Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) 2024-2029 Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) 2024-2029 African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) i Nairobi, Kenya är ett ledande kompetenscentrum som genererar och levererar vetenskapliga och evidensbaserade underlag för policyutveckling och åtgärder inom hälsa och befolkningsfrågor i Afrika. Tillsammans med University of the Witwatersrand i Johannesburg, Sydafrika leder APHRC programmet "Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa" (CARTA). CARTA är ett syd-syd samarbete mellan tolv universitet och forskningsinstitut i Afrika söder om Sahara som samarbetar med åtta universitet och forskningsinstitut i Europa och Nord- och Sydamerika.

CARTA etablerades 2008 och har sedan dess utvecklats till en framgångsrik plattform för att bygga tvärvetenskaplig forskningskapacitet i Afrika som bidrar till ledande forskning för att förbättra folkhälsan. Inom ramen för CARTA programmet har hittills 145 doktorander (55% kvinnor) och nästan 600 universitetslärare och administrativ personal utbildats samt 3300 vetenskapliga artiklar publicerats. CARTA har således en tvådelad strategi: dels bygger och utvecklar programmet enskild forskningskapacitet och akademisk ledarskap, dels utvecklar det institutionell forskningskapacitet och -kultur samt administrativa system inom vilka CARTAs stipendiater och andra forskare verkar. Detta tillvägagångssätt skapar och främjar miljöer för att behålla aktiva forskare vid afrikanska universitet som själva kan stödja ytterligare kapacitetsutveckling för forskning och bli så-kallade institutionella förändringsagenter.

Sidas har stött CARTA sedan 2012 och förnyade avtal med APHRC gällande programmet beslutades 2017 och 2023. The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is a leading pan-African research institution headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with the mission to be a global center of excellence, generating and delivering relevant scientific evidence for policy and action on population, health, education, and urbanization in Africa. Together with the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, APHRC leads the programme "Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa" (CARTA). CARTA is a South-South collaboration between twelve universities and research institutes in sub-Saharan Africa that collaborate with eight universities and research institutes in Europe and North and South America.

CARTA was established in 2008 and has since its inception developed into a successful platform for building interdisciplinary research capacity in Africa that contributes to leading research to improve public health. Within the framework of the CARTA programme, 145 doctoral students (55% women) and almost 600 university teachers and administrative staff have been trained so far, and 3300 scientific articles have been published. CARTA thus has a two-part strategy: on the one hand the programme builds and develops individual research capacity and academic leadership, on the other hand it develops institutional research capacity and culture as well as administrative systems within which CARTA's fellows and other researchers work. This approach creates and promotes environments to retain active researchers in African universities who can themselves support further capacity development for research and become so-called institutional change agents.

Sida has supported CARTA since 2012 and renewed agreements with APHRC regarding the programme in 2017 and 2023. Vision

A vibrant African Academy able to lead world-class multidisciplinary research that makes a positive impact on public and population health.

Mission Statement

To create and sustain African research-intensive universities that prioritise maintenance of a pipeline of high-quality multidisciplinary early career researchers in public and population health in the sub-Saharan African region.

Objectives

1. Maintaining a pipeline of high-quality early career researchers

2. Creation of multi-disciplinary, cross-institutional research hubs in partner universities

3. Strengthening institutional capacity to support high-level research and research training at partner institutions

4. Enhancing engagements of the CARTA community with society

APHRC has proposed that Sida's support to the CARTA programme will be used to contribute to the realisation of objectives 1 and 3.