AFREhealth Competitive Funding Award call 2022-1

Supporting Health Professions Interprofessional Research and Education for AFREhealth Member Institutions, Using Funds from NIH Grant R25TW011217-3

Background: Starting 2018, The infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) at Makerere University received an NIH grant R25TW011217-3 to support the development of an African Forum for Research and Education (AFREhealth) whose secretariat was established at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. AFREhealth continues to strengthen health professions’ research and education in Africa while impacting people’s lives.

The Forum serves as a leadership and convening organization to network institutions across Africa in order to jointly develop, disseminate, and share best practices, innovations, curricula, and policy and to engage in joint activities that will increase the quantity, quality, and retention of African health professionals to address the crisis of HIV/AIDS crisis, its’ comorbidities and other priority health challenges on the continent. Among its outreach activities, AFREhealth may sponsor courses for skills development, research experiences, mentoring activities, and curriculum development, as appropriate to its mission. Education and Research Experiences may for example include offering opportunities to encourage inter-institutional and/or interprofessional joint research experiences; coordinating the exchange of students and faculty between institutions; stimulating innovation through challenges and hack-a-thons. The activities of AFREhealth are underlined by an INTER-PROFESSIONAL approach.

Request for Applications:

The AFREhealth Secretariat invites competitive applications from African universities to undertake innovative priority research, training, and education programs which include the development of evidence-based guidance documents in health professions education and research relevant to the African context. Applications that involve more than two AFREhealth universities will be prioritized. The funding awards are for a project period not exceeding twelve months at the end of which there should be demonstrable products including at least one submitted manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal that acknowledges the funding support. Satisfactory accountability of funds endorsed by one’s parent institution is an absolute requirement after completion of the project. For this round, up to 20 competitive applications may be awarded.

Application instructions

Eligibility

All faculty who have a substantive appointment with a registered African university accredited in the home country are free to apply. Any application to be considered must have an underlying interprofessional approach, an equitable collaboration between at least two African universities, and must be in line with the AFREhealth strategic plan 2021- 2026 which can be accessed here https://afrehealth.org/resource/strategic-plan. Applications that propose de-novo clinical trial(s) are not allowed and will not be considered. However, awardees are permitted to obtain research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor. Eligible applicants must be endorsed by the leadership of their institution (not a department) via an official letter of support. An AFREhealth Technical Working Group (TWG) can also apply for a specific activity to advance its agenda.

Required elements of the application will include:

I. Cover Letter (1 page)

II. Statement of Intent (1 paragraph)

III. Detailed Proposal (4 pages). This should include

• a demonstrable product(s).
• contact information of the grant management team

IV. Implementation plan including timeline and evaluation plan as appropriate (2 pages)

IV. Detailed Budget and Justification. Applicants can request up to 20,000USD which includes institutional overhead costs not exceeding 8%.

VII. Bio sketches of PI and other key personnel (not more than 3 pages each, submit as one document)

VIII. Letter of support from applicant’s institution

X. Statement addressing institution’s history, accreditation, and capacity to manage federal funds

XI. Provision of DUNS #

Application and Submission Process

Prospective applicants must complete the application process and submit all the required documents and information (above) at https://afrehealth.org/award/notice-of-funding-award by April 29, 2022, at 12.00 midnight GMT.

Key Dates

a) Release Date: March 28, 2022

b) Informational Webinar & Q&A: April 8, 2022 at 1:00pm GMT (4:00pm EAT/3:00pm SAST)

• Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/92378882648?pwd=ODJ6Skttc2NTUExUSGtRSUdwYnloQT09 Zoom Meeting ID: Meeting ID: 923 7888 2648
• Zoom Meeting Passcode: 849208

c) Please send the Statement of Intent (PDF or Word), first to awards@afrehealth.org by 11th April 2022 GMT. Include your biodata and focus area of your research.

d) Application Due Date: April 29, 2022, at 12.00 midnight GMT

e)  Internal Review: May 2-20, 2022

• Award Committee meeting: Week of May 23-27, 2022
• Notification of Award: June 30-31, 2022
• Start Date: June 1, 2022
• End Date: May 31, 2023

Inquiries

Please address questions and inquiries to the AFREhealth Secretariat at awards@afrehealth.org