priorities Importance (including novelty) Positioning for use, including the appropriateness and feasibility of a knowledge sharing plan Feasibility to achieve project objectives in an effective, safe, and ethical manner, using the resources and frameworks available.

Team composition and strength Technical expertise and track record of the proposed team, particularly principal investigators Institutional strength of lead and participating institutions Equitable approach to collaboration Capacity-building dimensions , including but not limited to considerations of gender, equality and/or inclusivity 24.

What is the overall timeline for the development of full proposals leading to granting selected projects? Shortlisted candidates will be notified to prepare a full proposal in October and submit in early December. We anticipate notifications and grant agreement discussions will begin in February 2027.

25. Are applicants required to disclose use of generative AI? Yes.

Applicants must state whether generative AI tools were used in preparing application materials. Applicants remain fully responsible for all submitted content. 26.

Will there be an information session to address questions and meet organizations interested in building a consortium? Yes. Details will be communicated through the call website and participating SGCs.

Information sessions will offer a space to address questions about the call and connect with other potential applicants. 27. Who can I contact for questions?

Any additional inquiries related to the call and application process should be sent by e-mail to SGCSSA@idrc. ca . All inquiries should be received at least 36 hours before the submission deadline to receive a response.

Inquiries which affect all applicants will be iteratively added to this Frequently Asked Questions document. You are invited to review this document iteratively. 28.

How, exactly, are proposals reviewed and selected for funding, and who makes the final decision? The call uses a multi-stage assessment process designed to ensure scientific excellence, fairness, and balanced participation across countries and thematic areas.

Decisions are based on peer review quality, thematic relevance, country funding availability, and the overall portfolio balance of the call: National Eligibility Screening and Pre-selection (if required): Participating Science Granting Councils verify the eligibility of applications from their respective countries.

Where eligible applications from a given country exceed 40 (the agreed cap), that Council conducts a national pre-selection before proposals advance to international review. Independent International Peer Review: Eligible proposals are assessed by independent expert reviewers on quality, relevance, feasibility, and potential impact of the consortium as a whole, including the strength of the partnership and the proposed activities.

Development of a Funding Shortlist: Based on peer review results, the SGCI Programme Management Team (PMT) prepares a preliminary shortlist, considering both scientific merit and funding availability across participating countries, to ensure shortlisted consortia are fully fundable.

Thematic Working Group Review and Endorsement: The shortlist is reviewed by the relevant Thematic Working Group (representatives of participating Councils in that theme), who normally endorse the recommended proposals; any objection requires clear justification. Final Funding Recommendation and Approval: The SGCI PMT finalizes the funding recommendation after Working Group review.

Funding for each consortium member is then provided by their respective national council. Advancing through one stage does not guarantee funding – final decisions depend on both proposal quality and the resources available within participating countries and thematic streams at that time. 29.

Does the country leading a consortium determine whether the whole project is approved and funded? No. No single country, including the lead applicant's, unilaterally determines approval or funding for the whole consortium. Each participating institution is funded by its own national Science Granting Council, up to that country's funding ceiling.

Approval follows the multi-stage assessment process described in Q28, which involves independent peer review, a Thematic Working Group, and the SGCI Programme Management Team – not a single country's decision. 30. Can a PhD candidate apply for this grant directly?

No. This call is not open to individual applicants. Applications must be submitted by an institutional consortium: one lead applicant institution and at least two co-applicant institutions from participating SGCI countries. A PhD candidate cannot apply in their own name but may be included as a member of the research team under an eligible institutional application.

The call's budget guidance recognizes stipends, scholarships, and fellowships as eligible costs to support the participation and training of students and postdoctoral fellows, subject to any country-specific budget rules. 31. Who provides the signed Letter of Commitment – the individual applicant, or the institution?

The signed Letter of Commitment is an institutional document, not an individual one. At the EOI stage, each lead applicant and co-applicant organization must provide its own signed Letter of Commitment, confirming the institution's support for and commitment to the proposed project.

A statement identifying the consortium members within the proposal text itself does not replace this requirement – the signed letter must be submitted as a separate supporting document. There is no standard “level” at which these documents need to be signed, given that different institutions operate in different ways. But applicants should ensure that they are signed by an individual whose authority in this area is apparent.

Often, this would be at the level of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor or a Dean. 32. Are “signed letters of commitment,” “institutional support letters,” and “project support letters” the same document, or different documents?

