According to the world report on the NIH.gov website, Uganda is one of the largest recipients of NIH funding in Africa some of which provides opportunities for capacity building, however the bulk of these opportunities are skewed towards research scientists to the disadvantage of grants administrators whose role in grant acquisition and management cannot be over stated. In order to increase institutional capacity to win and manage grants it is imperative that research administrators are equipped with the right skills and knowledge for effective and efficient management of National Institute of Health (NIH) grants. It is against this background that this proposal has been developed. The overall goal of the proposed project is to strengthen research administration capacity at the Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration (IDRC) and other institutions in Uganda for improved management of grant awards. To this end, we propose to offer two senior administrators advanced training in grants management and exposure to advanced business practices. The Senior Administrators will receive training from:1) our partner institution, the University of California, San Francisco, 2) the Grants Management Program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and 3) a post-award grants management training workshop organized by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. On their return, the lessons learnt will be cascaded to junior administrators at IDRC and others in Uganda. In addition, business practice changes aimed at streamlining the IDRC grants management system will be implemented. Furthermore, we will strengthen the capacity of other research administrators in Uganda by providing low cost training and mentorship through a grants administration support center, to be established as part of the project. We will offer placements for junior research administrators at IDRC, run lunch time seminars for Grants Administrators from NIH grant recipient organizations in Uganda and create a regular forum through which consultation on grant management policies, innovations, challenges and opportunities in research administration are shared. Establishment of the grants administration support center will allow us to provide inexpensive support to other research administrators in the country thereby building their capacity for managing NIH grants. This intervention will also create a pool of experts that NIH can work with in the region to train other future leaders. By the end of the eighteen (18) months project period, we will have created two institutional grants management leaders, trained and mentored 26 junior administrators and 25 research scientists at IDRC, improved grants management through the implementation of an improved grants management system and resources and, provided training and grants management support to over 150 research administrators in Uganda. 1
In Uganda, high quality research in infectious diseases heavily relies on funding from international agencies including the National Institutes of Health. To ensure increased acquisition of this funding, priority should be given to building institutional capacity for grants acquisition and management. 1
