Over 50 Agricultural Scientists from Angola and Lesotho Trained on Proposal Writing under APPSA
About 56 Agricultural Scientists from the Republic of Angola and the Kingdom of Lesotho are attending a proposal writing training under the Agricultural Productivity Program for Southern Africa (APPSA). This training is conducted virtually with facilitation by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC) from the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and will run from the 14th to the 16th of June 2021.
The 3 days training is aimed at building capacity amongst scientists in APPSA countries in resource mobilization through writing fundable proposals and enhance the scientific and technical quality of R&D sub-projects implemented by APPSA participating countries.
This training is being conducted as part of the capacity building initiatives under APPSA, a regional project supported by the World Bank to promote regional collaboration and put in place mechanisms to encourage technology generation and dissemination across the SADC region.
APPSA, which is regionally coordinated by the Center for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), was first implemented in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, in the first phase and has since extended to Angola and Lesotho.
As a regional project, APPSA is based on partnerships and collaboration among participating countries. All R&D interventions are undertaken through collaborative R&D projects involving the participation of at least two countries.
For Dr Majola Mabuza, the APPSA Regional Coordinator, the proposal writing training is to support APPSA Scientists to be able to prepare winning proposals to successfully benefit from available research funds to implement R&D sub-projects.
“This training has come at an opportune time when APPSA will be launching the first Call for Proposals and we expect to receive applications from most of you, which should reflect the skills gained from this training”, stressed Dr Mabuza.
APPSA Call for Proposals is issued at country level with different cycles following specific thematic areas on commodities of interest for the participating countries. Currently, Angola is establishing the Regional Center of Leadership (RCoL) for Cassava and, Lesotho is establishing the RCoL on Horticulture.