These refer to two different stages, not one document. The signed Letter of Commitment (see Q11) is required at the EOI stage from each lead applicant and co-applicant organization, confirming institutional support and commitment to the proposed project; some country annexes describe this same EOI-stage requirement using related wording, such as “institutional support letter.

” Project support letters (see Q22) are a separate, later requirement at the full proposal stage – up to three letters of support from collaborating institutions, key stakeholders, or end users, intended to demonstrate the research's relevance and stakeholder engagement rather than institutional commitment. 33.

Should a proposal address only one research avenue within a thematic area, or is it expected to cover all research avenues listed? A proposal does not need to address every research avenue listed under its thematic area. Applications must directly speak to at least one priority research avenue within their chosen theme.

Cross-cutting proposals may touch on more than one avenue or even more than one thematic stream, but a clear primary focus should be articulated in the application. 34. “Host institutions” appears in the call document and country annexes – does this refer to all consortium members, or a specific institution?

“Host institutions” refers to the lead applicant and co-applicant institutions that make up the consortium, and the institutional environment they provide to support the research team. Where a country-specific requirement mentions a “host institution” (for example, in relation to how funding is disbursed), it refers to the applicant institution (lead or co-applicant) representing that country's portion of the project. 35.

Can institutions from outside the participating SGCI countries, such as UNICEF country offices or Global North organizations, be involved in a consortium? Yes, but not as lead applicant or co-applicant. Only institutions from participating SGCI countries may hold those roles.

Other organizations – including international organizations, NGOs, private-sector actors, ministries, and civil society organizations – may be involved as additional participants or consultants under an eligible lead or co-applicant institution. This kind of involvement is encouraged where it brings relevant expertise or end-user perspective.

As with all non-SGCI-country involvement, organizations outside Africa cannot directly or indirectly receive research funds from this call. 36. Can there be more than one organization per country?

And does the budget maximum apply to only one of these institutions or all of them? There should be one focal point (as a lead applicant or a co-applicant) per country which would manage the funds and distribute the funds to other organizations within that country. So, any other organizations within that country can participate in the call, but only under the auspices of the lead or co-applicant institution.

The budget maximum thus applies to the sum of all funds which will be managed by the focal point (lead applicant or co-applicant) within that country. 37. Can the initiative fund projects that have more of an implementation than a research focus?

No. While we strongly encourage projects to have practical implications and mechanisms for uptake, knowledge translation, etc., which may include elements of “implementation”, this call remains fundamentally for research-based projects. 38. Do the projects need to be aligned with national priorities as well as the research avenues in the call?

The research avenues reflect regional priorities and have been validated by the participating countries. So additional demonstration of alignment is required. In the application, particularly at the full proposal stage, applicants are welcome to discuss demand and research uptake by reinforcing the contextual relevance of their work in specific countries, as well as at a sub-regional, regional or continental scale.

39. Can projects undertake work (e.g., fieldwork, case studies) outside the country where they are hosted? Yes, while it is expected that the bulk of the work would take place at the host institutions, some work may take place elsewhere.

40. Is there a cap on the total budget of the consortium? Yes, but this is simply the sum of individual caps for the 3-5 participating countries.

There is no additional cap for the entire consortium. 41. How can consortia operate with widely different budgets between countries?

Applicants should ensure that the proposed projects are seen as one “whole” rather than separate projects led by each consortium member. Similarly, while the budgets are managed separately, they should be coherent, complementary and not duplicative. Thought should be given to where to allocate different costs and how to structure the budgets to ensure strong collaboration.

42. Does the lead and/or the co-applicant institution need to demonstrate an ability to administrative manage the project? Yes, this applies to both the lead and co-applicant institutions, as they will each have significant budgets to manage.

They should demonstrate this in the application. In addition, if these institutions are also sending funds to other participating organizations within their country, then they should be able to do so easily. 43.

Do applicants need to be well versed about SGCI, including the role of the councils, to apply No. While the context of SGCI may be broadly relevant, and while it is particularly useful for applicants to be aware of their respective councils (e.g., in terms of their policies and practices), the core of the proposals will be about the research topic, methodology, relevance, the institutions applying, etc. 44.

I cannot access the website https://call. sgci. africa/ Can I still apply?

