DFG, the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), funds collaborative research projects between scientists in Germany and their counterparts across Africa, working on neglected infectious diseases and their social impact. The DFG Africa initiative was launched in 2004, with a call from the Foundation’s president that the projects should be of a high scientific level; that they should allow for equal partnerships between German and African scientists; and that provision should be made for the training of junior scientists, as well as allowing German researchers to have access to scientifically interesting topics of tropical medicine in Africa.
In an audio interview (recorded in June 2016, in Yaoundé, Cameroon by SciDev.Net) Andreas Strecker, a programme director responsible for the Foundation’s Africa initiative, expands on DFG’s funding criteria and reflects on certain broader themes relevant to the collaborative projects. They including the relationship between research funding and development outcomes and perceptions of value for money from the German taxpayer.
