sokoine university of agriculture - iucea
TRANSCRIPT
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Project Proposal Number 38
Southern African Center for Infectious Disease Surveillance -
African Center of Excellence for Infectious Diseases of Humans and Animals
in East and Southern Africa
20th
MAY 2016
Table of Contents
Summary of the ACE Proposal ........................................................................................... 1
Section 1: Basic Institutional and Proposal information .................................................... 2
Section 2: SWOT Analysis of the Institution/Proposed ACE ............................................ 4
Section 3: Development Challenge and Objectives of the Proposed ACE ......................... 6
Section 4: Expected Results of the Proposed ACE ........................................................... 11
Section 5: ACE Action Plans ............................................................................................ 12
Section 6: Use of Existing Physical Resources ................................................................ 29
Section 7: Academic Staff Resources, Capacity Building and Visiting Academic Staff . 31
/Industry Experts Plan ....................................................................................................... 31
Section 8: Implementation Capacity, Arrangements and Plans ........................................ 33
Section 9: Implementation Plan of each ACE Action plan .............................................. 36
Section 10: Main Cost Items of the Proposal ................................................................... 39
Section 11: Implementation Risks .................................................................................... 41
Section 12: Additional Information Relevant to the Evaluation of this Proposal............. 41
Section 13: Agreement of Key Members of the Proposal Implementation Team ............ 42
1
Summary of the ACE Proposal
In 2008, concerned by the burden of infectious diseases in Africa, academic and research institutions in
epidemiologically linked southern and East African countries (Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC), Zambia, Mozambique and South Africa) embarked on a pathway towards developing Africa’s
capacity for research and training in infectious diseases. We formed a One Health partnership of medical and
veterinary institutions (i.e. Southern African Center for Infectious Disease Surveillance - SACIDS) with an
ambition for an African-led Center with progressive relevance to the wider Sub-Saharan region. We have
worked closely with UK institutions, namely the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
(LSHTM), the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), the London International Development Center (LIDC) and
The Pirbright Institute (TPI), with wider international collaboration on a project-by-project basis.
We have strengthened training and student-based research, developing competence in molecular biology and
analytical epidemiology, testing innovative approaches, and working across sectors, institutions and borders,
in partnership with internationally renowned centers of training and research excellence. SACIDS is led by
Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), with core collaboration by the Muhimbili University of Health and
Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) to consolidate the inter-
sectoral partnership. Our proposal seeks to build on this platform to provide regional leadership for
excellence in postgraduate training and research on infectious diseases. We will train 40 MSc, 8 MPhil/Res-
MSc and 15 PhD students, 30% of who will be from outside Tanzania and 40% female. We will also offer 3
Postdoctoral Fellowships. We will make special provision to attract female students. We will introduce a
rigorous selection and performance appraisal system for students and supervisors. We will run skills
enhancement short courses (40 trainees) and One Health Summer School (30 trainees) for students and in-
service practitioners. We will collaborate with our established regional and UK partners to develop skills,
research capacity and contact networks. We will introduce a novel Research Leadership and Management
Training program tailored to different levels ranging from PhD students right through to senior academic
staff (60 trainees). We will build on existing videoconference and server capacity to expand the role of ICT
in learning.
Our facilities, students and scientists will serve as a source of authoritative expertise for infectious diseases in
diagnosis, surveillance, pathogen characterization, epidemiological modeling, and the definition of cost-
effective disease risk management measures.
During the implementation of this Center, we will collaborate synergistically with the University of Zambia
based ACE. This collaboration will build on our common origin and will be on a wide range of infectious
disease issues to accelerate the regional capacity for infectious disease expertise through collaborative
postgraduate training and research.
2
Section 1: Basic Institutional and Proposal information
Originating Institution (s): Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Morogoro, Tanzania, in partnership with Muhimbili University of Health and Allied
Sciences (MUHAS), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Tanzania
Center of Excellence Name (and acronym): Southern African Center for Infectious Disease Surveillance (SACIDS) – ACE for Infectious Diseases of Humans
and Animals in East and Southern Africa
Total Amount Requested (US$): 6,000,000
Co-Financing from other sources both cash and in-kind contributions (including core funding) (US$): 1,456,200
Main Departments/Units involved in the Center;
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Parasitology, SUA (VMP-SUA)
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, MUHAS (MI-MUHAS)
National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania (NIMR)
Contact Details
Position Name Address Office Phone Mobile Email
Head of Institution Professor Gerald
Monela, Vice-Chancellor
Office of the Vice Chancellor, Sokoine
University of Agriculture (SUA)
+ 255 23 2604651
+ 255 23 2604523
+255 754294670 [email protected]
Proposed Center Leader Prof Gerald Misinzo Head, VMP-SUA +255 23 2604647 +255 767 058805 [email protected]
Deputy Center Leader/
Principal investigator
Prof Mark Rweyemamu Executive Director, SACIDS, VMP-SUA +255-732931717 +255-7885099150
+44-7889317687
Second Deputy Center
Leader and Coordinator for
MUHAS
Prof Mecky Matee Dept Microbiology and Immunology,
MUHAS
+255-22-2151680 +255-713 081 162 [email protected]
Basic Institutional Information (this institutional data should include data from the last 5 years):
Main Departments participating in the proposed ACE: Academic Staff and Students Academic
year
Name of
Department/ Units
No. of
Academic
Staff (full-
time
equivalent)
Non-
National
Academic Staff Qualifications No. of Students
PhD
(% of
total)
Master
(% of
total)
Bachelor
(% of
total)
Others
( Specify)
Total Female (% of total)
Segregated at BSc, MSc and PhD
level
Non-national
(% of total)
2014/15 VMP-SUA 22 0 45 55 0 0 86 BSc 40; MSc 40; PhD 42 10
MI- MUHAS 10 0 60 30 10 0 29 BSc50; MSc 40; 60 0
2013/14 VMP-SUA 18 0 56 44 0 0 102 BSc 40; MSc 30; PhD 50 8
MI-MUHAS 9 0 56 44 0 0 30 BSc 60; MSc 33; PhD 53 0
2012/13 VMP-SUA 18 0 56 27 13 0 94 BSc 40; MSc 23; PhD 50 3
MI-MUHAS 7 0 71 29 0 0 22 BSc 50; MSc 33; PhD 50 0
2011/12 VMP-SUA 18 0 50 16 34 0 92 BSc 40; MSc 21; PhD 0 9
MI-MUHAS 8 0 63 37 0 0 17 BSc 25; MSc 17; PhD 57 0
2010/11 VMP-SUA 16 0 56 19 25 0 123 BSc 23; MSc 11; PhD 0 3
3
MI-MUHAS 8 0 63 37 0 0 13 BSc =0; MSc=0; PhD =50 0
Academic Programs offered for 2014/15 relevant to the proposed ACE:
S/N. Title of Program
Level
(Bachelor,
Master or
PhD)
Duration
(Years)
Enrolment
2014/15
(all classes)
No. of
Graduates
2013/14
Program Accreditation
(Yes/No)
Last Year of
Accreditation
1. Microbiology - SUA PhD 4 4 0 Yes Not Applicable
2. Microbiology - SUA MPhil 2 2 1 Yes Not Applicable
3. Applied Microbiology - SUA MSc 2 2 4 Yes Not Applicable
4. Molecular Biology and Biotechnology - SUA MSc 2 5 6 Yes Not Applicable
5. One Health Molecular Biology - SUA MSc 2 3 8 Yes Not Applicable
6. Biotechnology and Laboratory Sciences - SUA BSc 3 70 58 Yes Not Applicable
7 Microbiology - MUHAS PhD 4 0 1 Yes Not Applicable
8 Microbiology -MUHAS MSc 2 4 2 Yes Not Applicable
9. Microbiology - MUHAS MMED 3 3 4 Yes Not Applicable
Note: According to IUCEA, in East Africa, there is only accreditation of the universities/institutions at the moment. They are still working on
accreditation of the individual programs
Institutional budget [in national and international (where applicable) currency] for the last two fiscal years: in Tanzania Shilling
FY 2013/14
Total budget
Government subvention
Tuition and other student fees
Revenue from
consultancies
Other revenue (if large include source;
include international funding for both
education and research
projects/programs with from
international partners)
National 48,461,533,439
(22,349,989.97) 38,710,599,601 (17,852,972.19) 9,750,933,838 (4,497,040.93)
2,900,172,426 (1,337,532.83)
University internally generated income
International 24,915,673,317
(11,490,879.18)
24,915,673,317(11,490,879.18)
Funding of research projects/programs
FY 2014/15 Total budget
Government subvention
Tuition and other student fees
Revenue from
consultancies
National 42,518,894,910
(19,553,589.39)
32,612,072,752
(15,040,387.75)
8,027,002,158
(3,701,979.504)
1,879,820,000 (866,955.6796)
University internally generated income
International 23,318,940,780
(10,754,486.83)
23,318,940,780(10,754,486.83)
Funding of research projects/programs
4
Section 2: SWOT Analysis of the Institution/Proposed ACE
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities i. We formed SACIDS in 2008 as a regional Virtual Center for infectious diseases of humans and animals,
linking academic and research institutions in the DRC, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia
and in collaborative agreements with four UK institutions (LSHTM, RVC,TPI and LIDC)1, with SUA as the
Lead Institution. It has proved to be an effective platform for scientists addressing infectious diseases issues
in both East and Southern Africa. ACE-II provides an opportunity to advance from proof of concept to a
medium-term program.
ii. Thanks to financial support from Wellcome Trust, Gates Foundation and USAID, the Department of
Microbiology at SUA has a well-equipped modern molecular biology platform with DNA sequencing
capacity, due to be enhanced with a Next Generation Sequencer, a newly set up conventional virology
laboratory with cell culture capability, a biosafety level-3 unit and a video-conference facility. This will
provide the core of the training and research program of our Center.
iii. SUA exercises its leadership of this Center in close partnership with Muhimbili University of Health and
Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and the Tanzania National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR). The facilities
of the three institutions will be utilized seamlessly by the Center students and fellows.
iv. Under SACIDS, we set up the first One Health based MSc programs in Africa, at SUA specializing in
Molecular Biology (OHMB) and the second one in Analytical Epidemiology at the University of Zambia.
The benchmark curricula for these programs was developed in collaboration with the LSHTM and RVC.
Furthermore, we initiated training at MPhil/Res-MSc. These programs, which already attract students from a
number of African countries in the region, will be the core of our Center’s MSc training. They will also
provide a pool of qualified candidates for our PhD program.
v. We introduced the Postdoctoral program at MUHAS and SUA in 2010. ACE-II provides an opportunity to
embed this valuable cadre for research excellence and academic duties plus funding opportunity into the
mainstream of our universities.
vi. We already have a SACIDS Strategic Plan to 2020 for improving Africa’s capacity to DETECT, IDENTIFY
and MONITOR infectious diseases with a view to their risk management. This plan embraces core values
that are relevant to our ACE-II application and which are: (a) Virtual Center jointly owned by medical and
veterinary academic and research institutions, sharing resources and expertise; (b) One Health collaboration
across human and animal health sectors; (c) Research Excellence through theme-based Programs; (d)
Community of Practice2 (CoP) approach to enhance within theme interaction and learning, the quality of
supervision, mentorship and research collaboration across institutions, sectors, borders, projects and themes;
(e) African-led Smart Partnership with centers of research and training excellence in industrialized countries;
(f) Pro-active engagement with Communities, National and Regional Policy.
vii. SACIDS provides links to the South African Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases of the National
Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), giving access to the large Biosafety Level 4 laboratory and
i. Our research operations have depended largely
on extra-budgetary, grant funding. This could
create some instability and sustainability
uncertainty. ACE-II offers an opportunity for
our scientists to develop an entrepreneurial
culture for performance related research
funding as the driver for high quality research,
as happens in universities that are already
driven by research excellence.
ii. The traditional “silo” mentality in academia
and research means that there tend to be few
trans-disciplinary programs between
individual specializations, departments,
faculties, academic and research institutions.
There are also weak linkages between research
and industry and between research and policy.
Our One Health approach enhances
collaboration across traditional silos. Our
partnership with national research institutions
enhances our interaction with policy and our
linkage with government ministries
(Health/Livestock/Local Government
Authority), facilitates uptake of research
outputs for planning and policy formulation.
iii. Generally, MSc courses are not offered in
modular format. This tends to result in the
teaching responsibilities being spread
throughout the year, and thereby limiting time
for research supervision. We are taking steps
to modularize the OHMB MSc with
expectation to extend to others and to
introduce block teaching. During Year 1 of the
ACE project, we will be reviewing our MSc
program and structure with the support of
1 LSHTM = London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; RVC = Royal Veterinary College; TPI = The Pirbright Institute; LIDC = London International Development Centre
2 The concept of Community of Practice was originally advocated by Wenger and it refers to: “a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better
as they interact regularly”. – see Wenger E, McDermott R, and Synder W (2002) Cultivating Communities of Practice: a guide to managing knowledge. Harvard Business School Press, Boston
5
expertise for safe handling of dangerous pathogens. ACE-II will help us consolidate this relationship and
develop our capacity for emerging and vector-borne diseases to include collaboration with the Uganda Virus
Research Institute and the Institute Biomedical Research, Kinshasa, DRC.
viii. Thanks to its membership of CORDS3 and funding from Rockefeller Foundation and Skoll Global Threat,
SACIDS operates programs across the southern and East African regions and has developed collaborations
with institutions/organizations in Southeast Asia, Southeast Europe and the Middle East as well as with
WHO, FAO and OIE. A recent grant from the African Development Bank will further strengthen our
Center’s South-South capacity development partnership with South Africa and Brazil.
RVC and LSHTM
Threats i. Externally funded and directed programs could stifle the concept of African-led programs for excellence
before they mature. The ACE-II offers an opportunity for sustained funding that will enable our Center
to be competitive in terms of local influence, of government funding and of external resource
mobilization. It also offers a stable platform for regional and international collaboration for developing
African young scientists that can undertake fit-for-purpose, hypothesis driven research within Africa.
ii. The rapid increase in the number of public and private universities in Tanzania could threaten the quality
of training and research. SUA and MUHAS are the prime and leading medical and veterinary
universities in Tanzania. NIMR is the prime and multi-center national health research institution in the
country. With support from ACE-II, our Virtual Center and Community of Practice concepts and
approaches offer a platform to these institutions to accelerate the development of a critical mass of
highly trained African young scientists, which will enhance the reputation and competitiveness of SUA
and MUHAS as training and research centers of excellence and provide a cushion against any staff
movement to new universities
iii. Africa has endemic settings of infectious diseases. This is becoming complicated by the emergence of
unknown and highly pathogenic infectious diseases, many of a zoonotic nature with poorly understood
ecology. The detection and specific diagnosis of these diseases is relatively poor and there is a lack of
specific vaccines, medicines and defined control strategies. Our Center being a partnership between the
medical and veterinary institutions is well placed to address this threat, which is to human and animal
health. Our collaboration with external centers that have established reputation in addressing these
diseases also places us favorably for a focused research on the development of improved systems for
detection, surveillance, diagnostics and control options, including candidate vaccines.
i. Competition from world class institutions
with established systems and funds for high
quality teaching and discovery type research
contributes to brain drain from Africa. Our
Center being already reasonably well
equipped and our smart partnership with
centers of research and training excellence in
South Africa and UK will create a favorable
environment, on the one hand, to encourage
academic staff to undertake hypothesis
driven research that feeds into the quality of
teaching and, on the other, to attract
Tanzanians in the diaspora to value high
quality research and training in endemic
settings of Africa.
ii. For the 2015 university rankings, no
Tanzanian university has been ranked among
the top 30 in Africa and SUA - MUHAS are
between 70 and 80. Our proposed Center will
contribute to enhancing the quality of
training and research, thereby increasing the
credibility and reputation of these
Universities, as will be reflected in improved
ranking.
