More Information on the Grants

(from http://www.aaas.org/international/africa/hiv/summary.shtml)

The AAAS Africa Program has launched a two-year initiative, Women in Higher Education and Science: African Universities Responding to HIV/AIDS. The initiative will catalyze activities by East African universities in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It will focus on enhancing science education and strengthening community outreach to foster civic engagement with HIV/AIDS efforts.

The initiative was launched with a workshop, held 3-5 December 2001 and featured presentations and discussions with U.S. science education experts, U.S. and African non-governmental organizations, and university teams from Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya. Some 55 participants met in Nairobi, Kenya,

• to discuss the extent and impacts of the HIV/AIDS crisis in East Africa, with special reference to universities,
• review what responses have been undertaken by universities in the region thus far, and
• formulate specific proposals to address areas where university action is most urgently needed.

The proposed action plans, begun at the workshop itself were submitted to a competitive review process for funding support. Four university teams were selected to attend the 2002 Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER) Institute in the United States and to receive additional support for program implementation. The workshop and its follow-up activities are funded by a grant awarded by the Association Liaison Office for University Cooperation in Development (ALO) and administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Although the grant money is small ('seed money' as Bornbusch puts it), new textbooks and CDs will be vital to helping jump-start courses in HIV-AIDS.

Bornbusch is working on compiling more information on HIV-AIDS for CD-ROM. He asked science educators from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) for a 'top ten' list of reading materials on HIV-AIDS. Bornbusch plans to burn this information on to CDs in order to create additional resources for the universities

Return to main article.