SISERA's intervention is centered around the provision of financial and technical support :

• Institutional Grants (Core Grants, Seed Grants)

• Collaborative Research, Networks

• Training and sabbaticals

• Electronic Connectivity

• Dissemination, publication, outreach

Core grants

Core institutional grants constitute the main support modality through which SISERA carries out its mission. The purpose of these grants is to strengthen research institutions in order to allow them to design, implement and disseminate research agenda that have a strong local input and thus, are more likely to be appropriated by end-users. These grants may cover acquisitions of research support facilities (books, academic journals, databases, PCs, software, etc), small grants for individual research projects, staff training, seminars, participation in academic meetings and/or publication costs. As core grants are designed to enhance the centres’ capacity to carry out research activities and to support their research programmes SISERA discourages their use to acquire vehicles, to pay the salaries of centre staff, to cover operating costs and to rent office space.

The content of a request for a core grant will depend on the centre’s expressed needs. These must be clearly defined and supported in the document. A request must however include the centre’s research program, and a budget to be financed by SISERA in local currency, with a note clearly explaining each budget item. If the centre requests financing for its research program, it must include a description of the research projects to be undertaken with their individual budgets and calendar of execution, as well as the resumes of the researchers and research assistants involved. If the centre requests assistance for the acquisition of equipment, three pro-forma invoices must be submitted for each item. All equipment purchased (PCs, photocopiers, fax machines, overhead projectors, etc.) is the property of the research centres, not individual researchers.

In keeping with SISERA’s mission institutional strengthening should take precedence over research projects in the centre’s request. The centre must present its strategy for its goal of institutional strengthening, identify the elements and resources that will be the main determinants of its success, identify the resources expected from SISERA and how they will contribute to the strengthening of the institution.

The Steering Committee of SISERA takes all decisions regarding core grants. Upon receipt of a request with all the required supporting documents, the Executive Director submits the file to the Steering Committee with his recommendation. The maximum amount that may be allocated per request is CAD 300,000 for two years.

To be eligible for a core grant, a centre must be a Partner Institution. Partner Institutions are selected by the Secretariat and approved by the Steering Committee.

Seed grants

These grants are less substantial than core grants as they are designed for centres that have a lower capacity of absorption of resources and classified as Emerging Centres. These are institutions that are not Partner Institutions but show potential for future growth and possible contribution to policy-oriented research. They are identified by the Secretariat.

As seed grants may be used for the same purposes as core grants, conditions for their request are the same as the ones described above. The maximum amount that may be allocated per request is CAD 50,000 for two years or 18 months. The Secretariat takes all decisions regarding the allocation of seed grants.

Collaborative thematic research

Collaborative thematic research allows a given research centre to engage in a major research program, usually of supranational coverage, in which it wishes to involve researchers from other institutions or other research centres. The cooperation among African researchers that it fosters is conducive to closer collaboration between research centres and gives them an opportunity to contribute significantly to a better understanding of Africa’s economic challenges and policy options.

A proposal for a collaborative thematic research project includes a description of the research program or project to be undertaken with clearly defined roles for the centres involved, a calendar of implementation, and an annotated budget for SISERA. The amount allocated per project will depend on the size and duration of the project. Centres are expected to complement SISERA funds with those of other donors.

The amount allocated per collaborative thematic research is CAD 25 000.

Connectivity

One of the main initial goals of SISERA is to facilitate access by African researchers to the Internet and to electronic messaging, thus further reducing the isolation that they usually must cope with.

Upon receipt of a request for connectivity, an appraisal of the centre’s needs and available resources is made. The Secretariat then makes a decision on how best to assist the centre.

If the acquisition of equipment is included in the request for connectivity, three pro-forma invoices must be submitted for each item.

Dissemination and publications

Efforts aimed at making economic research in Africa more visible need to be enhanced in order to allow researchers to gain credibility and play a bigger role in society’s debate on policy options and in the policy making process.

SISERA has thus launched its Working Paper Series in 1998. This series publishes primarily the research outputs of Partner Institutions and Emerging Centres and focusses on policy-oriented research. It is distributed to African policymakers and development managers from around the world.

All articles are published after being evaluated by external referees. The Secretariat encourages centres and researchers to submit their research papers for publication.