3 CORDS = Coordinating Organisations for Regional Disease Surveillance
6
Section 3: Development Challenge and Objectives of the Proposed ACE
1. Briefly state the development challenge that the proposal is designed to address in your
institution.
According to studies by the World Bank, WHO, FAO, OIE and others, infectious diseases account for ~40-
50% of morbidity and mortality in humans, while for animals they constitute a major constraint to livestock
dependent livelihoods and the single most important barrier to export of African livestock commodities to
the lucrative markets of the OECD and G20 countries. Our focus on infectious diseases is driven by the
realization that Africa probably has the highest burden of infectious diseases in the world and yet the least
capacity for its risk management4. The 2006 Foresight Report on future risks of infectious diseases
5,
emphasized that Africa needed innovative, Africa-led approaches to enable it to make the necessary quantum
leap to accelerate the development of its scientific capacity for infectious diseases. One such innovative
approach was the concept of a Virtual Center that links several institutions into a single entity to accelerate
the training and generation of the necessary critical mass of expertise.
We recognize that the risk from infectious disease arises from (i) new pathogens or new strains of existing
pathogens through genetic change; (ii) new human diseases from animal reservoirs (~75% of emerging
diseases of humans have an animal origin); (iii) drug-resistant organisms; (iv) increasing international
movement of people and commodities, including animal commodities, thanks to globalization; (v) climate
change; and (vi) human economic activities (e.g. settlements that encroach on forest ecosystems) and
cultural/social behavior. Yet, for Africa, there are additional risks associated with endemicity of high risk
pathogens that are either peculiar to Africa or have been largely eliminated elsewhere; including the so-called
Neglected Tropical Diseases, and with Africa’s inadequate capacity for risk management of epidemics. The
recent Ebola Virus Disease epidemic in West Africa has illustrated both the risk and the inadequacy of
response in Africa. It should be noted also that epidemics of Ebola since 1976 have been characterized by a
period of “undiagnosed/unrecognized” disease for 2 to 4 months.
The risk management of epidemics relies on four basic tenets: (a) scientific expertise based on in situ
research, diagnostic, epidemiological and socio-economic analytical competences; (b) availability of a
critical mass of clinical, public health and animal health expertise; (c) availability of a critical mass of a
diverse expertise and competences in a variety of operational disciplines including administrative and logistic
expertise; and (d) an enabling health system infrastructure and governance. We believe that African
universities are well suited to contribute to the first two of these tenets.
These considerations are what propelled medical and veterinary academic and research institutions in the
SADC region to set up SACIDS in 2008 at SUA. The SACIDS Vision and Mission are for enhancing
Africa’s capacity for the science evidence based risk management of infectious diseases through the One
Health approach. The SACIDS ‘One Health’ capacity development focus is to address infectious diseases in
the endemic settings of sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular attention to southern, central and east Africa
through a collaborative effort between natural and social sciences to advance the understanding of
interactions between humans, animals and the environment to improve public and animal health.
2. Describe how this proposal if funded would contribute to addressing the development
challenge
Since its formation, SACIDS has enhanced collaboration between medical and veterinary member
institutions. We have established a track record for innovative approaches to developing Africa’s research
capacity for epidemic infectious diseases of humans and animals. Our mission is driven primarily by our
4 Bhutta et al. (2014). Global burden, distribución, and interventions for infectious diseases of poverty. Infectious Diseases of Poverty 2014, 3:21
http://www.idpjournal.com/content/3/1/2
5 Rweyemamu, M., Otim-Nape, W., Serwadda, D. (2006). Infectious Diseases: Preparing for the Future – Africa.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/294810/06-1768-infectious-diseases-africa.pdf
7
strategic objective for an African-led development of world-class researchers and research leaders in
Africa. Table 1, below, summarizes the number and source of students and fellows from East and southern
Africa, trained under the SACIDS programs at participating universities between 2009 and 2015.
Table 1: Number and source countries of students and fellow trained under SACIDS programs Category of Training Tanzania Zam
bia
Mozamb
ique
DRC South
Africa
Other
SADC and
EAC
Other
African
Countries
Total
Postdocs 4 – 5 yrs 3 2 1 1 8
Postdocs 1- 3 yrs 7 3 1 1 11
PhD 4 2 2 2 1 11
MPhil/Res-MSc 7 3 2 12
MSc – OHMB 20 4 7 4 1 36
MSc – OHAE 4 18 2 1 1 26
Short-courses, in
Tanzania, Zambia,
South Africa, UK
153 32 13 23 1 16 1 239
TOTAL 198 64 17 38 1 22 3 343
NB: Other SADC and EAC Countries involved were: Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya,
Our students and fellows have 102 peer-reviewed papers published/in press so far (June 2015), with an
average impact factor of 2.32 and one of our Postdocs has been awarded a Wellcome Trust Intermediate
Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine. Accordingly, they are beginning to make significant
scientific strides as summarized in Table 2. This places us favorably to target higher quality Outcomes in
training and student research excellence (Section 5) under the ACE-II initiative.
Table 2: Research Outputs by and Future plans for our students and fellows Key students achievements during
our formative phase 2009 - 2015
Additional targets for
ACE-II
Target Outcomes/Impact from the Center
student/fellow research
Discovery of a novel topotype of
Mycobacterium bovis in Serengeti
ecosystem
Molecular ecology of
mycobacteria in southern
and East Africa
Develop diagnostics for differentiating tuberculosis
agents
Identify the role of Mycobacteria from animals and
environment in tuberculosis disease in humans
Discovery of an increasing
prevalence of antimicrobial resistance
in southern and East Africa
Genomics surveillance of
resistome flow across the
human, animal and
environment compartments
This work will make us part of the international scientific
community that is defining the nature of the problem and
collaborating in discovery of new antimicrobial use
policies and/or new antibiotics.
Discovery of novel Foot-and-Mouth
Disease (FMD) virus genotypes
/topotypes
Further genomics driven
research to understand the
generation and emergence
of new virus variants
within African endemic
settings
Early diagnosis and identification of pathogens and
their variants, leading to timely and specific response
and disease control interventions
Develop diagnostics for viral
Selection of effective vaccines and trials
Discovery of Two lineages of Peste
des Petits Ruminants (PPR)Virus and
of African swine fever co-circulating
nationally
Molecular epidemiological
patterns of pathogens in a
socio-economic
environment
Enhanced identification of infection spread patterns that
are necessary for timely and cost-effective disease control
strategies
NICD experience of providing
diagnostic services to Sierra Leone
Ebola by the South National Institute
for Communicable Disease (NICD)
Mobile Laboratory Unit and training
Sierra Leone technicians.
Focus on genomics driven
diagnostics for resource
compromised African
settings
Our collaboration with the NICD, UNZA and LSHTM will
have a focus on developing diagnostics
Risk modeling Rift Valley fever and
of FMD outbreaks in Tanzania and
Zambia
Linking risk modeling
with ecological and socio-
economic modeling to
study drivers of infectious
disease spread and control
options
Define targeted and cost-effective disease control
strategies, especially of those diseases that affect poor
communities.
Vaccine trials in people and livestock in partnership with
others e.g. Jenner Institute, GALVmed, El Paso
University, Texas, USA.
8
EpiHack convening (the first in
Africa) of human and animal health
experts plus mobile technology
software developers from southern
and East Africa as well as from USA,
South America, South-East Asia to
develop disease detection systems
Developing and
widespread application of
mobile and digital
technologies to enhance
early detection and disease
surveillance
Improve early detection of disease events at the
community level, especially in remote and cross-border
areas, in collaboration with EAIDSNet and ECSA. A
unique ICT programming capability for disease
surveillance and other health delivery programs
established by SUA-NIMR within the Regional Hospital in
Morogoro.
Employing EcoHealth integrative
research approaches with a strong
socio-anthropology component
Health interventions that
are sensitive to community
socio-economic welfare
The approach targets, particularly, poor rural communities,
such as pastoral communities in remote areas.
This collaboration has also strengthened institutional capacity in both Tanzania and Zambia in training and
research. Accordingly, Tanzanian institutions that form this Center have relative strength in molecular
biology training and research in viral diseases of food security, vector-borne viral diseases and Mycobacterial
diseases, EcoHealth integrative approaches and application of digital solutions to disease surveillance and
data collection. The University of Zambia has developed relative strength in epidemiology training and
research on filovirus and Arenavirus emerging diseases and rare bacterial diseases. Together, institutions in
the two countries have strength in anti-microbial resistance research. We will build on this established
collaboration to work synergistically with the UNZA based ACE to address these areas and new areas like
Neglected Tropical infectious Diseases covering a wide region of southern, East and Central Africa and
progressively enhance our capability to address national and regional developmental challenges effectively.
3. Describe the role of partner institutions in successfully addressing the development challenge,
jointly with and under the guidance of your own institution.
The three institutions (SUA, MUHAS and NIMR) that constitute our Center already collaborate closely in
research and training under the SACIDS umbrella. They command national scientific respect for the training
and research on infectious diseases of humans and animals and are supported by sector Ministries. This
facilitates ready access to the tertiary hospitals at Muhimbili National Hospital (Dar es Salaam) and Bugando
Medical Center (Mwanza), Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital (Mbeya) and to the Tanzania Veterinary
Laboratory Agency (TVLA) network of diagnostic laboratories and other sources of human and animal
samples. Key national partner institutions for student placement and co-supervision are the Catholic
University of Health and Allied Sciences (CUHAS), the Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency (TVLA),
the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) and Ifakara Health Institute (IHI). At the regional level,
the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of South Africa, especially its Emerging and
Zoonoses Center, headed by Professor Janusz Paweska, will be a key partner in view of its unique high
containment facilities and expertise for emerging and vector-borne viral diseases. This will underpin our
coordinated research and training in these diseases with the participation of the Biomedical Research
Institute with the University of Kinshasa (Professors Jean-Jacques Muyembe, Justin Masumu and Jean-Marie
Kayembe), UNZA (Professor Aaron Mweene), the Uganda Virus Research Institute (Dr Julius Lutwama) and
the Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique (Professor Dacia Correia and Dr José Fafetine), the Kenya
Medical Research Institute (Dr RoseMary Sang). Others South African partners who co-supervise Center
students are Stellenbosch University Medical School, the Faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of
Pretoria and the ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute. SACIDS has collaborative projects with the East
African Community, through the East African Integrated Disease Surveillance Network (EAIDSNet).
Thanks to already established collaboration with the LSHTM, RVC, TPI and LIDC in UK, our Center will
count on high quality benchmarking for training in infectious disease and for co-supervision of Center
students. SACIDS membership of CORDS facilitated its participation in global dialogues on emerging
diseases, including policy level interaction at national, regional and international levels.
9
4. Describe existing similar centers of excellence in your country or in neighboring countries with
the same objective (if any)
Collaborating institutions in South Africa, such as the Stellenbosch University, Medical School, which hosts
two Centers of Excellence funded by the South African Medical Research Council and the National Research
Fund, or the University of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science which hosts the OIE Collaborating Center
or the NICD, which is the WHO Collaborating Center for Viral Hemorrhagic fevers or the Onderstepoort
Veterinary Institute, which host OIE Collaborating Centers for transboundary animal diseases, provide
bench marking for ACE research and training excellence. SUA, MUHAS and NIMR are members of several
Public Health related networks in the region, although these are not designated Centers of Excellence. The
relevant programs/networks are: EAIDSNet; AfriqueOne (a Wellcome Trust funded one health research
capacity development project with a focus on zoonotic diseases; One Health in Central and Eastern Africa
(OHCEA), which is a USAID funded regional network of 14 Schools/Faculties of public health and
veterinary medicine.
5. Describe how your Center’s proposal fits into (i) your Institution’s overall
Strategic Plan, (ii) your overarching/parent institution’s/line ministries Strategic Plan and (iii)
your country’s or regional organization’s Strategic Plan (attach Strategic Plans if and when
appropriate).
The SACIDS strategic objective for an African-led development of world-class researchers and research
leaders as well as its Strategic Plan 2020 is in line with the SUA Corporate Plan 2011-2020. Some of the
SACIDS initiatives contributed to the SUA senior management conclusion that SUA needed to focus
progressively more on basic and demand driven research. This thinking has now been enshrined into the
SUA Corporate Plan by which the university is committed to “Engage in basic research and strengthen
applied research to contribute to the generation of new knowledge and technologies”. In addition, this
initiative is in line with the SUA Research Policy, Focus Areas, Guidelines and Regulations (2010) as
described in its Research Focus Area No. 3.71. “The Epidemiology and Control of Endemic and
Emerging Diseases” (http://www.suanet.ac.tz/phocadownload/).
The SACIDS-ACE proposal reflects the current Tanzania Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy Paper
(PRSP) and the strategy for enhanced economic growth through the Big Results Now (BRN) initiative. The
current Tanzania Health Sector Strategic Plan IV (2015-2020) clearly highlights in Section 5.6 issues
pertaining to Emergency Preparedness and Response. The Strategic Direction states that: The Ministry of
Health, Community Development, Gender, Seniors and Children will put systems and structures in place to
be able to respond immediately to health related epidemics and crises, using modern means of
communication to ensure global health security. In addition, the Tanzania One Health Strategic Plan (2015-
2020) emphasizes the need for prevention and control of zoonoses. Among the goals include: (a) improve the
health, animal and environment through evidence-based research; (b) provide functional and quality
integrated human and animal health systems, at all levels, to reduce the burden of zoonotic diseases, and (c)
strengthen institutional frameworks to support One Health implementation
In line with our Theory of Change for Community Level One Health Security, our program of activities will
work with local and national level government officials to help transform the broad agendas into actionable
initiatives. Our work will contribute to enhancing national disease surveillance, reporting, transparency and
accountability to all users of health data, including those affected by epidemics at the community level.
The SACIDS-ACE initiative complies with the East Africa Community Treaty (EAC) article 112 on
management of the environment, Article 105 agriculture and food security, Article 108 plant and animal
disease control; the East African Community protocol on peace and security Article 9 - Disaster Risk
Reduction, Management and Crisis Response; the Protocol on EAC Regional Cooperation in Health and
Decision Instrument for assessment and notification of events; the 4th
EAC Development Strategy 2011-
2016, East African Community Regional Cooperation on Health and East African Disaster Risk Reduction
and Management Strategy 2012-2016. The SACIDS-ACE is also aligned to the Africa Health Strategy 2007-
10
2015 of the African Union, specifically Sections 4.16 and the African Union Science and Technology
Framework for the Detection, Identification and Monitoring Of Infectious Diseases of Humans, Animals and
Plants in Africa.
