AAP Bridging the Gap: Amplifying Collaboration & Accessibility Among Anglophone and Francophone Researchers and Communities for Knowledge Exchange

Ann Allegra

Funding Area: Critical shared infrastructure / Infraestructura compartida critica

Problem Statement: AAP Bridge (https://aapbridge.com/) is an online research collaboration platform of the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP), a consortium of 10 African universities, a network of agricultural policy institutes, and a US university. AAP Bridge allows users to connect, collaborate, and exchange knowledge; users include researchers, administrators, and students from AAP members, and industry partners, community members, and practitioners outside the consortium. Users build their profile, share articles and research, post grants and fellowships, have access to professional development resources, and make connections based on shared interest in research or funding opportunities, allowing for collaboration across the consortium, multiple sectors, disciplines, and global regions. A challenge within the consortium is the divide between anglophone and francophone research communities, with the backdrop of the global challenge of the marginalization of non-English speakers. With the growth of English as an academic lingua franca, full inclusion of our francophone colleagues has been difficult. Due to continental geo-language differences, AAP Bridge has encountered limitations in effectively achieving inclusivity and facilitating collaborations. This limits accessibility and participation from our francophone members in Mali and Senegal, users in those countries, and across francophone Africa. AAP’s priority in the next five years of its strategic plan is addressing these issues.

Proposed Activities: The project will include the following activities conducted by our team of web developers in collaboration with the AAP Communications Team during a one-year period. 1) Incorporating web components that enable the translation of AAP Bridge to French and exploring mechanisms to facilitate project collaborations. This includes: a) Translating all menus and components of the site into French so users can switch between English and French. b) Translating the help resources and site guidance into French. c) Incorporating features that allow researchers who speak either French or English to have live chats with one another translated through a feature such as Google Translate, potentially with a voice note. d) Building in the ability to add voice notes to live chat. 2) Holding a virtual event to launch the new language features and to raise visibility of AAP Bridge among potential francophone users.

Openness: AAP Bridge is open to anyone. New users can simply create an account and begin sharing content and connecting with other users. Our primary audience includes researchers, students, and administrators of AAP member institutions. Additional users include past research and implementation partners, alumni of our exchange programs, community members, donors and funders, etc. Faculty, staff, and researchers view AAP Bridge as a platform for sharing information, linking with other colleagues, and growing their research audiences. AAP seeks to bring people and organizations together to work toward common goals. Global challenges are too vast and complex for any person or institution to go it alone. We envision and work toward innovative models of research partnership that will address these challenges—facilitating new relationships among people and organizations that may not have traditionally worked together in the past. Bridges need to be built between educational institutions and researchers across different disciplines, and among institutions across Africa and the globe.

Challenges: Through these upgrades to the AAP Bridge, users will be able to create content in their preferred language. However, there is a risk that the accuracy of translated content does not capture the same meaning compared to the original. There also may be third-party tool limitations that will affect the translation, etc. Additionally, all menus and site components should be updated in parallel in any future updates to the AAP Bridge infrastructure. Finally, there is the challenge of raising visibility of the site among francophone researchers and users who were previously excluded because of language. Recruitment of new francophone members will need to be a priority.

Neglectedness: The visibility of research and innovation on the African continent needs to be elevated. The AAP Bridge aims to do this by connecting researchers, communities, other strategic partners, and communications staff at AAP partners. This is the first time that AAP has submitted a proposal for this kind of upgrade to AAP Bridge. Though the team keeps apprised of funding opportunities, we have not seen an opportunity such as this one, which focuses on expanding access to infrastructure for research collaboration and partnership.

Success: The project has two goals and their associated metrics: 1) Users can manage the site in English or French to collaborate within the platform. Metric: The user can switch the AAP Bridge site to French or English. The use can refer and collaborate to shared content in either French or English. The user can add content and contribute to the community without the language barrier. The number of posts in French. The number of users who use French as a default on the site. 2) Keep researchers connected across languages. Metric: AAP Bridge users can use live chat, utilize the language translator for live chat, and can send send voice notes in either French or English. This project would be considered a success if the AAP Bridge were able to grow the userbase of francophone users across Africa (with priority for Mali and Senegal where there are AAP member institutions) and increase collaboration between anglophone and francophone users, both on and off the platform.

Total Budget: $24,998

Affiliations: AAP is a consortium of 10 African universities, a US university, and a network of agricultural policy institutes. The fiscal sponsor and administrative home is at the US university - Michigan State University. The other members of the consortium are: Egerton University - Kenya, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources – Malawi, Makerere University – Uganda, Université des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines de Bamako – Mali, United States International University-Africa – Kenya, University of Botswana, Université Cheikh Anta Diop – Senegal, University of Dar es Salaam – Tanzania, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, University of Pretoria - South Africa, and the African Network of Agricultural Policy Institutes (ANAPRI) – Zambia.

LMIE Carveout: A majority of AAP consortium members are based in Africa. AAP has management offices in Lilongwe, Malawi and East Lansing, Michigan, and the communications team members working on this project are located in Botswana, Malawi, and the U.S. Most AAP Bridge users are in Africa and affiliated with African universities and institutions. AAP consortium members are committed to working in equitable partnership and utilizing evolving models of engagement in line with the consortium’s guiding principles of accountability, equity, inclusivity, sustainability, and transparency. AAP members partner around core thematic areas to transform lives on the ground through engaged research and scholarship that address shared challenges.

Team Skills: The AAP communications team includes a Communications Coordinator, AAP Co-Directors, Program Managers, Program Assistant, and a Communications Intern. The team also engages with communications staff at each of the consortium members to amplify the research outcomes and partnership activities of consortium members. The team is led by AAP Communications Coordinator Abraham Mamela, a science communication and engagement expert. He founded and led a knowledge management company based in Botswana and has been in the field for 12 years, accruing in-depth techniques and experience in collaborating with scientists, business, communities, policymakers, and the media. His interest is in working with African scientists and various stakeholders towards building science development and participation among Africans and creating research ecosystems in Africa. He is a recipient of the prestigious Wellcome Trust International engagement Fellowship, where he explored best practices in incentivizing science development process in Africa by bringing like-minded people, scientists, and communities together to explore trade opportunities in the science process. He also led a creative science engagement project initiative in Botswana, South Africa, and India called Arting Health For Impact that explores street art and biomedical science engagement. He recently co-founded Heartstring and Heartbeats, a mental health project initiative that seeks to explore mental health issues among creatives.

Submission Number: 48