Yes, the call can be accessed through the main application portal at the IDRC website here . Versão em português disponível aqui Inclusion by design: making African languages visible to AI Data Science for Social Impact lab, University of Pretoria Participants at the Data Science for Social Impact (DSFSI) 2024 Welcome Day.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often framed as a tool for inclusion, yet beneath that promise lies an uncomfortable reality: AI systems can exclude entire populations simply by failing to recognise their languages. Modern large language models (LLMs) — the technology behind ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other generative AI tools — learn from vast collections of text gathered from across the internet.

By identifying patterns in language data, they can generate human-like responses. But the processes used to collect and filter this data embed bias at every stage, long before a model produces its first answer. One key part of this process is the use of web crawlers — automated programs that move across the internet, finding and organizing online content.

This is stored in datasets used to train LLMs. Web crawlers start from a list of known webpages, then follow hyperlinks from page to page, discovering, organizing, and storing more pages, continuously expanding the pool of data they collect. Why African languages are missing from AI datasets ​The challenge lies in where that journey begins.

Typical web crawlers are designed to start with a small set of Global North-focused, predominantly English-language websites, bypassing African-language content from the beginning. Even when web crawlers encounter African-language content later in the discovery process, automated language-identification tools often misclassify it.

When uncertain, these systems may default to English or confuse one African language with another, thereby discarding valid text. So, while African-language content is available online, web crawlers often miss it because of where — and in what language — that search starts.

Over time, these decisions create a feedback loop: AI systems are trained on incomplete datasets, and their limitations reinforce the perception that those languages are "low-resource", meaning they are not present online — when in reality they are simply underrepresented or misrepresented in the data used to build the models.

So, the problem is not only a lack of African-language data as compared to English and other European languages, but also a lack of visibility. While African-language content represents only a fraction of what is available online, it reflects the wisdom, ideas and experiences of hundreds of millions of Africans who create, share and apply knowledge through indigenous languages every day.

This matters because ensuring these languages are represented in research and AI is essential to making knowledge systems more inclusive, and by extension, more complete. Making African-language content easier to find For Idris Abdulmumin and his team at Data Science for Social Impact (DSFSI) multidisciplinary lab based at the University of Pretoria, this challenge provided an opportunity.

They asked a simple question: How could local language communities help web crawlers find high-quality content in underrepresented languages and build datasets that could be used to train AI tools?

This idea was reinforced by a conversation with a team from Common Crawl , an American non-profit organization that crawls the internet and provides free datasets to the public, making it one of the world’s most widely used sources of training data for large language models. The conversation revealed how poorly African-language content was represented on the platform.

Led by Abdulmumin, the DSFSI team at the University of Pretoria set out to make existing African-language data visible and accessible. The Africa Common Crawl (AfriCC) initiative was born. The Pretoria laboratory sent a call out to the Masakhane research community , a continent-wide, volunteer-driven effort working collaboratively on language technologies.

They were asked to complete a simple task: submit one or more website URLs containing content in African languages. Data Science for Social Impact lab, University of Pretoria The 2026 Hundzula retreat: supported by the DSFSI Lab, emerging researchers exchanged ideas, built collaborations and advanced research on African languages and AI. Africa’s AI community more than answered that call.

Researchers and volunteers across 19 countries have identified approximately 700 seed URLs in 34 African languages so far. Much of the data is identified through grassroots networks, including volunteer contributors who shared links, annotate text, and help validate language use. Participation is often driven not by financial incentives but by a desire to see one’s language represented accurately in digital systems.

As Abdulmumin said, “It's something very nice to be able to explain to someone that your language matters, but then seeing your language represented correctly — not only represented but represented correctly — matters because these languages could die eventually. ” The DSFSI team used these seed URLs to expand Common Crawl's web searches and surface existing content in African language, a process that continues today.

So far, the AfriCC project has resulted in a collection of approximately 29 million web pages, including about 6 million from the contributor-provided seed URLs, and contributed to the addition of more than 343,000 African-language pages to the January 2026 Common Crawl dataset, which is an 18% increase from the previous monthly update. From better data to more inclusive AI The implications of the AfriCC are significant.

A small, community-driven intervention has resulted in a measurable increase in the representation of African languages in one of the world’s most widely used AI training datasets. This demonstrates that many African-language resources are already available online; the challenge lies in identifying, collecting, and integrating them into AI training pipelines. Ensuring linguistic inclusion requires rethinking how AI models are developed.