11
Section 4: Expected Results of the Proposed ACE
Objective Indicator Baseline
(2014)
Baseline
(2015)
Annual
Targets
(2016)
Annual
Targets
(2017)
Annual
Targets
(2018)
Annual
Targets
(2019)
1. Strengthen Education Capacity
excellence – quality and productivity
Number of new students in ACE courses (30% must be regional
students*):
New PhD students (% female)
(% regional)
New Master students (% female)
(% regional)
New short term courses (min. 40 hours) (% female) (% regional)
5 (20%)
(80%)
31 (29%)
(33%)
37 (27%)
(54%)
2 (100%)
(50%)
11 (36%)
(57%)
0
10 (40%)
(30% )
8 (40%)
(30%)
20 (40%)
(30%)
5 (40%)
(40%)
13 (40%)
(30%)
50 (40%)
(30%)
0
14 (40%)
(30% )
40 (40%)
(30% )
0
13 (40%)
(30%)
20 (40%)
(30%)
2. Strengthen Education Capacity &
Development Impact
No. of academic staff with at least 1 month internship in a private
sector company or a local institution relevant to their field/ sector (%
female)
0 0 (40%) 5 (40%) 5 (40%) 5 (40%)
No. of Students with at least 1 month internship in a private sector
company or a local institution relevant to their field/ sector (%
female)
12
(40%)
12
(40%)
8 (40%)
No. of internationally accredited education programs including sub-
regional accreditation
0 0 0 2 3 3
No. of students employed by industry
No. of students who create/ start businesses
No. of students employed by universities as faculty members
0
0
2
0
0
2
3
3
0
3
3
1
4
4
1
4
4
1
3.Strengthen Research Capacity
excellence – quality and productivity
Number of internationally peer reviewed research publications in
disciplines supported by the ACE Program
No. of new research collaboration in region
No. of students employed by research organizations
No. of patents, invention disclosures, trademarks and copyrights
34
11
0
0
19
11
0
0
10
3
0
0
15
2
5
1
20
1
5
1
20
1
5
1
4.Strengthen education and research
capacity (through increased financial
sustainability) and demonstration of
value to students and partners
Amount of externally generated revenue by the ACEs USD
1,531,415
USD
3,444,221
USD
2,000,000
USD
2,000,000
USD
2,000,000
USD
2,000,000
*This refers to students from outside the ACE hosting country
12
Section 5: ACE Action Plans
5.1 ACE Action Plan to achieve Learning Excellence
Describe briefly to which Objectives and Results each action plan will contribute:
Our training strategy, which will relate to Objectives 1 and 3, will focus on developing a dynamic
community of African researchers in the application of molecular biology and analytical epidemiology to
the understanding and management of infectious diseases, through a tiered postgraduate training program.
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
The Center will provide challenging programs and innovative learning experiences through interdisciplinary
teaching and research, and a dynamic community of multicultural learning. Our philosophy will resonate
around problem-based learning that develops knowledge, abilities and skills through participation,
collaborative investigation and the resolution of authentic problems. Our strategy for improving content or
curriculum delivery will emphasize course modularization to allow for block teaching and e-learning, which
will comprise: electronic archiving of teaching materials and application of ICT-in-learning, building on the
already dedicated video-conference and server facilities and ICT programming expertise at SACIDS and
within the Department of Microbiology at SUA. The development of this strategy will be part of the e-
Learning Platform managed by the SUA Centre for Information and Communication Technology
developed/ adapted by Professor Lazaro Busagala, Associate Professor of Information Systems Engineering
at SUA. Course work will require self-driven learning and thought aiming at developing critical thinking
skills and retain knowledge that leads to self-actualization. The following course delivery modes will be
employed; fully face to face, web enhanced, flipped, blended/hybrid and fully online (e-books, e-resources,
e-journals). Laboratory training will provide knowledge of both the strengths and limitations of each method
to empower them to interpret experimental data. Accordingly, the learning tools will be: i. Lectures; ii.
Research seminars; iii. Tool talks; iv. Laboratory practical sessions; v. Proposal and grant writing sessions;
vi. Bioinformatics sessions; vii. Tutorials; viii. iBioseminars; ix. Career development seminars; x. MSc/PhD
Student presentations (proposals research work and dissertation).
In conducting training, we will build on our collaboration with ILRI-BecA in Kenya plus LSHTM and RVC,
in the UK, to upgrade our Molecular Biology postgraduate courses. Thanks to improved bandwidth in
Tanzania, we will exploit the technologies of web casting and live streaming to use these conferencing tools
to link the Center with international partners. Existing pilots have demonstrated that it is possible to run an
effective seminar or lecture between multiple locations. Our ACE project will build on this experience by
developing and trialing new technical and pedagogical models of delivering postgraduate teaching at a
distance, through close collaboration with the RVC Electronic media unit.
Training will be in seven strands, i.e. (i) Taught Master’s Program involving 1 year course work plus 1 year
guided research; (ii) MPhil/Res-MSc based on 2 years research; (iii) PhD development; (iv) Postdoctoral
development; (v) Skills enhancement short courses (CPD) for students and practicing professionals; (vi)
One Health driven 2 week summer school; and (vii) A novel program for research leadership and
management.
i. Enhanced MSc training
Between 2010 and 2012, we established two regional One Health-based MSc programs at SUA on
Molecular Biology (OHMB) and at the University of Zambia (UNZA) on Analytical Epidemiology (OHAE)
to develop basic competences for infectious diseases of humans and animals. These were the first One
Health-based MSc courses in Africa. The course work is in 3 parts (i) a common set of modules on basic
courses such as research methodology and those that address one health and drivers of infectious diseases,
(ii) specialization modules in either molecular biology at SUA or analytical epidemiology at UNZA, (iii)
elective courses. Much of the guided research, during the second year, is undertaken in students' home
countries. During Year 1, we will review the curricula of the OHMB MSc and that of the MSc in Applied
Microbiology and Biotechnology at SUA, with the objective of regional accreditation. This will be in terms
of scientific and technical content, of enabling skills, including, writing proposals and entrepreneurship for
13
self employment and of course delivery teaching, including the role of ICT. The review team will include
regional and international academic partners plus a representative of industry. We will train 30 students in
the upgraded OHMB MSc.
The training program of the Center will be complemented by related MSc programs (i) four at SUA in
Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, in Applied Microbiology, in Veterinary Epidemiology, and in
Veterinary Public Health, and (ii) two at MUHAS (Public Health, Field Epidemiology and Laboratory
Training). We will tactically place 10 MSc students at MUHAS/SUA in some of these complementary
programs as part of the Center activities.
ii. Research Training through MPhil/MSc Research
Both MUHAS and SUA will offer 2-year MPhil/Res-MSc programs as Center activity. We will expand the
role of MPhil/Res-MSc in coordinated student research to address the regional and global contemporary
priorities for infectious disease as well as to address the shortcomings in generating informed evidence
through social sciences approaches to determining vulnerability and impact on regional global development
challenges (Section3). We will place a total of 8 MPhil/Res-MSc with supervisors from the Center
partnership in the region, who are research active in the Center’s relevant programs. So, while the taught
MSc courses will focus developing regional competence in molecular biology and in the allied disciplines of
epidemiology, the MPhil/Res-MSc will be the primary instrument for developing research skills. Training in
scientific paper writing, based on student own data will be offered in collaboration with CDC-Tanzania,
through the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, seniors and Children training programs.
iii. PhD Development:
We will produce researchers with the capacity to conduct ethically-sound, high-quality research to impact
health, policy and practice in Africa. This 4-year PhD program will build on our Communities of Practice
for team supervision and collegial enhancement of learning and supervisory expertise (Figure 1).
PhD students
Support group: African
and UK supervisors,
SRFs and Postdocs
Rigorous selection of MSc holders
Training programmes for
soft and hard skills
Community of practice and
cross institutional
links
Mentorship/Supervision
Research
Enabling skills
Selection
Figure 1: Strategy for developing PhD capacity
iv. Postdoctoral development:
We introduced this to SUA, MUHAS, UNZA, Eduardo Mondlane University (EMU/UEM) and University
of Kinshasa (UNIKIN) between 2009 and 2013 and trained 15 Postdocs, who will form the core of our
research program and leadership The Center will engage 3 Postdoctoral Positions of 24 months each. One
will assist in developing the research on anti-microbial resistance and bioinformatics for complex and large
data generated by DNA sequencing. The second one (with a possibility of renewal after the review at 24
months) will act as a Research and Training Fellow to assist with quality control, biosafety and quality
management activities of the Center, in addition to developing own research package on virus-cell
14
interaction. He/she will be part of the Center Leader research team. In addition, we will endeavor to increase
our cohorts of Postdocs by encouraging our brightest PhD graduates to apply for individual awards and
including Postdoctoral fellowships in the Center applications for leverage funding.
v. Skills enhancement short courses (CPD) for students and practicing professionals
We will conduct 2 week courses in enabling soft and hard skills for in-service professionals aimed at
expanding national diagnostic capability e.g. biosafety, PCR in diagnostic laboratories, disease recognition,
surveillance and control, research ethics, teaching and research methodology, advanced bioinformatics,
laboratory management and equipment operation, scientific research paper writing, policy briefs
development, biosafety and statistics.
We will target 40 trainees over five years.
vi. One Health driven short course in the form of a Summer School:
By tapping into the expertise of the international faculty from partner and collaborating institutions and wide
application of ICT in learning, our Center will offer One Health interdisciplinary one health training courses
to students and professionals in the humans, animal and environmental sectors. They will cover diverse
subjects, such as biosafety, ecology of infectious disease, conflict resolution, communication, medical
anthropology and social science for one health. We will target 30 trainees over five years.
vii. Developing Research Leadership and Management Skills
During 2015, we carried out 3 workshops on innovation in research leadership and management, targeting
our current Postdocs, supervisors, CoP Leaders and Heads of Department. We did this, tapping into the
expertise and reputation of Ranmore Consulting (Dr Tom Kennie, the Director) and Policy
Institute@King’s, part of King’s College London (Professor Jonathan Grant, the Director), assisted by the
SUA Development Studies Institute (Dr Kenneth Bengesi). Our Center will build on this experience to
develop a specially structured training package in research leadership and management targeting different
levels from PhD students for whom the emphasis will be on transferable skills to Postdocs and PhD
supervisors to CoP theme program leaders and Departmental Heads and ultimately to more senior
academicians and research scientists in appropriate combinations. This strategy will be based on the people
centered model developed by Manville et al, 2015 Characteristics of high performing research Units.
Report to the Higher Education Funding Council of England by RAND (Europe) and The Policy Institute at
King’s6. It will be offered in 5 capability clusters, i.e. covering (i) Technical Research Skills; (ii) Research
Management; (iii) Research Leadership; (iv) External/Globally Engaged Leadership; and (v) Other.
The course content will be designed to cover the needs of 4 levels of trainees: (a) PhD and MPhil/Res-MSc
Students; (b) Postdoctoral Fellows and Junior Faculty; (c) Principal Investigator/ Research Supervisor; (d)
Head of Department/ CoP Leader.
5.2 ACE Action Plan for Research Excellence (Maximum 2 pages for this section)
Describe briefly to which Objectives and Results each action plan will contribute:
Our strategy for research excellence (Objective 3) is to develop world-class students, addressing capacity
gaps and the convergent needs in science and technology that make linking medical and veterinary research
efficient and effective in the resource poor setting of southern and East Africa. We will develop researchers
with skills in new technologies to interrogate the natural history of disease at source and within endemic
African settings.
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
Our overall strategy is centered on adoption of themed research by which students and fellows in the same
theme together with their supervisors and mentors operate as a Community of Practice (CoP). Our Center
6 http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/policy-institute/publications/Characteristics-of-high-performing-research-units-FINAL.pdf
15
will further reinforce this strategy. This ensures that each student will have a dedicated supervisory team of
specialists from MUHAS/SUA/NIMR plus regional and international partner institutions.
The supervision team will be involved throughout the student/fellow project cycle from the development of
the proposal, supervision of research, review of student progress, review of manuscripts and presentations
and thesis preparation. A student passport (log-book) system will be introduced to monitor meetings and
interactions between PhD students and supervisors. A process for training and mentoring of supervisors,
including workshops and teleconferencing will be part of the supervisory arrangement. We will introduce
PhD students and their primary supervisors to the concept of research planning through trans-disciplinary or
stakeholder involvement, building on our experience in ecoHealth research and training. The Center will use
a quarterly reporting system as a tool of monitoring progress. The Center Training and Research Support
Officer will be responsible for follow up and collating the student reports and dealing with problems on a
day-to-day basis.
i. Research Focus:
Our research platform for the Center students and fellows will be designed to address disease problems
that the Southern African Development and East African Communities (SADC and EAC) have identified as
priorities, and/or that pose profound threats to global health security. Our students will examine host-
pathogen interactions in southern and East African ecosystems providing unique scientific opportunities for
medical/veterinary collaboration and building One Health research skills in molecular biology and analytical
epidemiology. In so doing we will also pay particular attention to such development challenges as food
security, poverty, gender and the needs of marginalized communities,
Our student based research will be in three strands, each grouped into theme clusters operating as
Communities of Practice (CoP). The themes have been selected on the basis of proven experience of Center
faculty members. The coordination of the 3 clusters will be shared between SUA, MUHAS and NIMR as
follows:
1. Addressing Viral Disease Threat to Human Health, Food Security and Livelihoods – SUA
Coordination
CoP for Emerging and Vector-borne Diseases, focusing on viral hemorrhagic fevers (e.g.
Ebola, Marburg, Rift Valley fever, Dengue, Chikungunya, Zika),
CoP for Viral diseases of animals that threaten human food security and livelihood, focusing
on foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) and African swine
fever (ASF)
Developing diagnostics, reagents and vaccines for above.
2. Addressing Neglected Tropical Infectious Diseases that cause chronic disease and disability, with
severe health, economic and social consequences that impact on the quality of life and livelihoods
in low income or marginalized communities, especially women, children and people with disability
– MUHAS Coordination
CoP Bacterial and Parasitic Zoonoses, with a focus on mycobacterial infections, food-borne
diseases and cycsticercosis
CoP on genomic surveillance of anti-microbial resistance across human, animal, fish, and
environment compartments
3. Addressing Community Level One Health Security, with a focus on rural, remote, cross-border and
marginalized communities – SUA-NIMR Coordination
CoP One Health disease surveillance enhanced by digital mobile technologies (for humans
and animals)
CoP Integrative Eco-Health approaches to studying animal and human disease prevalence
and control in marginalized communities (especially pastoral communities)
16
During the implementation of this Center, we will collaborate synergistically with the University of
Zambia based ACE. This collaboration will build on our common origin and will be on a wide range of
infectious disease issues to accelerate the regional capacity for infectious disease expertise through
collaborative postgraduate training and research.
