Weekly highlights – 16 November 2015

1. Quote

“After our workshop in June, we presented what we learned and our project proposal to the mayor and the local school board. There was an initial resistance to the proposal for the creation of an M&E team because it seemed like we were questioning and auditing the Department of Education. For our second meeting, we emphasized that evidence is important to improve our programmes, and the district supervisors became supportive and agreed with the creation of the M&E team.”

Participant in an evidence-informed policy making course for education policymakers in the Philippines, which was supported by a VakaYiko grant

2. Updates

• We have published three new Stories @ INASP from recipients of VakaYiko grants (see publications section, below)
• Our November photo of the month shows an open-access inspired rangoli (with fine colour power) designed by Vrushali Dandawate as part of Open Access Week activities supported by an INASP grant
• One of the members of the VakaYiko Consortium, GINKS, has published four video interviews with policymakers who attended the recent 10-day EIPM training course in Accra:
  • Vera Alomatu, Principal Internal Auditor, Opportunities Industrialization Centers Ghana (OIC Ghana)
  • Glory Nana Yaa Nartey, Chief Architect, Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing
  • Abraham Allotey, Project Coordinator/ Head, Editorial Unit, Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD)
  • Gabriel Tandoh, Deputy Director, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts

3. Upcoming events

• Veronika Schaeffler will be Kenya between 14-21 November for an African Regional Licensing and Negotiations workshop. The workshop, facilitated by Ann Okerson and Helena Asamoah-Hassan, will include delegates from Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe & Kenya.
• INASP is a gold Sponsor for the forthcoming UbuntuNet-Connect 2015, the 8th Annual Conference of the UbuntuNet Alliance for Research and Education Networking. Taking place in Maputo Mozambique between 19-20 November, the conference will be preceded by a four-day Training-the-Trainer workshop for NREN and campus IT engineers. As part of its sponsorship, INASP will be supporting six engineers – two from each of RENU (Uganda), TERNET (Tanzania) and ZAMREN (Zambia) to attend the workshop and conference. Peter Burnett, Programme Manager for Library Curricula and Network Management, will be attending the event and will be meeting with the CEOs of the three supported NRENs.

4. Recent publications

• African library consortia take part in licensing workshop and training of trainers – INASP News, 12 November 2015
  A regional workshop of African library consortia will take place in Kenya next week aiming to build knowledge and understanding of the licensing process to secure access to online literature, interpretation, law, negotiation and implementation.
• Tip of the Week #259 – AuthorAID, 11 November, 2015
• Innovation Grants for Projects Using Online Research Literature – AuthorAID, 10 November, 2015
• Online course promotes the use of knowledge and evidence in policy – Stories @ INASP, 9 November, 2015
  Case Study by Vanesa Weyrauch and Leandro Echt of Politics & Ideas
• Kenyan roundtables support cross-sectoral climate-change work – Stories @ INASP, 9 November, 2015
  Case Study by Ms Winnie Asiti and Dr Cosmas Ochieng of ACTS
• Improving capacity for evidence-informed education policy in the Philippines – Stories @ INASP, 9 November, 2015
  Case Study by Anne Lan K. Candelaria of Ateneo de Manila University, published on Nov. 9, 2015
• Conciseness: Valuable Visually as Well as Verbally – AuthorAID, 8 November, 2015
  An insight from a graduate student
• Tip of the Week #258 – 4 November, 2015
• Re-skilling librarians in an age of rapid technological development – Practising Development, 3 November, 2015
  Agnes Kanzira Namaganda is an Academic Librarian, Information Literacy Instructor, and Head of Book Bank/Acquisitions Section at Makerere University Library, Uganda. She has been supported by INASP through a 2015 Leadership Grant , and here she reflects on some of the library skills supported through INASP grants and activities
• Call for mentors: Medicine and Healthcare – AuthorAID, 3 November, 2015
  Are you a senior researcher or editor who can provide mentoring support to up-and-coming researchers?

5. External coverage                                                                 

• New grant available for projects using online research literature – Globelics, 12 November, 2015
• How Do You Use Peer Assessment Effectively In Moodle? – Moodle News, 10 November, 2015
  Article by INASP Associate Ravi Murugesan
• 10 Training Programme on EIPM Ends in Accra – GINKS, 10 November, 2015
• 10 day EIPM trainings ends in Accra – official website of government of Ghana, 10 November, 2015
• 10 day training course on EIPM ends in Accra – Ghana News 24.com
• 10 day training course on EIPM ends in Accra – WN.com
• Ghana: Ginks Trains Civil Servants in Evidence-Informed Policy Making – All Africa.com, 26 October, 2015