Objectives
Afya Moja will contribute bridging those gaps via 4 pragmatic objectives:
Objective 1: strengthen African universities’ capacity in participating in European projects
African universities are eligible to a range of Horizon Europe calls. Yet, their participation is limited, and mainly focused on piloting clinical and pre-clinical research on local priorities (e.g., non-communicable diseases) or global health challenges (e.g., Infection Prevention and Control). We will foster their participation by strengthening African scholars’ training and experience in writing, reviewing, running, monitoring, and reporting projects, with formal training and mentoring.
Objective 2: support the creation of novel research-intensive teaching modules and programs in Africa
Afya Moja will strength associated members experience in research-intensive teaching by:
- involving African lecturers in co-supervising student projects in Italian universities
- involving Italian lecturers in co-supervising student projects in African universities
- organising multidiscipline student projects with students from both Italian and African universities and co-supervised by teams of international supervisors (at least 1 from Italy and 1 from Africa), running across Italian and African universities.
Syllabuses for research-intensive modules and programs suitable for African partners will be co-designed.
Objective 3: Short-term training programs
At least 6 short-term trainings will be organised both in Italy and in Africa:
2 plenaries (i.e., science and technologies for one health), and 4 on emerging specific topics. Scientific and organising committees will be made of both Italian and African scholars. Afya Moja will support associate members’ participation to:
1. these short-term programs.
2. established National and International training programs organised by Italian universities and their partners (e.g., GNB Summer School, UCBM AI Bootcamp in Cambridge, UNINA Agritech Academy, Apple Developer Academy, Digita Academy).
Objective 4: Support the inclusion of African experts in writing of international norms (e.g., guidelines, standards, and policies) in Health Technologies and One Health, by involving them in initiatives coordinated by the Italian partners
Many international norms are not applicable in LMICs3, with a huge impact on Africa health and prosperity, due to the lack of participation of Africans. Afya Moja partners lead few cooperation projects deploying international norms, in collaboration with NGOs (EAMBES, IFMBE, IUPESM, UBORA), the European Parliament and the WHO. Afya Moja associated members will be trained (shadowing and mentoring) and then involved in these initiatives