5.3 ACE Action Plan for Quality Assurance (Maximum 2 pages for this section)
Describe briefly to which Objectives and Results this action plan will contribute:
This Action, which relates to Objectives 1 and 3, will be implemented in two strands, namely: (a) internal
systems that operate in the university augmented by new initiatives to include the selection of students and
their research supervisors as well as for publication, (b) an independent scientific advisory system
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
Quality assurance for teaching will be guided primarily by the systems at SUA and MUHAS. The Quality
Assurance and Promotion Bureau (QAPB) of SUA through the University Teaching and Learning
Improvement Program (UTLIP) and the Directorate of Continuing Education and Professional Development
(DCEPD) at MUHAS offer a series of teaching methodology courses for academic staff to ensure teaching
excellence. These include teaching methodologies for handling large classes, student assessment,
presentation skills, electronic literature search, interactive teaching, problem-centered learning and student-
centered learning.
The QAPB also provides a framework for ensuring quality delivery of academic programs and other
services offered within the university. Building on the existing experiences at SUA and MUHAS, the Center
will develop tailor made programs as a strategy to create a pool of instructors with skills and knowledge to
cope with the current teaching and learning environment. The tailor made program will include but not
limited to how to develop e-learning materials, and how to use modern teaching facilities such as e-learning
equipment, internet, working stations with specialized software, and modern laboratory equipment.
For research training our overall strategy for quality assurance covers the full cycle from program
development, recruitment of students, fellows and supervisors, specific research proposals right through to
implementation. Center students and supervisors will be required, first and foremost, to meet the prevailing
requirements by SUA or MUHAS. Additionally, there will be Center specific requirements covering student
selection, supervisor selection, training of students in enabling skills, monitoring performance of students
and supervisors through a structured Student log for MPhil/Res-MSc and PhD students. During Year 1, we
will develop such a Student Log by adapting to our conditions a system that operates at the RVC as our core
benchmark but taking into consideration of practices from other sources such as South African universities
and Washington State University.
In accordance with Tanzania national requirements, all research proposals involving human subjects will be
subject to ethical review and approval by the Medical Research Coordinating Committee.
i. Selection and performance review of MSc, MPhil/Res-MSc and PhD students:
This will be undertaken jointly by theme experts from SUA and MUHAS plus the involvement of external
partners. Student selection will be through an open competition. The process for reviewing student research
proposals and progress reports will build on the current practices and strengths of SUA, MUHAS and NIMR
with the introduction of additional criteria and rigor based on those used by our external collaborators from
South Africa and UK.
The Center will establish a selection panel for each category of studentship. Applicants will need to have
met requirements of the registering university, formally verified by the university e.g. by a letter of
provisional admission. Only such candidates will be considered for further assessment by the Center
Selection Panel.
17
Each student will be assigned at least 2 supervisors: the primary supervisor from the registering university.
He/she should have expertise and a research program relevant to the Center program. There will be 1 to 3
co-supervisors, preferably external to the university, with expertise and ongoing activity in the relevant to
the proposed research. The primary supervisor would normally be required to have undergone training in
supervision of postgraduate students either through the Center course or an equivalent course by others that
will be acceptable to the Center. Furthermore, we will organize training in leadership and management
skills to Center supervisors. Student-supervisor formal meetings will be recorded in the student log. This
will be part of the quarterly and annual appraisal reviews. Student feed-back will form part of the appraisal
so that where appropriate remedial measures can be taken promptly by Center management and/or
registering university. Student appraisal feed backs will also feed into the improvement of the selection and
performance review process for the selection of prospective students and supervisors
ii. Selection and performance review of postdoctoral fellows:
These will be widely advertised in the region. Selection will be competitive based on research record,
leadership skills, publications in international peer-reviewed journals and aptitude for research innovation
and grant writing. Written targets will set out post-appointment expectations for presentations, publications,
public engagement and grant writing. Confirmation of appointments beyond two years will be subject to a
formal evaluation of progress. All research proposals and publications will be reviewed and approved by a
Center internal review panel with experts drawn from external collaborators.
iii. Publications and presentations:
All scientists will be strongly encouraged to give presentations of their findings for peer discussion at
international conferences and to publish them in journals with the highest possible impact factors, so as to
ensure that the material is rigorously reviewed. Publications will be in Open access journals as advocated by
many reputable publishing houses and major science funding agencies. Our target will be on average 2
papers for each MPhil/Res-MSc student, 4 papers for each PhD student and Postdoc. All student
publications will be reviewed by a Center Publication committee to ensure quality, relevance and avoidance
of submission to low quality predatory, so-called open access journals (Beall’s List).
iv. Training Performance
SUA and MUHAS have established performance and evaluation systems for academic staff. These are Open
Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS) and Student Evaluation.
The Center will introduce additional performance indicators, which will include the use of ICT in teaching
such as lodging teaching materials in the institutional repository for the students to access, graduation of
students on time, acceptance of manuscript in high impact peer-reviewed journals, engagement of
communities during proposal development, engagement of communities during results dissemination,
delivery of high quality lectures through engagement with partners (national or international) during
teaching such as the use via video links, and development of abstracts to participate in international
scientific meetings. Staff will be facilitated to ensure that they meet these performance indicators.
v. Research and Training Performance Evaluation
This will be based on internal Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) as well as external independent scientific
advice. We will use an integrated but outcome oriented results framework, based on a logic model that
allows analysis of performance results related to cultural, institutional and policy transformations that will
result from the outputs from project activities. We will design an integrated monitoring and evaluation
(M&E) framework for periodic analysis of the results, including measures of success (targets, milestones,
and metrics) and measures to be taken in case parts of the program do not proceed to plan, in line with the
template by the World Bank.
vi. Independent Scientific Advice
We will be guided by an established International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB), comprised of
independent scientists derived internationally and selected on the basis of expertise in the training or
18
research relevant to the program of the Center. Its key functions are: (a) Strategic and independent scientific
advice to the Center Leadership and Management Board; (b) Scientific scrutiny and advice on the
postgraduate training and student research projects; (c) Advice on the quality of scientific and societal
impacts; (d) Guidance on future scientific initiatives and uptake of research findings; and (e) Advice on
funding opportunities and strategic collaborations. ISAB will meet twice a year and at least once each year it
will undertake a detailed review of one CoP. It will also be available for consultations electronically.
Current SACIDS ISAB Membership: (NB: to be reviewed during Year 1 of the Center to reflect the
expanded objectives and to include expertise for results uptake or contact with industry and regulatory
expertise. We will endeavor to form a jointly appointed ISAB with the UNZA based ACE).
Name Primary ISAB function/area of expertise
Prof Julie FitzPatrick, Scientific Director, Moredun Research
Institute
Chair, Programs & Individual Capacity
Development
Prof Onesmo ole-MoiYoi, Chair, Kenya Agricultural Research
Institute
Deputy-Chair, Institutional Development
Prof Njenga Kariuki, Kenya Medical Research Institute
(KEMRI)
Emerging and Vector-borne Diseases
Prof Wilna Vosloo, Research Team Leader, CSIRO Australian
Animal Health Laboratory
Viral Diseases of Food Security
Importance
Prof Luke Mumba, Director, Southern African Network for
Biosciences, NEPAD
Policy interactions and Regional context
Prof Martyn Jeggo, Director, Geelong Center for Emerging
Infectious Diseases
One Health/EcoHealth Institutional
Development and Biosafety
Prof Guy Palmer, Chair, Global Health, Washington State
University
Post-graduate Education and Training
excellence, Infectious Diseases,
Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns and
Policy
Prof Tony Musoke, Partner, LMK Medical Laboratory &
Consultancies LTD, Kampala
Research quality, vaccinology, molecular
immunology and translation of research
outputs into practical outcomes
Prof Felicity Burt, Head, Research Group, Department of
Medical Microbiol and Virology, University of the Free State
Emerging and vector-borne diseases,
Development of research excellence in
African settings
5.4 ACE Action Plan regarding Equity Dimensions (Maximum 2 pages for this section)
Describe briefly to which Results this Action Plan will contribute:
To ensure effective attainment of our target Results for equity, we will implement this Action through five
channels: (i) pro-active promotion of women into scientific academia and science; (ii) trans-disciplinary
approach for stakeholder participation at national and regional levels in research planning and at periodic
open meetings; (iii) procedures for recruiting students beyond national borders; (iv) utilization of the
Communication strategy put in place by SACIDS, SUA, NIMR and MUHAS for community, public and
policy engagement; (v) the Summer School and Forum, including inter-sectoral working groups and biennial
One Health Conferences.
Describe in some detail what this action plan entails, either comprehensively across sectors and
academic disciplines, or individually per sector and academic discipline, or by scientific topic selected:
a. Women in Academia and Research
Member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), including Tanzania, have
committed themselves to ensuring a minimum 30% staff occupancy by female candidates. We have used
this target with varying degrees of success, during our current formative phase. Accordingly, women
constitute the following percentage at the various levels: (i) Secretariat = 45%; (ii) One Health Molecular
Biology MSc at SUA = 28%; (iii) One Health Analytical Epidemiology MSc at UNZA= 31%; (iv)
MPhil/Res-MSc = 30%; PhD students = 38%; We expect the ratios to improve under ACE-II, as we now
have a cohort of women young scientists that will be able to compete for new positions in addition to those
19
from the wider market of the region. The national and regional climate for attention to gender balance has
improved remarkably since 2008. This is reflected in the national and regional representation targets in
MSc, MPhil/Res-MSc, PhD and Secretariat categories of the Center, which has had a younger bracket than
the Postdoc category. We plan to vigorously pursue the minimum target, hoping that we can reach a 30 to
40% female occupancy level during the course of ACE-II at all levels.
In order to facilitate the process towards attaining the above targets, we will also provide a 5% preferential
stipend to women PhD and MPhil/Res-MSc students. We will ensure female representation in panels,
advisory and governing boards. In addition to the legal requirements in the countries of placement for our
students, we will maintain mother students on full stipend during maternity leave for 3 months and adjust
the studentship accordingly.
b. Trans-disciplinary Consultations, Planning and Involvement
We have developed a practice by which projects include a trans-disciplinary consultation in developing
work plans and periodic reporting. These include scientists, government officials at local and national levels
from project participating countries, target communities (such as pastoral communities in the livestock-
wildlife interface areas) and, as appropriate, international collaborators and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs). In some cases, such groups have gone on to form a regional Community of Practice (e.g. for
disease surveillance) to ensure regular engagement. We intend to encourage such broad involvement under
ACE-II. This approach will also allow the Center to collaborate with government and other stakeholders in
enhancing the effectiveness of their disease surveillance and diagnostic programs as well as in providing
expertise in the Center for technical surge in response to epidemic outbreaks.
c. Students and Fellows from Across Sectors and Across geographical Borders
Our CoP research focus will help us to promote interdisciplinary interactions between medics, vets and
biologists. To further reinforce these inter-connections, we will introduce novel One Health internships for
PhD students to study for up to a 3-month period in complementary medical (for vets) or veterinary (for
medics) environments. Such internship could include work in research or diagnostic laboratories as well as
placement with regulatory agencies such as the Tanzania Food and Drug Agency or in pharmaceutical
industry or in the policy sections of Ministries responsible for human or animal health.
Thanks to funding from Skoll Global Threat Fund, we are setting up a resource center for the development
of mobile telephony programs for disease surveillance which houses medical and veterinary epidemiologists
plus ICT Programmers within the facilities of NIMR at the Regional Hospital in Morogoro, in the
neighborhood of SUA. The ICT tools being developed will have the following objectives: (a) Community
level disease information and data collection; (b) Official Medical and Veterinary Disease Reporting and
Surveillance; (c) Forward and Backward Tracing; and (d) Feed-back system to community level. These
disease surveillance tools will further stimulate the inter-sectoral internship under ACE-II. We have initiated
a cross-border, digital and mobile technology enhanced disease surveillance in the Masai ecosystem across
Tanzania and Kenya. We hope to build on this during the ACE-II to extend such cross-border activities with
at least 6 of the 8 countries that share borders with Tanzania. In this we hope to collaborate with the ECSA-
HC7 networks of Public Health Laboratories that have been supported by the World Bank funded East
Africa Public Health Laboratory Networking project. We have an established regional, cross-border
collaboration by which we have had student research activities concurrently in different countries, e.g. Rift
Valley fever during inter-epidemic periods in Tanzania, DRC, Zambia and Mozambique or anti-microbial
resistance prevalence in these 4 SADC countries.
d. Communication Strategy
7 ECSA-Health Community: The East, Central and Southern African Health Community (ECSA-HC) is a regional inter-governmental health
organization that fosters and promotes regional cooperation in health among member states. Member states of the ECSA Health Community include Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. http://www.ecsahc.org/about-
us/
20
Our Communication Strategy targets: (i) developing internal capacity for students through effective
communication with the media and with the non-academic public; (ii) Community engagement; (iii)
Engagement with national and regional policy makers, (iv) Targeting informed opinion at national, regional
and international levels. This will be aided by specific training of students and fellows; use of mobile
technologies, community radio and social media for public engagement; publishing research results in
scientific journals, translation of key research findings into policy briefs and in student participation in
national exhibitions like the annual Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (Saba-Saba) and the Agricultural
Show (Nane-Nane) under the umbrella of SUA, MUHAS, NIMR. Center students will be encouraged to use
of the Center website and social media platforms and preparing press and media releases for national and
international media. This program will be undertaken in collaboration with the Communications units of
Partner institutions that nowadays attach great importance to public engagement, as well as with the help of
specialist teams of the LIDC, SOAS-Radio and CORDS.
e. “Summer School” Channel
Our Summer Schools initiative, which started 2013, has been popular with students and fellows as well as
with health professionals from national research institutions, universities, NGOs and Ministries. So far there
have been 230 participants in short-courses, including summer schools, derived from Tanzania,
Mozambique, South Africa, Malawi, DRC, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Nigeria. We
plan to build on this success. The video-conference facility at SUA has enabled us to tap into international
expertise. It will be a key asset for expanding our international faculty for the One Health Summer Schools.
5.5 ACE Action Plan for Attracting Academic Staff and Students from the Region (Max 2 pages)
Describe briefly to which Objectives and Results this action plan will contribute:
Our Action will contribute to Objectives 1 and 3 in attracting 30% of regional students and attracting beyond
campus faculty. SUA, MUHAS and NIMR are leading institutions in Tanzania that are well respected in the
region. They also have agreements with other academic and research institutions working on infectious
diseases of humans and animals. There are established procedures for attracting non-Tanzanian students and
postdoctoral research fellows and, subject to extra-budgetary funding, visiting academics and senior
researchers. As a contribution to needs based regional capacity development for risk management of
emerging diseases, we will reserve 5 of the 30 places on the MSc OHMB program to students from recently
Ebola affected countries in West Africa and the DRC
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
Our Community of Practice (CoP) approach gives us a pool of beyond campus expertise for co-supervision
and mentorship of students and fellows. This is already improving the quality of our PhD student output as
the outlook for our students and fellows is no longer restricted to the resources and single supervisor
expertise at the registering university. The SUA Department of Microbiology and Parasitology has also a
number Visiting Professors. During Year 1, the Department of Microbiology at SUA will appoint a further
4 to 6 Visiting Professors from among Center Faculty from the region to enhance the quality of the Center
programs through the additional contribution of such an international faculty and to consolidate the
relevance of the Center to the region’s academic and research community.
