Walk the Talk: Supporting Science in the Global South

…and learnings from the first Africa Climate Mobility Academy

Global science on the impact of climate change and its relationship with human mobility and fragility is growing in scope and quality. However, its focus, leadership and outputs are limited to specific regions and institutions, reflecting a global imbalance in development studies. Institutions and scientists in high-income countries, notably in Europe and northern America, receive significantly more support. They work in enabling research environments and, consequently, publish more peer-reviewed research. Measured by peer-reviewed publications, researchers from other regions are severely underrepresented: a recent study shows that only 16 per cent of articles published in the top 20 development journals between 1990 and 2019 were authored by researchers from low and middle income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Similarly, only 9 per cent of presenters at seven major development conferences from 2010-2019 were based at Southern universities.

At conferences, in political circles, and on social media, there is much talk about localising, amplifying “southern” voices, and decolonising development practice and the science underpinning it. But are we walking the talk when it comes to climate impact science and related research fields?

Despite much of the data collection and analysis on climate change impacts taking place in      African countries, local scientists rarely lead international research consortia, and few publish in high-visibility journals. The northern dominance of scientific debates and outputs also puts into question the credibility, saliency and legitimacy of the science that seeks to inform national policy and local action in African countries. “Northern” perspectives also continue to dominate the global policy debate, such as the climate change negotiations under the UNFCCC, which are directly informed by climate science and reviewed by the IPCC, with repercussions for countries in Africa, Asia,     and Latin America.

This dominance is upheld and perpetuated by existing financing mechanisms. Across all research fields, only a fraction of global investment goes into scientific activities concerning and in southern countries. For example, research on Africa, a region suffering significant impacts of climate change while only contributing little to global greenhouse gas emission, only receives 3.8 per cent of global funding for climate change research. African institutions – and thus its scientists – only received 14.5 per cent of funding available, while 78 per cent went to institutions based in Europe and North America.

There are reasons for this gap!

This resource and power imbalance perpetuates structural challenges in the educational and science landscapes in the Global South. Such challenges underlie much of the struggle of researchers and academics in Africa, who try to get more of their work published, read, and used. The significant lack of financial resources across national education systems      translates into low capacity of universities and institutions to conduct high quality teaching and research. Even senior scientists at cash-strapped institutions struggle with finding funds for travel, attending conferences, accessing journals with paywalls, or submitting papers to open access journals, and recruiting junior staff or PhD students.

Further, the brain-drain of skilled academic staff to international humanitarian and development organisations is a problem in every country of the continent. Many get recruited full-time into international organisations further reducing the pool of qualified academics and teachers. Academic staff regularly take on part-time consultancies to bolster low salaries and get visibility for their work, further contributing to limited academic research time. Others are engaged in international research consortia, which provide some resources, but usually do not cover the costs of PhD students or enable staff to publish peer-reviewed articles in their name or as lead authors.

The lack of mentoring presents a key challenge for both junior and senior scholars. Many researchers say that there is a pervasive lack of foundational skills, such as knowledge of basic research methods and ethics or how to write research grant proposals, with limited guidance given to junior researchers embarking on studies and data collection exercises. In addition, how to navigate peer review processes for successful journal publications and engage effectively with policy makers requires mentorship which often is lacking.

But there is an opportunity here!

The “localisation agenda” has emerged as a framework for supporting first responders, getting more funding directly to local responders, reorienting accountability towards populations of concern and letting countries decide on their own development pathways. This renewed focus on local perspectives and national ownership means that donors and international agencies are tasked with respecting and fostering national leadership, and with channelling more funds and efforts directly to local actors and community-based organisations. Such a shift, clearly, will have to be based on and accompanied by stronger local evidence generation.

While significant reforms in the financing architecture have yet to reflect this thinking, new initiatives on localising evidence generation, institutions dedicated to supporting local research, such as INASP, and southern-based partnerships and networks such as OSSREA and the Partnership for Economic Policy are steps in this direction. Opportunities to move from the talk and start the walk abound.

