This report from the African Education Research Funding Consortium analyses the grantmaking practices of its member organisations, focusing on education research in Africa. The report highlights several key findings, such as the decrease in long-term commitments and the disproportionate allocation of funds towards North American organisations despite the majority of grantees being based in Africa. The report also examines the prevalence of reactive grants amongst African grantees, as opposed to the more proactive approach of their North American counterparts.
The report concludes by presenting recommendations to improve the consortium’s alignment with its five core principles, focusing on areas like driving impact through long-term vision, prioritising direct support, and promoting the use of evidence.
Some Key Findings:
- NGOs are still the most common type of grantee.
- The number of long-term funding commitments (5 years or longer) decreased significantly from 18% in 2023 to 5% in 2024.
- North American grants are 5.5 times the size of African grants.
- Funders still tend to prioritise mid-term funding (2-4 years), as there was an increase in the number of grants within this period from 55% in 2023 to 69% in 2024.
- Nearly all (82%) of the long-term grants are North American, while Africa has no long-term grant.
- Global North grantees are more likely to seek unsolicited proposals for grants.
- African grantees are more likely to react to calls for proposals.
- Research is the most popular function in the portfolio.
- There is space to grow in [communication and knowledge translation] areas.
- More transparent and detailed reporting is crucial for accurate evaluation and reporting of the impact of such grants.
Recommendations:
- Assess the amount of funding that is being directed to African-based grantees versus North American and European organisations.
- Shift funding aimed at programme/project implementation from North American to African grantees.
- Diversify grant portfolios across regions and countries.
- Diversify investment to Francophone African countries as the majority of the grants are directed at Anglophone African countries.
- Consciously re-prioritise portfolios to include more collaborations with organisations that communicate and use evidence in policy.
- Increase funding for communication and knowledge translation.
- Increase transparency in the reporting of DEI metrics and how women, young researchers, and other minority groups are represented/involved in the projects.
- Update grantee data more frequently to monitor progress and inform future strategies and decision-making processes.