5.6 ACE Action Plan for National and Regional Academic Partners (Maximum 2 pages)
Describe briefly to which Objectives and Results this action plan will contribute:
The lead Department of Microbiology will enhance its established collaboration with the 4 other
Departments at SUA as well as with 2 Medical Universities in Tanzania and 5 universities in southern
Africa, which contribute to Section 4 Objectives 1 and 3. These universities participate in the co-supervision
and mentorship of research students and fellows. They are also part of the international faculty for
curriculum development and enhancement lecturing.
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
The core institutions for our proposed Center of Excellence will be Sokoine University of Agriculture
(SUA), Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and the Tanzania National Institute
21
for Medical Research (NIMR).We will strengthen our collaboration with the Center for Emerging and
Zoonotic Diseases of the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases. This core group will
collaborate with the wider national and regional academic institutions with the following roles:
National Academic Institutions
i. SUA will provide overall technical and financial leadership of the Center through the Center Leader
and Deputy Center Leader cum Principal Investigator (Executive Director) with a dedicated
Secretariat from the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology. It will coordinate the training
and virtual graduate school component and lead the research strand that will address viral disease
threat to human health, food security and livelihoods. It will be responsible for the curriculum
development and delivery of the Center training program for Research Leadership and Management.
It will also co-coordinate with NIMR the research strand that address community One Health
security with a focus on rural, remote, cross-border and marginalized communities. The
collaborating Departments at SUA will be Veterinary Medicine across the research and training
program; the Pest Management Center for plague and disease vectors; the Development Studies
Institute for sociology and development of the training and delivery of the Research Leadership and
Management and the Department of Agricultural Economics for socio-economics of disease and for
impact assessment. It will also build on its established molecular biology expertise in pathogen
genome analysis, video-conference and ICT server capacity to serve all strands of the Center
postgraduate training program.
ii. MUHAS will be responsible for ensuring the relevance and excellence of the Center postgraduate
training program to the primary needs of human health, including leadership for student research on
neglected tropical infectious diseases, focusing on bacterial and parasitic Zoonoses as well as on
anti-microbial resistance. The Lead Unit at MUHAS will be the Department of Microbiology and
Immunology, which will collaborate with the departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and that
of Community Health. It will link with the Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences
(CUHAS), Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender,
Elderly and Children and the Prime Minister’s Office for the national preparedness and response to
epidemics of humans and animals. It will give access to public health training environments
including CPDs of One Health relevance to the Center students and fellows; relevant national
programs like National Tuberculosis, Leprosy Program and Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Other SACIDS linked Academic Institutions in the Region
iii. UNZA will also be hosting an ACE for infectious diseases. We plan the two Centers to collaborate in
student exchange especially with respect to the MSc courses,, namely OHMB at SUA and the One
Health MSc in analytical epidemiology (OHAE) at UNZA. We will also endeavor to develop
collaborative student research with the UNZA based ACE, including student and faculty exchange
and shared expertise for independent scientific advice. The UNZA-Hokkaido collaboration has also
established BSL-2 experimental animal accommodation, a valuable asset to the research component
of the Zambian students of our Center at SUA-MUHAS.
iv. Eduardo Mondlane University, Faculties of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, Maputo,
Mozambique. The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine hosts the university inter-faculty biotechnology
center, where Mozambican students and fellows from our Center at SUA-MUHAS will undertake
their research.
v. University of Kinshasa, School of Medicine in partnership with the affiliated Biomedical Research
Institute, Kinshasa, DRC, provide expertise in Ebola clinical research and training for infection
containment outbreak response. This partnership will host the Center’s Congolese students for their
research.
vi. Stellenbosch University, Medical School provides supervisory expertise to our research on the
bacterial Zoonoses theme, especially Mycobacteria for which Professor van Helden is the leading
African specialist of international repute. His department, which hosts two centers of excellence,
22
funded by the South African Medical Research Council and the National Research Fund, has a
cohort of over 60 Master’s and doctoral students and has contributed to student training. This will be
an invaluable benchmarking for our Center.
5.7 ACE Action Plan for National and Regional Sector Partners (Maximum 2 pages for this section)
Describe briefly to which Objectives and Results this action plan will contribute:
National and regional research institutions in Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC), Kenya, Uganda and South Africa provide research placements and access to specialized
facilities for our students and fellows. National Ministries responsible for human and animal health
collaborate in providing the research and training context, including sampling. National and Regional
industry that provide orientation of students to industry and commercial concepts through industry lectures,
student placement and collaboration in research and product trials.
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
The institutions that most closely associated with our activities are: (i) National Institute for Medical
Research (NIMR) of Tanzania; (ii) Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency (TVLA); (iii) Tanzania Wildlife
Research Institute (TAWIRI); (iv) The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of the South
African National Health Laboratory Services; (v) The National Health Institute (NHI), Maputo,
Mozambique; (vi) The Biomedical Research Institute, Kinshasa, Congo; (vii) The ARC-Onderstepoort
Veterinary Institute (ARC-OVI), South Africa; (viii) Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI); (ix) the
Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI); and (x) the International Livestock Research Institute –
Biosciences Eastern and Central Africa (BecA) hub in Nairobi, Kenya.
NIMR is the prime national medical research network in Tanzania. It has MoU agreements with both SUA
and MUHAS. Its institutions provide a research platform for our students and fellows. These include BSL-3
and BSL-2 facilities, the biggest mosquito collection in East Africa and national coverage. It has a Mobile
Laboratory for processing pathogens up to Risk Group 4. NIMR is part of the national and regional health
policy organs. Its Chief Research Scientist (Dr Leonard Mboera) has a personal research involvement in
several of our activities, especially in disease surveillance systems, ecoHealth and mosquito-borne diseases
as well as provision of specialist lectures and co-supervision of PhD students SUA. NIMR will also take
part in training of students in research methodology, Bioethics, scientific writing. NIMR will co-coordinate,
with SUA, the research strand that will address Community Level One Health Security, with a focus on
rural, remote, cross-border and marginalized communities.
TVLA collaborates closely with the SUA Department of Microbiology in research on transboundary animal
diseases, which will provide a rich research training platform for students and fellows, including a relatively
higher throughput of samples than would be possible with SUA working alone.
TAWIRI is the prime research organization for wildlife research in Tanzania. This has provided us with a
unique platform for studying the ecology of pathogens across the wildlife-livestock-human interface.
The NICD is a unique hub of expertise and unparalleled well equipped bio-secure facility, including the
largest BSL-4 laboratory in Africa (–see attached registrations and annual certification), for handling even
the most dangerous pathogens known. During the Ebola epidemic in West Africa the NICD set up the only
African led mobile laboratory in Sierra Leone, which in 9 months processed over 7,000 Ebola virus disease
samples in Sierra Leone? Our PhD students and Postdocs in the emerging and vector-borne diseases have
spent variable periods of attachment to the NICD as a crucial component of their research work. During the
2014/15 academic year, we placed 4 students from the OHMB MSc program at the NICD for three months
at the beginning of their year of research. We will build on this experience to repeat placements of
SUA/MUHAS students at NICD for training in biosafety and diagnostic systems for viral hemorrhagic
fevers (e.g. Ebola and Marburg), vector-borne and other emerging diseases. We hope to intensify this
relationship with the NICD under the ACE-II program.
23
The DRC Biomedical Research Institute has expertise in the epidemiology and infection containment for
Ebola and Marburg. Its Director, Dr Jean-Jacques Muyembe, is a Professor in the School of Medicine at the
University of Kinshasa. He has the unique experience of having been associated with ALL Ebola Virus
epidemics in Africa from its discovery in 1976 up to now, including the 2014/15 epidemic in West Africa.
The Mozambican National Health Institute (NHI) collaborates closely with the Faculty of Veterinary
medicine and provides a research platform for research, especially on vector-borne diseases.
The Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI – Dr Julius Lutwama) has established expertise for viral
hemorrhagic fever and viral disease surveillance that will be valuable to our Center. We already collaborate
in developing disease surveillance systems and in training of medical and veterinary professionals from East
Africa and West Africa for integrated preparedness planning against emerging epidemic diseases.
The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI – Dr RoseMary Sang) for student placement to work on
the entomology and virology of vector-borne diseases. In the wake of the Zika epidemic in South America,
we are initiating a program of research student exchange by placing 2 of our current students at KEMRI, Dr
Sang’s laboratory, to screen mosquito extracts collected in Tanzania and Kenya for Zika, Dengue,
Chikungunya and RVF using cell culture and PCR. Our Center will enhance such student placement.
Biosciences eastern and central Africa at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya
(BecA-ILRI or ILRI-BecA) – (Dr Apollinaire Djikeng). To provide additional specialized training in
DNA sequencing, genomics, advanced bioinformatics and scientific writing as well as for short-term
placement of Center students for advanced analytical research activities. One of our current Postdocs is
seeking to pass a few weeks at BecA as a short-term visiting scientist undertaking sequencing of his PCR
products derived from antibiotic resistant bacteria and to intensify his knowledge and skills for both DNA
sequencing and advanced bioinformatics for analysis of large and complex gene data.
Partnership with Industry
Our primary industry partner at the national level will be the Zenufa Laboratories (Tanzania) a
pharmaceutical manufacturing company based in Dar es Salaam. We will build on the established
collaboration between this company and the MUHAS School of Pharmacy. The collaboration will involve
student placement for practical experience and commercial orientation in a pharmaceutical manufacturing
environment as well as in collaborative applied research activities between Zenufa and the Center. From the
animal health side, we are at an early stage of discussion with a Dar es Salaam based animal feeds and
medicine manufacturing company (Farmers Centre Ltd) for possible future collaboration as an industry
partner. At the regional and vaccine development end, we will build on our relationship with the Botswana
Vaccine Institute (BVI) to introduce new vaccine strains of either improved performance or enhanced safety.
This will include placement of our students at BVI for training as well as in joint research and development
activities. BVI scientific and managerial specialists will also provide “industry” lectures to our students to
cultivate industry orientation and practices.
We have initiated developing in-house capacity for process development, prototype and vaccine/diagnostics
trials under a USAID funded collaborative project between Texas University, El Paso (Professor
DoughWatts) and the Department of Microbiology (Professor Philemon Wambura) that includes a linkage
with a Moroccan commercial vaccine manufacturer, MCI Sante-Animale (MCI). The program objective is
to train scientists (1 PhD male, 1PhD female and, 1 MSc female) and transfer cell based research and
development technology to SUA, as part of an effort to develop, test and assist in licensing a vaccine to
prevent Rift Valley fever (RVF) in animals in Africa.
At the regulatory end we are collaborating with Tanzania Food and Drug Authority (TFDA) to form a basis
for introducing students to the regulatory framework and practices that govern medical and veterinary
biological and therapeutics. This will include placement of our students at the TFDA laboratories and
Headquarters facilities as well as our Center scientists playing an increasing background scientific advisory
role to TFDA.
24
The coherence of these partnerships will be guided by our conceptual framework to develop the SACIDS
Innovation Hub for an effective and mutually beneficial collaboration with industry and the private sector.
We will seek leverage funding for translating the concept into operation.
5.8 ACE Action Plan for Collaboration with International Academic Partners (Maximum 2 pages)
Describe briefly to which Objectives and Results this action plan will contribute:
This objective will be based on the established SACIDS Partnership with the introduction of new
collaborating institutions, which contribute to Objectives 1 and 3, specifically in co-supervision of students,
offering specialized short courses (e.g. disease modeling) and joint publications.
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
Primary Collaborating Institutions:
i. LSHTM will provide (i) expertise in genomics including bioinformatics, genomics driven diagnostics
and links with the Wellcome Trust (WT) Sanger Institute and the to the newly established Bloomsbury
Research Institute; (ii) training in above subjects and the cross-cutting programs for enabling and
transferable skills. The LSHTM together with the RVC will also help us with curriculum review.
Currently one of our short-term Postdoctoral fellows is at the LSHTM undertaking whole genome
sequencing of Mycobacteria following up his PhD findings of a novel genotype of Mycobacterium bovis.
ii. RVC will contribute its international expertise on epidemiological risk modeling, analytical socio-
economics, One Health training and ecology. For the bacterial Zoonoses theme, it will collaborate with
LSHTM assisting our Center with whole genome sequencing of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) Tb.
iii. TPI has major surveillance and research programs on transboundary animal diseases, including FMD,
PPR and ASF. This offers many collaborative research training opportunities. Its newly opened UK
national virology facility will provide unique access to state of the art expertise and infrastructure to our
students and fellows. It will provide primary supervisory support to research activities undertaken within
the theme for viral diseases of food security importance, especially with respect to molecular biology
and phylogenetic analyses. TPI will also provide technical support to the functioning of the molecular
biology platform at SUA that will underpin the SACIDS research and training activities.
25
iv. LIDC brings experience in facilitating research strengthening across institutions and across research
disciplines and sectors, and will support research and training linkages, building on experience in the
current program of SACIDS.
Other International Collaborating Institutions and Organizations:
v. University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) for training in biosafety and good laboratory practice and
the El Paso campus Department of Microbiology in the School of Veterinary Medical Science for
vaccine development and trials.
vi. InSTEDD, a Silicon Valley based non-profit with a unique offering that designs and develops open
source technology tools. SACIDS collaborates with InSTEDD in the design and operation of mobile and
digital solutions for infectious disease surveillance as well as in training of ICT programs and
epidemiologists from southern and East Africa.
vii. We are exploring the potential for formal collaboration with two Chinese institutions, who have
expressed an interest in the program of our Centre, i.e (a) The Yunnan Tropical and Subtropical
Animal Virus Disease Laboratory (– contact Dr Yang Shibiao, Senior Research Scientist/Deputy
Director), through a long standing contact with Professor Rweyemamu since his tenure at FAO of the
United Nations; and (b) Huazhong Agricultural University (- contact Prof Shujun Zhang), through
the current bilateral MoU between Huazhong University and the RVC in the UK for a Sino-UK
Laboratory (contact Professor Jonathan Elliot, Deputy Principal for Research and Innovation, RVC).
viii. CORDS (Connecting Organization for Regional Disease Surveillance). SACIDS I a founder member of
CORDS. This collaboration enhances our South-South-North networking on infectious diseases by
linking with institutions, organizations and networks in Southeast Asia, Middle East, Southeast Europe,
Northern Europe and USA as well as with WHO, OIE and FAO.
ix. The Global Research Alliances for FMD, PPR and ASF. Active participation, as members of the
Global Research Alliances on FMD, PPR and ASF links SACIDS students and scientists to other
researchers and scientific meetings along with discussions on research priorities and outcomes.
x. The FAO, OIE and WHO global tripartite for our points-of-reference for standards, guidance and
collaborative activities related to infectious diseases and One Health.