Much of the current work on underrepresented languages focuses on fine-tuning existing models with small datasets. While valuable, this approach does not address foundational gaps in representation. Efforts like AfriCC, the Africa Next Voices project and the Masakhane African Languages Hub aim to influence the pre-training stage of model development, where systems learn the basic structure of language from large-scale datasets.

Improving representation at this earlier stage can significantly enhance downstream performance and reduce the need for costly adaptations later. Scaling community-driven inclusion Building inclusive AI requires making languages visible, engaging communities as co-creators, and embedding inclusion at every stage of the pipeline. For Idris and his team, the longer-term hope is to keep scaling this approach affordably and continuously.

By making it easy for communities to contribute even a single URL, AfriCC can help grow the volume of African-language data available for training future LLMs and other AI tools, steadily improving availability and performance in African languages. Ultimately, this approach aims to ensure that African languages are embedded from the outset, shaping models that better reflect the multilingual diversity of the societies they serve.

The Data Science for Social Impact (DSFSI) multidisciplinary lab based at the University of Pretoria is supported by Artificial Intelligence for Development (AI4D), a partnership between the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and IDRC, with additional funding from Swedish SIDA.

Addressing bias in AI training data: The AfriCC initiative highlights how web crawling and language identification systems can systematically exclude African languages from the datasets used to train large language models, reinforcing linguistic inequalities in AI.

A community-driven approach to data inclusion: Researchers and volunteers across 19 African countries contributed approximately 700 seed URLs in 34 African languages, helping surface underrepresented online content for inclusion in major AI training datasets.

Demonstrating that data exists but remains invisible: The project shows that many African-language resources are already available online; the challenge lies in identifying, collecting, and integrating them into AI training pipelines.

Shaping AI at the foundation level: By improving language representation during the pre-training stage of AI development, initiatives like AfriCC can enhance model performance and linguistic inclusion while reducing the need for later adaptations.

Contributors : Janani Balasubramaniam, Program Management Officer, IDRC, Abbey Gandhi, Program Officer, IDRC with Idris Abdulmumin, Associate Research Fellow, University of Pretoria Local vision, global impact: The Global Health Institute transforms lives Why South-led research collaboration matters more than ever Southern-driven collaboration can transform research systems, tackling shared challenges through inclusive, connected and balanced partnerships.

Supporting STISA 2034: SGCI Multilateral Research Call advancing Africa’s Science, Technology and Innovation priorities SGCI is pleased to announce a call for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for collaborative, multi-country research projects that support the implementation of the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2034 (STISA-2034).

A regional and thematic focus that is fit for purpose Project scope and funding guidelines Eligibility criteria for Expressions of Interest Requirements for applications and assessment processes Proposed Timeline and communication of results Information session, inquiries, and FAQs Annex 1. Country Eligibility Requirements and Funding Ceilings Annex 2. Additional country requirements Annex 3.

Equality, diversity and inclusion Launch date: July 3rd 2026, at 09:00 EDT The Science Granting Councils Initiative in sub-Saharan Africa (SGCI) is pleased to announce a call for expressions of interest on collaborative research to support key pillars underpinning the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2034 (STISA-2034). Expressions of interest must be received no later than September 25, 2026 at 23:59 EDT.

Versão em português disponível aqui The Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2034 ) is the African Union’s continental framework for driving socio-economic transformation through science, technology and innovation (STI). STISA-2034 places STI as central to Africa’s renewal in the face of global challenges such as climate change, pandemics, and economic shocks.

Its mission is to harness STI to accelerate Africa’s transition into a knowledge-based, innovation-driven continent.

The strategy identifies five priority sectors: Agriculture – addressing food and nutritional security Health – ensuring emergency preparedness for healthy lives and promoting nutrition Artificial intelligence and Digital Technologies – towards an integrated and more connected Africa Energy – access to affordable and reliable energy Environment – addressing biodiversity loss & water scarcity and building the climate resilience of economies & communities The Science Granting Councils Initiative ( SGCI ) is a key mechanism supporting the implementation of this agenda.

SGCI is a continental platform of 19 national Science Granting Councils (SGCs) across Africa, which fund, manage and use research and innovation in support of national and regional development priorities (see participating countries in the box below). Launched in 2015, SGCI has evolved through multiple phases (SGCI-1, SGCI-2, and now SGCI-3). Across these