Strengthening the Administration and Grants Management Capacity of Research directorate at Baylor Uganda through training

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Project Summary/ Abstract Baylor College of Medicine Children's Foundation-Uganda (Baylor-Uganda) is a not-for-profit organization established in 2006. The organization is a leading provider of integrated high quality and high impact HIV, TB, Maternal and Child Health services, health training, and research in Uganda. Baylor-Uganda has grown its portfolio from managing only 3 grants (< 1 million USD) in 2006 to over 20 grants currently being managed and worth over 22 million USD. The role of grants administrators and finance management teams is crucial to sustaining proper stewardship of these esteemed grants. Although some grants provide opportunities for capacity building, the bulk of these opportunities are skewed towards research scientists to the disadvantage of grants administrators whose role in grant acquisition cannot be overstated. In order to increase institutional capacity to win and manage grants, research administrators must be equipped with the right skills for effective and efficient management of the National Institute of Health (NIH) grants. This proposal aims to address these concerns and develop this gap in skillset and expertise. The goal of the project is to strengthen research administration capacity at Baylor- Uganda and other regional institutions for improved management of awards. In order to achieve this goal, Baylor-Uganda is seconding two Senior Administrators for advanced training in grants management and business practices. The Senior Administrators will receive training from: 1) our partner institution, the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA; 2) the Grants Management Program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); and 3) a post-award grants management training workshop organized by NIAID. Upon their return, these administrators will share their new knowledge with junior administrators at Baylor-Uganda and other partner institutions by providing low-cost training and mentorship. The administrators will also implement new business practices aimed at streamlining the grants management system and establish a Resource Center. The Center will offer training and mentoring for research administrators from partner institutions, and create a forum for sharing innovations, challenges, and opportunities in grants management and research administration. By the end of the eighteen month period, we will have created two institutional grants management leaders, trained and mentored 26 junior administrators and 25 research scientists in Uganda, improved grants management through the implementation of an improved system and, provided training and grants management support to over 50 research administrators.