5.9 ACE Action Plan for Management and Governance (Maximum 2 pages for this section)
Describe briefly to which Objectives and Results this action plan will contribute:
To strengthen our capacity for training and research excellence, we have set up a coherent management
entity under the university legal framework. Our Center for infectious diseases of humans and animals will
build on the established governance structure for SACIDS including Management and Scientific Advisory
Boards.
SACIDS was formed in 2008 through an inter-institutional agreement. SACIDS Headquarters is hosted by
Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) through Decision of the University Council (116th
Council
Meeting held on 30th
September 2010) and operates under the legal framework SUA. It is part of the
Department of Microbiology in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public
Health, within the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, but enjoys a semi-autonomous status because of its
regional nature. We will seek to consolidate the semi-autonomous nature of SACIDS, progressively into a
formal Regional Center of Excellence for Infectious Diseases of Humans and Animals under the SUA
University Charter as may be determined by the University Council.
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
The host institution will be SUA allied with MUHAS and NIMR. We will strengthen training and themed
research, supported by medical and veterinary institutions in Zambia, South Africa and United Kingdom
("Smart Partners"), whilst maintaining research collaboration in DRC and Mozambique.
At the executive level, SUA will manage the ACE-II program, with the Center Leader and Deputy Center
Leader cum Principal Investigator will provide center leadership and management, supported by a dedicated
Secretariat, for day-to-day coordination. SUA will oversee sub-contracting of relevant program activities to
partner institutions, through an already established mechanism. The Center Leader together with Deputy
26
Center Leader/PI, second Deputy Center Leader, Program Operations Manager, Coordinator for Training
and Research, Coordinators for Innovation and Technology Development and CoP leaders will constitute the
Executive Team of the Center (Fig 2).
Fig 2. SACIDS-ACE OrganogramCenter Leader (Prof Gerald Misinzo)
Deputy Leader & PI
(Prof Mark Rweyemamu)
Programme Operations Manager (Dr Filomena
Namuba)
(Secretariat)
Training & Research
(Prof Esron Karimuribo)
Innovation & Technology Development
Prof Philemon Wambura (Biologicals) & Dr Kenneth Bengesi (Equity and Career
Skills Development)
Second Deputy Leader – MUHAS
(Prof Mecky Matee)
Coordinator – NIMR
(Dr Leonard Mboera)
CoP Leaders: Profs Matee, Gwakisa, Karimuribo, Wambura and Paweska, Dr Mboera
At the programmatic level, the CoP and Training Leaders hold senior academic/research positions
(Associate or Full Professor, or Chief Scientist) at SUA, MUHAS or NIMR. They will be responsible for the
science programs and for scientific outputs; (ii) the policy engagement component of the program, will be
delivered by a 2-way process of informing research objectives from policy requirement and timely
communication of research and training results, building on SACIDS experience on issues of public and
policy engagement. We will continue to take lessons from the expertise of the LIDC for managing an inter-
institutional Center and inter-disciplinary programs, as our Center is also an inter-institutional initiative and
our One Health involves multidisciplinary approaches.
The quarterly, biennial and annual progress reports of students/fellows will be channeled through the
primary supervisor and the respective CoP Leader to the Secretariat and thence to the independent
International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) for review. The SACIDS Training and Research Support
Officer will assist the process.
At the Strategic Level: Currently, the overall oversight body of SACIDS is the Management Board
comprised of coordinators of SACIDS programs at national level in SACIDS participating countries (DRC,
Mozambique, South Africa and Tanzania), plus CoP Leaders and representatives of the UK collaborating
partners. This Board is chaired by the Vice Chancellor of SUA as the head of the Lead Institution. During
Year 1, we will restructure this Board to include eminent policy-level individuals such as Vice-Chancellors,
Heads of key Research Institutions/Organizations, eminent scientists or corporate world experts and
national/local decision makers for disease control policy. The new Board will provide strategic and long-
term guidance to the Center for Infectious Diseases of Humans and Animals and on institutional issues,
while maintaining oversight of program implementation; the management of the program will be the
responsibility of the Center Leader assisted by the Center Executive Team. The independent scientific advice
from ISAB will feed in at all three governance levels.
27
National overall oversight responsibility for all Tanzania based ACEs will be through the National
Steering Committee (NSC) of 5 to 9 members with representation from the Ministry of Education, Science
and Technology and Vocational Training, Ministry of Finance and relevant Sector Ministries, the Tanzania
Commission for Universities, the Commission for Science and Technology, the host universities for the
ACEs and the private sector. The NSC will provide guidance and oversight to its selected ACEs during the
project implementation. It will (a) oversee the implementation of the ACEs on a regular basis; and (b)
receive and review results achievement and expenditure reports, for the ACE in the country.
Leadership Succession Plan: When we first set up, we realized that our ability to develop scientific
excellence would depend immensely on the ability for institutions to absorb change. We also realized that
embedding such institutional change, and the new scientific approaches that our programs were introducing,
would be best realized by our placing some emphasis on developing “home grown” talent as a pro-active
succession development program. So we introduced the concept of “Career Development Postdoctoral
Program” that involved supporting Postdocs for 3 to 5 years, i.e. longer than the conventional transitional
Postdocs. Apart from developing their scientific skills, we have conducted leadership and management
courses for this crop of Postdocs. The individuals who have come through this career development Postdoc
program will be at the core of leadership for our ACE. For example, the Centre Leader, Professor Misinzo,
will be migrating from this program to assume overall leadership of the Centre. Professor Rweyemamu,
who set up SACIDS and who has been responsible for introducing most of the innovations of SACIDS, will
step back to be Deputy, assisting and mentoring Professor Misinzo. Similarly, Professor Karimuribo, the
first SACIDS Postdoc at SUA, is already building a team of Postdocs who are progressively assuming
primary responsibilities and who will play a key role in supervising student research in analytical
epidemiology and socio-anthropology. He will be the Center Coordinator for Training and Research. Other
former SACIDS Postdocs, like Dr Christopher Kasanga, Prof Stephen Mshana, Dr Erasto Mbugi, Prof Justin
Masumu, Prof Kim Kayunze and Dr José Fafetine will be playing key scientific roles.
5.10 ACE Action Plan for Sustainable Financing (Maximum 2 pages for this section)
Describe briefly which Objectives and Results this action plan will contribute towards:
Our Center’s strategy for Objective 4 will be to target sustainable core funding for its basic core teaching
functions and extra-budgetary grant funding for its research excellence.
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
During its formative phase, SACIDS has an established acceptance in the region and competence in resource
mobilization from international funding agencies. It has developed internal competence for fiscal operating
projects that require financial performance discipline that is associated with managing a relatively large
portfolio in an academic setting. We will build on this to introduce the following measure for financial
mobilization for sustaining the Center’s excellence. These will include: (i) an active resource mobilization
strategy that will involve each Postdoc applying for individual research project funding and the Center
Leadership, including CoP Leaders, targeting large (>USD500,000) grants for strategic and collaborative
activities, to facilitate a continuing research platform for capacity development; (ii) introduction of a
performance indicator that will require each Center academic/research staff member to attract to the Center
research funding; (iii) introduction of full economic costing for the Center projects, which will include an
allowance for accumulating a reserve fund to cater for inter-project fluctuations; and (iv) introduction of a
levy for the premium short courses that will attract regional participation. We note that academic research
excellence increasingly depends on scientific credibility, a flexible and innovative governance structure that
is able to attract performance related grant funding whether from government, inter-governmental
institutions or private philanthropy.
It will be desirable for the Center leadership to be conversant with management by objective systems that
operate in similar centers at the international level.
5.11 ACE Action Plan for Monitoring and Evaluation (Maximum 2 pages for this section)
Describe briefly to which Objectives and Results this action plan will contribute:
28
We will adopt a Results based Monitoring and Evaluation system for which we will use both internal
expertise at SUA, MUHAS and NIMR as well as engagement of an Outcome Mapping Specialist as a short
term consultant for assistance with the design and evaluation. Accordingly, this Action will contribute to all
the 4 Objectives.
Describe in detail what this action plan entails:
i. Monitoring:
The Center’s program will be translated into a detailed results framework to guide monitoring of progress
and performance. This links the program’s research themes and training programs whose outputs are
capacity development and knowledge generation with outcomes related to cultural, institutional and policy
changes. Internally, the top-level for verification will be reports to the Management Board and externally,
this will occur via the ISAB and periodic reports.
Program
strand
Result Indicators and success metrics Means of verification
The Training
Program
Activities and
outputs:
- Recruitment of
students,
coursework and
project support
- Development of selection criteria and
interview panels
- Number of students recruited and
supported as per project plans
- Project implementation as per work
plan
- Numbers of students and
fellowships established
- Development of
improved
training and
special skills
- Establishment and uptake of new
curricula, summer school, regional
conferences and special skills courses
- Annual reports to
Management Board and
ISAB
- Mid-term and terminal
reports
- Student and
postdoc support
mechanisms
- Student: supervisor ratios
- Number of international visits
- Mentoring program evidence
- Reports prepared by
training CoP leader
Outcomes
- Successful
completion of
courses
- Rate of student throughput to
dissertation and graduation
- Length of time in course
- Academic performance
- University reports
- Project reports
- Subsequent career
development and
employment of students
- Publications - Publications and presentations in peer
reviewed forums
- Project reports
- Student reports
- Application of
knowledge and
skills
- Extent of demonstration of
knowledge in new roles,
responsibilities and grant application
- Career development
- Tracer studies
- Case studies
- Post training appointments
The Research
Themes
Activities and
outputs - Research protocol setting, input
acquisition and use
- Project implementation as per work
plans
- Research findings disseminated
through publications, presentations,
and other means in line with staff
metrics
- Partner institute contributions
- Project reports
- Publication bibliographies
- Annual CoP scientific
meetings
- ISAB and external
stakeholder review
findings
Outcomes - Cultural and institutional
transformation leading to sustainable
research capacity and excellence
- Improved capacity for diagnosis,
research and advice
- Levels of cross-sectoral cooperation
- Feedback from visiting
experts
- Surveys and informant
interviews
- Grant application and
success figures
29
Program
strand
Result Indicators and success metrics Means of verification
(joint meetings, projects, policy
development) between animal and
human health sectors and institutions
and between countries
- Quotation and use of research
findings by stakeholders – peer
communities, policy makers
- Stakeholder forum reports/
publications
- evidence of behavioral or
policy changes
ii. Evaluation:
The Center will produce annual technical and financial reports. Formal mid-term and terminal program
evaluation by an independent team, to be commissioned by the World Bank-IUCEA, will involve program
partners, the Executive Team and external stakeholders, facilitated by an evaluation specialist. The formal
evaluations will review capacity, policy interaction, communication, partnerships and networking
developments, as well as training and research. Reports from ISAB and Financial Auditors will be key
resource documents.
These evaluations will report on strengths, weaknesses and problems and recommend remedies for the
remaining period of the program and beyond.
iii. Monitoring and evaluation roles:
The Center Secretariat in collaboration with the SUA Directorate for Research and Postgraduate Studies
(DRPGS) will bear responsibility for organizing the M&E and will collate and analyze supervision and
research reports. The CoP Leaders will review progress of research activities against the project milestones.
Problems will be brought to the attention of the Center Director. The performance data reviewed by the
Director will be evaluated by the ISAB and the Management Board. Periodic reviews (evaluation) will be
more holistic, taking stock of specific areas or overall program outputs and outcomes in order to identify
underlying issues and corrective actions.
Section 6: Use of Existing Physical Resources
Resource Currently Used For
and By
Proposed Project Use
Molecular Biology Research Laboratory –SUA. Following
equipment in place thanks to Wellcome Trust Grant
WT087546MA: Class II biological safety cabinets; a 7500
Applied Biosystems Fast real time PCR systems, a GeneAmp
9700 and 3 Veriti ABI for conventional PCR, Field Laboratory
System (Enigma Diagnostics) for fully automated combined
nucleic acid extraction and real-time PCR, A 3500 Applied
Biosystems Genetic Analyser for automated dideoxy cycle
sequencing of PCR products, Conventional and a nanodrop
spectrophotometers for determining quality and quantity of DNA,
gel documentation system for visualization of electrophoresed
PCR products, Ultralow freezers (-80 °C), freezers (-20 °C),
refrigerators (+4 °C) for storage of reagents and cryopreservation
of samples, and ELISA washer and reader for serology and an ice
maker. An IsoArk BSL-3 laboratory unit has been procured is due
to be installed
Thanks to grant WT104017MA, the laboratory expects to buy a
Next Generation Sequencer during 2016, subject to grant
conditions.
For research on viral
pathogens of food
and livelihoods
diseases (e.g. FMD,
PPR, ASF) and for
vector-borne viral
pathogens (dengue
virus, rift valley fever
virus, Chikungunya
virus)
Used by the
Wellcome Trust
intermediate fellow
and postdoctoral
fellows and PhD
students at the
Department of
Microbiology
Will be used by Center
PhD students and
postdoctoral fellows for
pathogen genomics for all
the five research themes –
see Section 5.2.
Next Generation
Sequencer will enhance
our capacity for whole
genome sequencing to
determine subtle genomic
variations and also multi-
agent diagnosis and/or
detection of previously
unknown pathogens.
The IsoArk BSL-3 facility
will enable us to handle
Category-3 pathogens
safely.
Genome Science Center (GSC) laboratory – SUA .Thanks to
support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation this
laboratory equipped with (i) basic molecular biology equipment
Used by MSc, MPhil
and PhD students to
undertake research on
Will be used by
MSc/MPhil students to
undertake research using
30
Resource Currently Used For
and By
Proposed Project Use
for DNA studies (PCR and gel documentation), (ii) ELISA reader
machines for antigen and antibody detection and Western blotting
equipment for the analysis of protein expression, (iii) Gene
scanner for the differential analysis of microarray gene expression
and (iv) basic laboratory equipment like ice making machine,
centrifuges, heater blocks,+4, -20, -40 fridge/freezers, and a 30
KVA diesel back-up power generator.
infectious diseases of
animals, including
diagnosis and
identification of
infectious pathogens,
molecular biology,
serological and
bioinformatics tools on
bacterial zoonoses, viral
diseases that compromise
food security and
undermine livelihoods and
Emerging and vector-
borne diseases
Molecular Biology Training Laboratories – SUA equipped with
Class II biological safety cabinet for biosafety, a Takara
Thermocycler for conventional PCR, centrifuges, electrophoresis
machines for agarose gel electrophoresis, BioRad gel
documentation system for visualization and imaging of
electrophoresed PCR products, freezers (-20 °C), refrigerators (+4
°C) and liquid nitrogen containers for storage of reagents and
cryopreservation of samples. This facility was funded from
several sources including by the World Bank funded project
entitled "Lower Kihansi Environmental Management Project
(LKEMP, IDA Credit No: 3546-1-TA) coordinated by the
National Environment Management Council (NEMC).
