OSSREA secures research funds from donors and uses it to support research activities through two types of research grant award programs: Social Science and Gender Issues Research Grant Competitions and Senior Scholars Research Grant Competition.

Social Science and Gender Issues Research Grant Competitions

These are annual competitions for young scholars working in various research and higher education institutions based in the Eastern and Southern African Region.

Major Objectives 

·      Providing support to social science and gender-focused research particularly by young scholars of the region

·      Publishing and disseminating the grant winners’ research outputs that are deemed to be original

·      Building the research capacity of research and academic institutions in the region by providing a rigorous research experience to their younger members.

Participant Institutions/ Countries 

All young researchers and academics working in OSSREA member countries of the region and holding at least a Master’s degree are eligible to apply. 

OSSREA’s Role in Project/ Programme     

This is one of the core programmes of OSSREA.  OSSREA announces the annual competitions using its web site, posters, and newsletter, and by disseminating the information though the OSSREA Liaison Officers and Executive Committee members based in the various universities to ensure wider publicity for the research competitions.  

OSSREA also selects a jury comprising three reputed scholars from the region for each competition and these will in turn select the best fifteen proposals from among the applications submitted for each competition. The winners are invited to the OSSREA Secretariat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to fine-tune their project proposal by participating in a mandatory workshop.  During the workshop the winners will sign a project agreement with OSSREA to carry out the proposed research project. OSSREA will release the grant fund to the winners in phases.

Funding Sources          

Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (Sida/ SAREC), Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD), The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ford Foundation. 

Project/ Programme Outputs 

Project/ Programme Life-span  

The Social Science Research Competition was launched in 1988 while the Gender Issues Research Competition was launched in 1989. Since then, both competitions have been running without interruption. 

Contact Person Address

Senior Scholars Research Grant Competition

For senior scholars of the region; to retain this capacity within each institution and, over time, stem the tide of brain drain from each country; and to contribute to the establishment and thriving of an African research tradition.