West African Research and Innovation Management Association

Status: Completed project

Duration: 2007-2008

Project lead: Institute of Education (IoE), University of London, United Kingdom

Project partners: University of Ibadan, Nigeria; The Association of Commonwealth Universites, United Kingdom

Funder: Department for Education and Skills, United Kingdom

Project award: GBP 98,000

Summary: This one-year project aimed to establish a professional association to enhance structured capacity building in research and innovation management in the West Africa region: the West African Research and Innovation Management Association (WARIMA).

The WARIMA steering committee recognised that a successful first year would be vital to its sustainability, and sought to ensure maximum external assistance during this period. In March 2007, the IOE successfully obtained a grant under the England-Africa Partnerships programme (EAP) to support development work of WARIMA in its first year. The project director based at the IOE was also the Deputy Chair of the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA), at that time, and through ARMA played an important role in harnessing wider UK involvement.

The IOE worked closely with the University of Ibadan which is home to the WARIMA office and the centre of its communications network, and the ACU who managed the project.

During the year 2007-2008 the project supported three international meetings in West Africa, provided resources and materials, and covered the costs of the central office set-up and the office administration support

Outcomes: Learnings from this project were scaled up and rolled out to the wider Africa and Caribbean region through the Research and Innovation Management for Africa and the Caribbean (RIMI4AC) project.

Outputs: A professional research management association was formed for West Africa, leading the way for more professional research management associations in other regions.