Used by MSc, MPhil
and PhD students to
undertake research on
infectious diseases of
animals
Will be used by
MSc/MPhil students to
undertake research using
molecular biology tools on
bacterial zoonoses, viral
diseases that compromise
food security and
undermine livelihoods and
Emerging and vector-
borne diseases
Conventional Virology Laboratory for vaccine development,
and diagnostic testing funded by USAID – SUA
A modern cell culture based biosafety level 2 research
laboratory equipped with biological safety cabinet 2, two
fluorescence microscopes, two CO2 incubators, ultralow freezers
A second building is planned for a biosafety level 2 animal
pen, capable of testing vaccines on goats, sheep, cattle or
other mid-sized animals to perform inoculations and take
and analyze samples under conditions following Good
Laboratory Practices, for use in future research efforts and
industrial product development projects.. .
For virus culture in
eggs and cell cultures
by students and
researchers
For student research in
virology,
development/trials of
diagnostics and vaccines
A dedicated Resource Center – SUA and NIMR
comprising epidemiologists and ICT Programmers equipped with
3 Servers: Power Edge R710 Rack Chassis for up to 6x3.5”
HDDS and Intel 55xx/56xx; plus
One server: PV MD3200i External iSCI Raid array with 2 Dual
Port Controllers. This facility is being funded by Skoll Global
Threat Fund and partly by Rockefeller Foundation
Set up to develop ICT
tools for disease
surveillance aided by
mobile and other
digital technologies.
MSc/MPhil and PhD
students will be able to use
the developed digital tools
and the enhanced server
capacity for data
collection, data storage and
analysis
Video conference facility - SUA:
Cisco Tandberg c40 x 12 ZOOM; including Natural Presenter
package, multisite software, Premium resolution and Dual
display. Funded by Wellcome Trust
Meetings and training Used to train MSc students
and for guest lecturers for
seminars and workshops
Community radio: Deluxe Radio Station- SUA
with 600 watt Site; link and 150-watt repeater site, including
D&tR Airmate Broadcasting console (8 Mic 8 Sterio Line 2
Hybrids), 12 Channel Production Mixing Console, BW TX600
Watt FM Transmitter V2 with built-in audio processor; BW
TX150 Watt FM Transmitter. Funder by the Canadian IDRC
Being installed in
Ngorongoro,
Tanzania
Will be used for rural
community engagement
and awareness, including
risk communication about
infectious and epidemic
diseases.
The Sokoine University Agricultural Library (SNAL) and
HINARI Program set up by WHO together with major publishers,
enables low- and middle- income countries to gain access to one
of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health
literature.
Used as virtual
library by students
and staff at SUA to
access freely up to
14,000 journals and
up to 46,000 e-books.
Used by MSc/MPhil, PhD
students, postdoctoral
fellows and faculty to
access literature
Department of Microbiology (MUHAS) Equipped with
diagnostic and research microbiology laboratories (bacteriology,
Used for
bacteriological,
Will be used by
MSc/MPhil, PhD,
31
Resource Currently Used For
and By
Proposed Project Use
immunology, virology) with the following equipment: UV
spectrometer, pH meters, Analytical Balances, Inhibition zones
reader, centrifuge, incubators, Autoclaves, hot air ovens,
electrophoresis tools, PCR machine, laminar flow cabinets,
fridge, freezers and binocular microscopes, FACSCount;
FACSCalibur, FACSCanto, ELISpot Reader Cell harvester,
Microbeta counter, liquid nitrogen plant, Bactec 960 MGIT and
Blood culture machine.
immunologic and
virologic research
and diagnosis of
diseases. Utilized by
undergraduate and
postgraduate for
practical training.
Postdocs for research on
infectious diseases
Molecular Biology research laboratory (MUHAS): Equipped
with two biosafety cabinets, centrifuges, freezers, dark room and
modern lab imaging equipment, PCR machines
For student practicals
and research.
To be used by MSc/MPhil,
PhD, Postdocs for
research
NIMR Laboratory Capacity that will be available for research student placement: NMR-Center Biosafety Areas of specialization
AMANI BSL2 Protozoology, Molecular Biology, Large mosquito insectary
National Quality Assurance and
Training Laboratory, Dar
BSL2 HIV resistance testing, Antimicrobial resistance surveillance,
proficiency testing, Hosts the National Influenza Laboratory
MBEYA BSL 2 and 3 Virology and Tuberculosis
MUHIMBILI BSL 3 Tuberculosis
MWANZA BSL 2 and 3 Microbiology, parasitology, entomology, molecular biology,
immunology, biochemistry & haematology
TANGA - Ambrela BSL2 Parasitology, Molecular biology and Microbiology
TANGA - Korogwe BSL2 Parasitology, Microbiology, Biochemistry & Haematology
and Virology
Dar es Salaam Mobile
Laboratory
BSL3
Pathogens up to Risk Group 4
Section 7: Academic Staff Resources, Capacity Building and Visiting Academic Staff
/Industry Experts Plan
Our Center pools expertise from 3 institutions and two sectors into a single entity; this enables us to generate
a critical mass of expertise for such a complex problem as developing competence for infectious diseases of
humans and animals. We have been testing this model over the last six year and we are learning how to
focus much more on our combined strength than on individual weaknesses. We have strengthened and
developed the molecular biology competence at SUA, MUHAS and CUHAS. We are also building on the
extensive network of NIMR, including its unique expertise in the mosquito vector, work on health systems
and vaccine trials. Our internal expertise in terms of gene analysis has been reinforced recently with support,
mainly from the Wellcome Trust. The 3 institutions also have credibility in epidemiology. We have started
to strengthen expertise in epidemiological modeling. Our selection of partnership with the UK and South
African institutions as well as ILRI-BecA has been carefully targeted towards strengthening our internal
capacity for molecular biology and analytical epidemiology. We will be focusing on 3 approaches:
strengthening our beyond campus appointments of Visiting academicians, co-supervision of PhD students
and Postdocs and development of joint proposals for collaborative research and thereby publications.
We will reinforce the collaboration between the natural and social sciences by tapping into the specialized
social science and socio-anthropology units of SUA, NIMR and MUHAS. Our Center will benefit from the
recent merger of the SUA Development Studies Institute (DSI) and other social science oriented units into a
single College of Social Sciences and Humanities providing us with a one-stop reference point for in-house
social sciences expertise, including gender and for developing and delivery of the Center multi-tier training
program in Research Leadership and Management. Additionally, we will be tapping into the unique
expertise of the RVC to enable us develop in situ capacity for socio-economics and ecology.
We have found the involvement of visiting academic and research staff from the region and international
collaboration, in a smart partnership arrangement to be particularly beneficial in raising the quality of
32
research by students and Postdocs (Section 5.2) as well as in curriculum development and delivery. We will
intensify this smart partnership model.
Type of Academic
Staff/Experts
(existing, visiting,
new, industry etc.)
Area of Expertise Comment (benefits)
Gerald Misinzo (PhD,
Existing), SUA
Molecular Biology,
Virology
Center Leader, workshops, teaching and research, research
collaborations, graduate training, mentoring PhD
Mark Rweyemamu
(PhD, Visiting), SUA
Virology, One Health, Deputy Center Leader, research collaboration, advisory,
mentoring PhD students/ Postdocs. Brings wealth of
international experience to the program; grant writing
Mecky Matee (PhD,
Existing), MUHAS
Microbiology,
Immunology
Second Deputy Center Leader, Workshops, teaching and
research, research collaboration, mentoring PhD students/
Postdocs
Paul Gwakisa (PhD,
Existing), SUA
Immunology, Animal
Biotechnology
Workshops, teaching and research, research collaboration,
mentoring PhD students/ Postdocs
Philemon Wambura
(PhD, Existing), SUA
Microbiology Workshops, teaching and research, research collaborations,
mentoring PhD students
Eliangiringa Kaale,
PhD, Existing,
MUHAS
Pharmacy and Quality
Assurance
Training and research supervision, Quality Assurance &
Quality Control. Link with Industry and TFDA
Christopher Kasanga
(PhD, Existing), SUA
Molecular Biology,
Virology
Teaching and research, research collaborations, graduate
training
Esron Karimuribo PhD
(Existing), SUA
Epidemiology, EcoHealth,
Disease surveillance,
modeling
Workshops, teaching and research, research collaborations,
supervision PhD students, Innovations for ICT driven
disease detection and surveillance
Leonard Mboera (PhD,
Existing), NIMR
Emerging and vector-
borne disease, EcoHealth,
Disease Surveillance
Information and Communications technology, research
collaboration, workshops, Speaking engagements
Huruma Tuntufye
(PhD, Existing), SUA
Molecular Biology, Anti-
microbial resistance
Teaching and research, graduate training, research
collaborations
Lazaro Busagala, (PhD,
existing), SUA
Information systems
Engineering
Leadership of the ICT in Learning and Teaching component
Eric Beda Mutagaywa
MSc, Contractual SUA
ICT ICT-in-learning; mobile and digital technologies for disease
surveillance
Stephen Mshana (PhD
Visiting), CUHAS
Anti-microbial resistance Guest lectures and collaborative research and training
Rudovick Kazwala
(PhD, Existing), SUA
Zoonosis, Public health,
One Health
Workshops, research collaboration, advisory, mentoring
PhD students/ Postdocs
Robinson Mdegela
(PhD, Existing), SUA
Zoonosis, Public health,
One Health
Workshops, teaching, research collaboration, mentoring
PhD students
Helen Ngowi PhD
Existing), SUA
Parasitic Zoonoses,
Cycsticercosis
Workshops, research collaboration, supervision PhD
students
Ayoub Kassuku PhD
(Existing, SUA)
Parasitic Zoonoses,
Cycsticercosis
Workshops, research collaboration, supervision PhD
students
Billy Ngasala PhD
(Existing), MUHAS
Parasitic Zoonoses,
Cysticercosis
Workshops, research collaboration, supervision PhD
students
Sharadhuli Kimera
(PhD, Existing), SUA
Epidemiology, Public
health
Workshops, research collaboration, supervision PhD
students
Kenneth Bengesi (PhD,
Existing), SUA
Agricultural economics,
Entrepreneurial economics
Workshops, research collaboration, teaching and research,
graduate training; developing and teaching Research
Leadership and Management
Carolyne Nombo
(PhD, Existing), SUA
Sociology Teaching including Gender and development, public policy
and food security; developing and teaching Research
Leadership and Management
Majigo Mtebe
(MMED, Existing),
MUHAS
Microbiology,
Immunology
Teaching and research, graduate training, research
collaborations
Bruno Sunguya (PhD,
Existing), MUHAS
Public Health Teaching and research, graduate training, research
collaborations
33
Susan Rumisha PhD,
NIMR
Statistics and modeling Graduate training, research collaboration
Joe Brownlie (PhD,
Visiting, SUA), RVC
Virology and Mentorship Guest lecturing, mentorship to Postdocs and Supervisors.
Also supports Center with strategic planning
Donald King (PhD,
Visiting, SUA),
Pirbright
Molecular Virology Guest lecturing, student co-supervision. As Head of the
World Reference Laboratory brings to the Center program
global molecular epidemiology and tracking of pathogens
David Paton (PhD,
Visiting, Dept
Microbiol, SUA),
Pirbright
Veterinary Virology and
International Disease
Strategy
Guest lecturing, co-supervision of PhD students, Postdocs
and Wellcome Intermediate Fellow. Brings to the Center
knowledge of international norms/ standards and, as former
Science Director of The Pirbright Institute, expertise of
change management for excellence.
RoseMary Sang (PhD,
KEMRI), Kenya
Arbovirology Guest lecturing, student placement
Appolinaire Djikeng
(PhD ILRI-BecA),
Kenya
Molecular Biology Guest lecturing, student placement
OTHER KEY FACULTY
Janusz Paweska, PhD,
NICD South Africa
(Visiting)
Viral emerging and
zoonotic diseases,
biosafety
Guest lecturing; hosting Center students; co-supervision
Paul van Helden PhD,
Stellenbosch
Molecular bacteriology,
especially Mycobacteria
Guest lecturing; hosting Center students; co-supervision
Hazel Dockrell, PhD,
LSHTM
Immunology and
Bacteriology
Program guidance, emphasis on human health content;
Board Member
Brendan Wren, PhD,
LSHTM
Molecular bacteriology
and pathogenesis;
antimicrobial resistance
Guest lecturing; hosting Center students; co-supervision
Dirk Pfeiffer PhD,
LSHTM
Analytical epidemiology,
risk modeling
Guest lecturing; hosting Center students; co-supervision
Jonathan Rushton PhD,
RVC
One Health economics,
interaction between
agriculture, health and
economic development
Guest lecturing; hosting Center students; co-supervision
Richard Kock Visiting
PhD, RVC
One Health, Ecology,
conservation and
biodiversity
Curriculum review; training and collaborative research
EcoHealth
Nick Short PhD, RVC ICT in Learning; Head
Electronic Media Unit,
Guest lecturing; review and guidance to enhancing ICT in
learning and linkage with RVC & LSHTM
Taane Clark PhD,
LSHTM
Bioinformatics, molecular
bacteriology
Visiting, training bioinformatics and genomics collaborative
research
Tom Kennie PhD,
Ranmore
Research Leadership and
Management
Curriculum development and delivery
Jonathan Grant PhD,
King’s College
Policy Institute@King’s Curriculum development and delivery
Section 8: Implementation Capacity, Arrangements and Plans
1. Describe the overall implementation capacity and arrangements set up to implement this proposal.
The lead institution for the Center will be SUA with MUHAS and NIMR as the primary collaborators. Its
primary locus will be the Department of Microbiology and Parasitology at SUA, which will collaborate with
the Department of Veterinary Medicine and the Development Studies Institute at SUA. The current the Head
of Microbiology Department (Prof Gerald Misinzo) will be the Center Leader, with Professor Mark
Rweyemamu, Executive Director, SACIDS as the Deputy Center Leader and Principal Investigator. The
Center will build on the foundation laid by SACIDS, which is already a major program of the University
recognized by the University Council. At MUHAS the primary collaborating Departments will be
Department of Microbiology and Immunology of the School of Medicine and the Department of Public
Health in the School of Public Health and Social Sciences. Professor Matee of Microbiology and
Immunology Department, MUHAS, will be a second Deputy Center Leader with primary responsibility for
coordinating Center activities on human health. The participation of NIMR will be through its Headquarters
34
in Dar es Salaam under the Chief Research Scientist (Dr Leonard Mboera) responsible for infectious
diseases.
The coordination of the Center program at SUA, MUHAS, NIMR and external collaborating institutions
will be by the Center Leader and the Deputy Center Leader cum Principal Investigator (Executive Director),
supported by the Center Secretariat, which includes a Program Manager with training and experience in
project management (Dr Filomena Namuba), Training and Research Support Officer and a dedicated
Finance Unit. The Center will meet 60% of the running cost of the Secretariat; the remainder will be from
leveraged project funding to the Center.
