ADDIS ABABA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and its partners on Monday announced the first cohort of 21 young African scientists as recipients of financial grant to carry out demand-driven research to promote climate science in Africa.
The ECA, in a statement issued on Monday, disclosed that the 21 young African scientists who are chosen as part of the first cohort will receive up to 100,000 British pounds (about 126,000 U.S. dollars) each to conduct demand-driven research in the areas of foundational climate science, application and engagement with policy, development and decision communities.
The initiative was launched by the Climate Research for Development (CR4D) in Africa - an African-led initiative created through a partnership of the African Climate Policy Center of the ECA, the African Ministerial Conference on Meteorology, World Meteorological Organization, the Global Framework for Climate Services, and the World Climate Research Programme.
"The ECA, as one of the founding members and main implementers of the CR4D initiative, is delighted to see the launch of the research grants," an ECA statement read on Monday.
Executive Secretary of the ECA, Vera Songwe, described the grant award as "the beginning of a programme that will grow and enable Africa to develop a large pool of young scientists who are able to conduct research that can provide evidence to support development policy and planning for climate smart economy to ensure sustainable development in Africa".
The 21 grantees, who are said to be from Benin, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Namibia, Uganda, Senegal and Zimbabwe, were selected through a highly competitive research commissioning process, according to the ECA.
The announcement on Monday came after several years of investment in building partnerships with other institutions, eminent scientists and scholars, through which the CR4D collaborative governance structure and a five-year strategy were developed to guide the research agenda, it was noted.
The initiative is an outcome of the African Climate Conference 2013 (ACC-2013), which was held in Arusha, Tanzania, and seeks to strengthen the links between climate science research and climate information needs in support of development planning in the continent's key development sectors.
According to the ECA, the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) will invest in the career development of the 21 researchers by inducting them into their postdoctoral fellowship programs under the AAS Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa platform to implement and manage the CR4D research grants.
