Connecting Cameroon: Equity in Research Sharing through Open Access

Roseline Bawack

Funding Area: Capacity building / Construcción de capacidad

Problem Statement: Cameroon has ten public universities, more than 100 private institutions of higher education, and approximately 700 laboratories. The research from these entities has the potential to enhance scholarship in all areas, including creative and critical thinking, the discovery of agricultural innovations, finding cures for diseases, addressing local solutions for climate change, and more. However, only two public universities have adopted separate open access (OA) policies. The essential role that open access plays (and can play) in economic development is well documented. In addition, the absence of an open access policy has enormous consequences for students and researchers in Cameroon and for the broader global research network. The primary reason for the lack of OA policies is the lack of involvement of the different stakeholders (decision-makers, librarians, publishers, students, researchers, and teachers) in the promotion and implementation of open access and open data in both public and private universities. Without requisite policy infrastructure, there are missed opportunities for new discoveries, for access to knowledge resources, and for the ability to contribute to the development of a sustainable and inclusive research ecosystem needed for Cameroon to contribute to the UNDG, and to attain Emergence by 2030.

Proposed Activities: Connecting Cameroon will conduct a Train the Trainer capacity building workshop focused on developing an OA policy and promoting an OA culture to ensure widespread research sharing. The training will be open to stakeholders at higher education institutions across Cameroon who can be advocates at their institutions for moving an OA agenda forward. The participants will include at least one person from each of the ten Cameroon public universities as well as participants from private institutions. The three-day training will be held at a central location in Cameroon (for example, at the University of Bertuoa, a public university). The training will be a two-part process. There will be an initial three-day, in-person training session to introduce OA concepts, share OA advocacy case studies, and engage in a hands-on exercise using the UNESCO open access policy template to create a draft OA policy for each institution. To ensure continued engagement and adoption, there will be a follow-up online session later to answer concerns, share progress, and support participants. Resources Required Summary. The personnel resources needed are one trainer and one project manager. Additionally, funds are needed to cover the costs of the in-person session, including room rental and food and travel costs for participants and the trainer and project manager. Details. Personnel Ms. Bawack will create curriculum and conduct all training. (ADLSN staff are paid as consultants) A project manager to oversee meeting logistics, communications and reporting will be identified. Stipend for the Technical Leads at University of Buea and Yaoundé II Other cost centers Catering and travel costs for the in-person training session (3 days x 20 participants) Room Rental (3 days) Internet package to ensure reliable connectivity during the training session Schedule Month 1: Kickoff meeting. Month 2-5: Prepare the curriculum. Month 3-5: Engage in communications to spread the word about the training. Month 6: In-person training. Month 7-8: Compile feedback from training. Month 9: A follow up online meeting(s) with participants. Month 10: Write final report.

Openness: Open access is at the core of this project. The training will focus on best practices for how to develop an OA policy and how to reach out to researchers to promote an OA culture at their universities. We will engage in outreach to ensure full attendance and also to inspire others by sharing successes broadly. The Consortium of Cameroon Universities and Research Libraries (COCUREL) is well connected with higher education institutions across Cameroon, so they will partner with us to promote the project. Association of African Universities (AAU), African Union (AU) and Association for the Promotion of Open Science in Haiti and Francophone Africa (APSHOA) will also support our outreach efforts on a regional and pan-African level.

Challenges: Resistance to change is a challenge that we will need to overcome. Participants will have to fully understand and appreciate the benefits of OA and be equipped with data and talking points for being advocates for OA themselves. Another challenge is ensuring that participants follow up and continue to work toward creating OA policies and engaging in advocacy at their institutions. We feel the follow-up online sessions will help mitigate this risk by providing a venue to address questions and concerns that have arisen since the first training.

Neglectedness: We are not aware of funding opportunities at this time to cover this work. We have not applied to other funders for these activities.

Success: We will administer pre- and post-training questionnaires to assess the participants’ level of knowledge regarding OA. Our training will be successful if there is an increased understanding of and willingness to advocate for OA at their universities. Also, we hope to have commitment by a majority of participants to share with their administration the OA policy that will be drafted during the training session. The in-person training experience will result in a cohort of professionals who can support each other in the future. We will engage in communication via social media and through our partners. We hope to attract the attention of external and internal government funders to provide the resources to expand the efforts to other universities in Cameroon and to advocate for a national open access policy.

Total Budget: $14,848

Affiliations: African Digital Library Support Network (ADLSN) is uniquely suited to take on and succeed at this project. ADLSN’s team brings a range and depth of expertise as well as the connections to tap into its larger network across Africa. All ADLSN country coordinators live in Africa. All ADLSN projects and partners are in Africa. ADLSN’s projects have been focused on improving access to knowledge of African-created content. Some of our projects include: Building an information management solution for South Africa Sugarcane Research Institute. Conducting training events in Ghana and Ethiopia for how to build open source solutions. Building repositories for universities across Ethiopia, which led to the creation of the National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia (NADR). (https://nadre.ethernet.edu.et/) Implementing a knowledge management system for the Rwandan government. In partnership with KIT Royal Tropical Institute, conducting a study on building a Knowledge Platform for East Africa Community (EAC). Defining and implementing improvements for the African Union archive platform for its member states. ADLSN has already done the legwork to secure partnerships with key stakeholders that will help to make Connecting Cameroon a success. We have secured memoranda of understanding (MOU) and letters of interest from pan-African, regional, and national stakeholder organizations, including: Association of African Universities. African Union’s Cameroon Regional Office. Association for the Promotion of Open Science in Haiti and Francophone Africa (APSOHA), an organization focused on the promotion of open science. Consortium of Cameroon Universities and Research Libraries (COCUREL), a non-profit organization authorized by the Cameroon Ministry of Higher Education. The Department of Library and Information Science at the University of Yaoundé II. International Centre for Research and Documentation on Traditions and African Languages (CERDOTOLA).

LMIE Carveout: Our Connecting Cameroon project fits within the LMIE carveout. The majority of the Connecting Cameroon project team live and work in Cameroon. All participants will be from Cameroon and all training sessions will take place in Cameroon.

Team Skills: The lead trainer on this project is Roseline Bawack. Ms Bawack is ADLSN’s Cameroon Country Coordinator and a Librarian and Lecturer at the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Yaoundé II, Catholic University of Central Africa and Protestant University of Central Africa.

Submission Number: 69