At the programmatic level, the CoP and Training Leaders from the three institutions will be responsible for
the science programs and for scientific outputs. The CoP Leaders will also oversee the management of
students and Postdocs and their interactions with supervisors and mentors according to university guidelines
and Center practices. The progress reports of students/fellows will be channeled through the primary
supervisor and respective CoP Leader to the Secretariat and thence to the independent International
Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) for review. The SACIDS Training and Research Support Officer will
assist the process.
At the Strategic Level: The primary oversight body of the Center will be derived primarily from the current
SACIDS Management Board whose composition and mandate will be expanded to reflect the diversity of
the Center program and to enable the Board address the strategic and long-term goals of the Center.
Independent scientific advice on progression towards excellence by the Centers’ program for training and
research will be provided by an International Scientific Advisory Board.
2. Academic management
SUA and MUHAS have an established quality assurance program for training excellence, including
curriculum and effectiveness of delivery. Postgraduate training is coordinated through specific Directorates
for Research and Postgraduate Studies, which in turn respond to the Vice-Chancellor through the relevant
Deputy Vice-Chancellors. There is also a national Quality Assurance system for academic and research that
is operated by the Tanzania Commission for Universities. The work program of the Center will be subjected
to these quality assurance systems. The curricula and research awards will be aligned to the TCU university
qualification framework or equivalent in the region. The Center will benefit from beyond campus input into
both teaching and research supervision through the Community of Practice approach already described
under Section 5. The wide use of the video-conference and other electronic systems (e.g. e-mail, Skype,
GoTo Meeting etc) will facilitate the involvement of the international faculty.
3 Administration, including financial, procurement, and environmental aspects
At the Lead Institution (SUA), the Bursar is the Chief Financial Officer of the university and thereby will be
the Lead Finance Manager for the Center. He is accountable to the Vice-Chancellor for all financial
operations of the University. The Bursar holds an MSc in Accounting and Finance and an International
Certificate in Computer Studies. He is a Certified Public Accountant since 1998. He has 25 years’
experience as Chief Finance Officer for SUA. During the last three years, he has been overseeing the
computerization of the financial management system at SUA. He is assisted by a team of accountants, one of
whom for the Center, there is a Grants Accountant, who holds an Advanced Diploma in Accountancy with
15 years of grants accounting at SUA. Operationally, within the Center Secretariat there will be a dedicated
Finance Unit of 2 MSc-level accountants one of whom is a Certified Public Accountant with 14 years’
experience, responsible for day to day financial activities of the Center, including control-auditing of sub-
awardees.
Procurement uses competitive bidding in accordance with university regulations, public accounts
regulations, the Public Procurement Act of 2011 and Regulations of 2013 plus World Bank grant conditions.
All purchases have to be pre-authorized. The University Head of the Procurement Management Unit (i.e
Chief Suppliers Officer) holds a Diploma in Business Administration, National Diploma in Materials
35
Management; a Master’s in Business Administration and is a Certified Supplies Professional (CSP). He has
35 years of working experience. He is assisted by a Principal Procurement Specialist who holds a Diploma
and an Advanced Diploma in Business Administration. He also holds an MBA (International Business). He
is a Certified Supplies Professional (CSP) with 35 years of working experience. For day-to-day primary
procurement activities will be handled by a dedicated Procurement Officer, who is a Certified Supplies
Professional with MBA in Procurement and Supplies.
Project financial transactions and management procedures at SUA (the Lead Institution), NIMR and
MUHAS have been established already, in compliance with university regulations. SUA will submit
periodic financial reports as stipulated in the grant conditions. MUHAS, NIMR and other sub-awardees will
be required to submit their reports to SUA in time for their expenditure to be reviewed and incorporated into
the program report to the World Bank. In line with Tanzanian policy and financial regulations and the
World Bank grant conditions, the Center finances will be subject to annual government auditing and
external auditing by an internationally reputable audit firm.
36
Section 9: Implementation Plan of each ACE Action plan
Action
Plan Activity
Timeline
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
1.0 Learning Excellence
1.1 Review of MSc Curriculum for One Health Molecular Biology
1.2 Develop e-learning content and enhance use of ICT facilities in learning
1.2.1 Engage ICT specialist
1.2.2 Deploy e-learning and management system
1.2.3 Capacity building for trainers and trainees on e-learning
1.2.4 Procurement hardware and software for e-learning
1.3 Enroll MPhil / Res MSc students and run the program
1.3.1 Facilitate MPhil / Res MSc Students attachment at partners' institutions
1.4 8Enroll MSc students
1.5 Enroll of PhD students and approval of students PhD proposal
1.5.1 Organize PhD students attachment and travel to partners institutions
1.6 Scoping workshop, curriculum development and delivery of Research Leadership
and Management Skills Course
1.6.1 Workshop 1 – Scoping, planning & development workshop
1.6.2 Curriculum development – visit to the UK and training developing
1.6.3 Workshop 2 – Foundations of Research Leadership
1.6.4 Workshop 3 – Core Research Leadership Skills
1.6.5 Workshop 4 – Advanced Research Leadership - 1
1.6.6 Workshop 5 – Advanced Research Leadership – 2
1.7 Develop curricula for CPD
1.8 Curriculum review and launch open course for subscription
1.9 Organize One Health Summer School
1.10 Organize training in biosafety and Laboratory Quality Management
1.11 Procure training laboratory materials and equipment
1.11.1 Maintenance of equipment
1.12 Engage laboratory manager
1.13 Engage training and research support officer
2.0 Research Excellence
2.1 Upgrade effluent treatment of the BSL- 3 facility
2.2 Refurbish student training laboratories
8 MSc students start in September/ October each academic year
37
Action
Plan Activity
Timeline
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
2.3 Engage Postdoctoral Fellows
2.4 Organize Research topics and supervision for MSc by course work
2.5 Organize Research topics and supervision for MPhil / Res MSc
2.6 Organize Research topics and supervision for PhD students
2.7 Organize Research topics and mentorship for Postdoctoral fellows
2.8 Coordinate student research on antimicrobial resistance and emerging diseases of
high risk to southern and East Africa
2.9 Publish research findings
2.10 Attend and present papers in Scientific Conferences
2.11 Monitor progress of Postdoctoral fellows, PhD, MSc and MPhil students
2.12 Organize travel for faculty from partner institutions (national, regional or
international) for supervision and mentorship
2.13 Train supervisors on supervision skills
3.0 Quality Assurance
3.1 Organize trans-disciplinary inception workshop to refine Implementation Plan,
Define and allocate research themes, CoP structures, Supervisors/Mentors
3.2 Organize Management Board/Board of Trustees meetings
3.3 Organize quarterly Executive Team Meetings (one physical and three virtual
meetings in a year)
3.4 Organize International Scientific Advisory Board (ISAB) meetings
3.5 Organize joint scientific conference
3.6 Review research and training performance
3.6 Review and develop center business plan and center strategic programs for new
generation research and training
3.8 Develop center criteria for selection and performance appraisal for students and
supervisors
4.0 Equity Dimensions
4.1 Integrate courses on gender issues in the Masters training programs
4.2 Recruit and Engage Communications Manager
4.3 Hold communication stakeholder engagement workshop
4.4 Communication engagement with policy makers and the public in the region
4.5 Develop Center Communication Strategy
5.0 Attracting Academic staff and students from the region
5.1 Enroll 30% regional MSc students
38
Action
Plan Activity
Timeline
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
Q
1
Q
2
Q
3
Q
4
5.2 Enroll 30% regional PhD students
5.3 Faculty and PhD Exchange
6.0 National & Regional Academic Partners
6.1 Engage and collaborate with partners
6.2 Carry out joint research and training activities
6.3 Develop and publish joint scientific publications
6.4 Develop and apply joint research proposals
7.0 National and Regional Sector Partners
7.1 Engage and collaborate with regional sector partners
7.2 Carry out joint research activities
7.3 Placement of students on industrial training
7.5 Develop and publish joint scientific publications
7.6 Develop and apply joint research proposals
8.0 Collaboration with International Academic Partners
8.1 Engage and collaborate with partners
8.2 Carry out joint research and training activities
8.3 Develop and publish joint scientific publications
8.4 Develop and apply joint research proposals
8.5 Placement of students in Academic institutions
9.0 Management and Governance
9.1 Review functions of Board of Trustees/Management Board
9.2 Organize Board of Trustees/Management Board meetings
9.3 Support Center operation costs
9.4 Organize mission to London by Center Leader plus 1 or 2 CoP Leaders to become
acquainted with the governance and management systems
10.0 Sustainable Financing
10.1 Introduce full economic costing framework
10.2 Develop grant proposals by Postdocs, Senior Scientists and CoP leaders
10.3 Coordinate development of strategic collaborative major grant proposals
11.0 Monitoring and Evaluation
11.1 Develop KPIs for all research activities
11.2 Carry out monitoring
11.3 Meeting for National Steering Committee
1.4 Carry out External Audit
39
Section 10: Main Cost Items of the Proposal
ACTION PLAN LIST MAJOR ITEMS/GROUP OF ITEMS THAT ARE REQUIRED TO
CARRY OUT EACH ACTION PLAN IN SECTION 5
COMPONENT
ESTIMATED
COST
ACTION
COST $
Learning Excellence
2,468,830
Review of OHMB Curriculum 14,000
Develop e-learning content and enhance use of ICT Facilities in learning 43,500
Engage ICT Specialist 72,032
Training and Research support officer 80,555
Enrol 5 MPhil/ResMSc; Stipends, Research fund and Registration 157,363
Enrol 28 MSc Students; Stipends, Research fund and Registration 632,044
Enrol 10 PhD; Stipend, Research fund and Registration 925,750
Scoping workshop, curriculum development and delivery of research Leadership &
Management Skills Course. 205,500
Summer School/Skills enhancement short courses Yr. 2,Yr 3,and Y4 49,000
Equipment and Laboratory software for students practicals 141,585
Engage Laboratory Manager 37,500
Procure Two 4x4 Center vehicles and maintenance 110,000
Research Excellence
444,180
Upgrading effluent treatment of the BSL-3 Facility 45,000
Refurbishing teaching labs at Dept Microbial - SUA 81,000
Engage 2 Post Docs;Stipends, Research funds 211,680
Publishing research findings 24,000
International Travel for Directors CoP Leaders and academics including
participation/presentation at scientific conferences 82,500
Quality Assurance
445,750
Trans-disciplinary inception workshop 50,000
Board Meetings annually shared 75,000
Organize quarterly Executive Team meeting 30,000
Oversee and coordinate quality assurance strategy for centre budget 117,000
ISAB twice a year (once year dedicated; 2nd mtg a year shared) 153,750
Review research and training performance 20,000
Equity Dimension
180,000
Recruitment/Engagement of Communications Specialist/Manager 75,000
Communications Stakeholders engagement workshop 30,000
Engage Policy makers and Public 75,000
40
Attracting Academic staff and Students from the
region
735,067
Enrol 3 MPhil/Res-MSc; Stipends, Research fund and Registration 67,441
Enrol 12 MSc Students; Stipends, Research fund and Registration 270,876
Enrol 5 PhD; Stipend, Research fund and Registration 396,750
National and Regional academic partners
560,700
Carry out joint research and training activities 430,200
Organize Joint Scientific research 60,000
Scoping workshop, curriculum development and delivery of research Leadership &
Management Skills Course. 49,500
Summer School/Skills enhancement short courses Yr. 2,Yr 3,and Y4 21,000
Collaboration with international academic partners 311,094
Engage and collaborate with partners 130,900
Attachment of PhD students primarily at UK and South African Institutions 180,194
Management and governance 809,379
Support Center operation costs :Centre Management & Coordination salaries,
including contribute 25% contract Deputy Leader & PI 371,042
Support Center operation costs: Salaries for Administration staff and Contribution to
secretariat & Departmental operational costs 438,337
Monitoring and Evaluation System 45,000
Carrying out Monitoring (And control auditing of partners) 20,000
Meetings of National Steering committee 10,000
External Auditing 15,000
Total Project activities 6,000,000 6,000,000
Co-financing including SUA Provision of Laboratory space, Specialised equipment,
Administrative and financial management support and payment for utilities 1,456,200
TOTAL 7,456,200
41
Section 11: Implementation Risks
1. Center Leadership and Sustainability of Excellence. We have identified the overall
leader of the Center as the current Head of Department of Microbiology and
Parasitology at SUA. The current Head is a respected molecular virologist committed
to the cause of the Center. The tenure of the position of Head of Department at SUA
is three years renewable, a process that is not automatic. It is not guaranteed that the
next Head of Department will necessarily be a molecular biologist with professional
interest in infectious diseases of humans and animals. We will protect the continuity
of the Center’s excellence by adopting the SACIDS model as a management entity
within the Department of Microbiology and therefore, which will always be managed
by an individual with due qualifications and experience that are pertinent to infectious
diseases of humans and animals, independent of the Departmental Headship. We will
also encourage Center scientists to apply for individual project funding. The CoP
Leaders with the Center Secretariat will be required to proactively seek leverage
funding for the Center programs and collaborative proposals with our external
partners. To this end we have already taken up subscription with Research Africa to
assist with identification of relevant funding sources. To ensure sustained excellence
in teaching, academic staff engaged in the Center’s Postgraduate program will be
subject to quality assurance monitoring by the university, will undergo training in
leadership as outlined in our training program . Finally, our strategy for partnership
with industry is designed to contribute to sustainability through mutually beneficial
collaborative arrangements. In this regard, we will seek to pursue funding
opportunities that will enable us to develop our USAID-funded collaborative pilot
process development and biological testing unit with the University of Texas, El Paso
into a viable Process Development and Biological Centre that can provide R&D
support to nascent pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing companies in the region
and/or attract international companies to act as a technically reliable unit for their
Phase 2 to 4 clinical/ vaccine trials.
2. Currency stability and inflation. The Tanzania economy is subject to fluctuations in
the value of the Tanzania Shilling and in inflation. We will take steps to shield the
work of the Center from such fluctuations by maintaining most of the money in a
Forex account and limiting transfer to the Tanzania Shilling account on as needed
basis.
3. Power supply: Tanzania experiences fluctuations in electricity supply that could
affect work flow of the Center. We mitigate these risks by including UPS with
sensitive equipment such as sequencers that we have included a budget component for
a standby generator that will be dedicated to the Molecular Biology Laboratory at
SUA.
Section 12: Additional Information Relevant to the Evaluation of this Proposal
MUHAS is constructing a new campus and teaching hospital at Mlongazila, about 25 km
from Dar es Salaam, on the way towards Morogoro. With this expansion, the MUHAS 2014 -
2023 Corporate Strategic Plan envisages an increase of student enrolment in order to address
the severe shortage of human resource in the country. On completion of the first phase of this
campus (2016/17), it is expected that the University will be able to increase student
enrolment from 2952 in 2012/2013 to 15,000 by 2023/2024. This expansion in student intake
will be accompanied by a concomitant increase in the research facility
42
Section 13: Agreement of Key Members of the Proposal Implementation Team