Concrete action is required and if we listen to the researchers in Africa, they tell us what they need: time, access to resources and mentorship. And for their science to become more visible and accessible to policy makers, they have to publish. They have to publish in peer-reviewed journals and present at national and international conferences – and for this, they need time to think, read and write.

Small-scale and high impact

This is where the Africa Climate Mobility Academy comes in. Developed by the CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security team, of the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, in cooperation with CMARN and Masinde Muliro University for Science and Technology (MMUST), this support and mentorship programme creates the much-needed space and means for African researchers to develop their analytical and writing capacities with the      aim to increase their scientific output in policy-relevant and peer-reviewed journals. The first edition of the Academy with the theme “Climate, Peace and Mobility” channelled small grants to African early careers researchers, paired them up with senior mentors based at African institutions, and provided them with a space to sit down, think, rewrite and share their drafts. All this, in a collaborative and mutually supportive environment, both online and in person at MMUST in Kakamega, Kenya.

It was small-scale but impactful: the 10 fellows and 10 mentors, with support and key inputs from around 5 additional researchers and experts, made great advances in their conceptual thinking and writing. The small size of the group was an advantage, as it made the experience personal, supporting the overall spirit of the program which was defined by collegiality and mutual support.

When discussing the experience and lessons learned at the end of the in-person sessions, the majority highlighted that the multidisciplinary expertise and diversity of experience of mentors and fellows was a key asset of the programme and it significantly broadened the viewpoint of participants. New knowledge and skills were gained through input sessions as well as from the feedback by mentors and peers during manuscript presentations.

The most important feature, beyond the networking and support provided by the broader mentors group, were the “Shut Up and Write” sessions. These were focused writing sessions during which the fellows as well as mentors sat down, switched off their phones and email and just focused on writing. Many participants expressed surprise and satisfaction at how much these sessions facilitated progress on their manuscripts, and how well they were able to advance in such a short time.

Where to next?

At the end, “the proof will be in the pudding” as they say and the pudding in this case will be whether fellows manage to finalize their manuscripts for submission to a relevant journal, to navigate the peer review process successfully, and see their work published. Much work needs to go into this beyond initial inputs and therefore all mentors are committed to accompanying the fellows throughout this process. An Alumni group has been set up via which fellows and mentors alike share updates on relevant research, conferences and research funding opportunities. A joint platform with shared resources exists and the focused writing sessions continue online.

To facilitate publications of high quality papers by these promising African early career researchers as well as their mentors, a special issue with PLOS Climate was agreed and will be developed in 2025 as an open collection of papers. This is a commendable commitment to localizing science by one of the leading publishers of climate science – a role model which we hope others will follow!

Importantly – and last, but not least! – the Academy contributed to shaping the soon to be published African research agenda on climate, peace and security. The fellows and mentors individually and jointly identified significant gaps in knowledge and biases in the current science agenda on the impacts of climate change that need to be rectified by including more insights from locally led science and analysis. These included, for example, the need for more integration of traditional and indigenous knowledge with scientific approaches to assessing risk and building resilience, and a stronger focus on interdisciplinary research methods to assess the non-economic losses from climate change, including from lost cultural heritage. These African perspectives on topics directly relevant to African policy making and development investment, which to date often remain dominated by external framing and agendas, will only become more important in driving a more inclusive and effective response to climate -induced (im)mobility in the future.

A Call for Partnerships

We learned many lessons during this first iteration of our Academy programme, the most important of which was that this type of support meets a huge demand among African scholars. So much is to be done as we move ahead in consolidating and refining the mentorship support, and hopefully expanding it to other regions, languages and research topics.

To continue and expand, however, sustained financial support will be important, and moreover, a broader partnership base and pool of mentors. Truly shifting the balance will require a joint effort – come and join us in 2025 and start walking the talk!

This work was carried out with support from the CGIAR Initiative on Fragility, Conflict, and Migration (FCM). We would like to thank all funders who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund: https://www.cgiar.org/funders/ 

Authors: Nicodemus Nyandiko (Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology), Joram Tarusarira and Bina Desai (Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT)