Human Rights & Science (HR&S) is challenging the fact that the number of extremely poor people in Sub-Sahara African countries (SSA) is increasing every year, despite the development aid programmes. Our vision is a shift of paradigm where aid dependency is replaced by international equal partnership and extreme poverty is eradicated. We claim that scientific research, innovation, and social enterprising drive the transition. We also claim that the implementation of locally developed solutions is empowered through international equal partnership. Thus, HR&S offers coaching to academic institutions, advanced laboratories, social entrepreneurs in Sub-Sahara African countries. We also offer support to policy makers, development institutions, CSR programmes, suppliers from Europe, and the supporters in the civil society.
Our strategies are profound and our team is excellent. We have registered local branches in eight Sub-Sahara African countries and a volunteer driven organisation in Sweden. We have assigned 30 expert advisers who provide advice and training in their different disciplines. We have launched four networks for Sub-Sahara Africa countries addressing researchers, technician, entrepreneurs and development stakeholders. Our team is composed of 100 active persons with unyielding ethics and we are scaling.
Team-members are carefully selected, to have intrinsic motivation, unyielding ethics and to contribute with the skills required for the company to excel. Leaders shall understand and act on the needs of each team-member.
The challenges
The poverty rate in Sub-Saharan Africa has not fallen fast enough to keep up with population growth in the region and 433 million Africans are estimated to live in extreme poverty in 2018, rising from 284 in 1990 (Schoch & Lakner, 2020). In 2020, official development assistance (ODA) by member countries of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) amounted to USD 161.2 billion. ODA DAC) as government aid that promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries (OECD, 2019). The DAC has measured resource flows to developing countries since 1961. Special attention has been given to the official and concessional part of this flow, defined as “official development assistance” (ODA). The DAC first defined ODA in 1969, and ODA is the key measure used in practically all aid targets and assessments of aid performance.
Africa faces some of the toughest challenges worldwide, some of which include poor disease management strategies, poor infrastructural development, food insecurity, poor hygiene and sanitation, lack of potable water, and climate change hazards. It is commonly agreed that scientific research is one of the cornerstones of the development of any nation, but Africa contributes with less than 1% of global research output. The barriers to conducting research in Africa are related to that the conditions under which research is done in Africa are severely flawed and do not encourage engagement in research, or continuity of research activity. In many Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries, research management and support (RMS) capacity is poorly developed, contributing towards the low research production from SSA universities and research institutions relative to their counterparts elsewhere. Already in 2003 Kofi Atta Annan, when serving as Secretary-General of the United Nations, stated that as a result of uneven global distribution of the resources to build and maintain scientific capacity, a large portion of new science is created by researchers from industrialized countries, and much of that science neglects the problems that afflict most of the world’s population.
Although scientific researchers, innovators and development stakeholders in Sub-Saharan Africa do present amazing solutions to national and international challenges, their ideas are often unrecognised and unsupported. Consequently, findings tend not to be implemented, and businesses not to be started, and as a result, the community lacks access to products and services that would otherwise have strengthened the society. Human Rights and Science (HR&S) claims that the implementation of locally developed solutions is empowered through international equal partnership collaboration.
References
our solution
Our Vision & Mission
Human Rights & Science (HR&S) is challenging the fact that the number of extremely poor people in Sub-Sahara African countries (SSA) is increasing every year, despite the development aid programmes. Our vision is a shift of paradigm where aid dependency is replaced by international equal partnership and extreme poverty is eradicated.
We claim that scientific research, innovation, and social enterprising drive the transition. We also claim that the implementation of locally developed solutions is empowered through international equal partnership. Thus, HR&S offers coaching to academic institutions, advanced laboratories, and institutions supporting social entrepreneurs in Sub-Sahara African countries. We also offer support to policy makers, development institutions, CSR programmes, suppliers from Europe, philanthropists and givers.
Our procedures
We work with researchers, technicians, entrepreneurs, and development stakeholders, perfecting the way we train and coach businesses and institutions in Sub-Sahara Africa countries.
Our expertise has been generated from 15 years of experience from
operating in Sub-Sahara African countries in close collaboration with
local stakeholders. We have focused on lessons to be learned and taken carefully assessed informed decision to adjust our tools, during this time. As a result, have we been able to developed a unique and innovative management strategy. We aim for sustainable impact and use evidence to measure impact in all our operations.
We have registered local branches in Sub-Sahara African countries, a volunteer driven organisation in Sweden, and have held 100 webinars, workshops and seminars. Our team is composed of 30 local trainers, project managers and auditors, 20 volunteers in Sweden, 30 expert advisers, and four part-time staff members at HR&S HQ Stockholm. We are eager to scale.
User-driven. It is our partners in Sub-Sahara African countries who identify the scope of our collaboration, why the outcome is wide. HR&S offers facilitation services and products, and invests effort to learn lessons and take informed decisions. We measure progress and distiguishe between output outcome and sustainable impact. Outputs are quantified results from the HR&S own activities, outcomes are initiatives taken by our partners as a result of the outputs and sustainable impact when structures have been formalised the the HR&S partnership is no longer needed. Results have been compiled since 2009.
Measuring progress & learning lessons, Output, outcome & sustainable impact. We measure evidence based progress or no progress, learn our lessons and take informed decisions. When we measure results we distinguish between output, outcome and sustainable impact according to our own definitions. Outputs are quantified results from our own activities and we have full control over the output (workshops, coaching sessions, practical strategy development, surveys, business loans etc.). Outcomes are initiatives taken by our partners as a result of our activities (financially sustainable laboratories, profitable businesses, loans and training offered to under-served communities, integration of stigmatized populations etc.). Sustainable Impact are activities that have become sustainable over time and do not require HR&S backup any longer (sustainable and profitable social enterprises and laboratories, sustainable academic curricula that ensures scientific findings and publications etc.). The Sustainable Impact is measured at the time of closing the programme and, if possible, also after one, two, five, and ten years.
How we organise our selves
Our team is composed of dedicated and professional experts, with a deep understanding and unyielding ethics. Our team covers a wide range of expertise required for our mission and is composed of:
- HR&S Headquarters. Management & Operations in Stockholm.
- Advisory Board of Trustees.
- Expert advisers.
- Action10.
- Local branches operations team in our target countries.
- RISE Support Centre Coordinators.
- RISE Support Centre members (PMP, Programme Management Partners).
- RISE Company customers (TP1, 2 and 3, Target partners).
Our Outcome challenges
Scams
From the literature it can be concluded that 419 scams from Africa towards foreigners is increasing significantly. Scamming mzungus has become a billion dollar industry, annually. This is a relevant topic for our research management programmes for two reasons: i) Out institutions will be attacked by 419 scams, and ii) scammers will reach out to our programme as a shortcut to foreign funds for their own benefit, but without doing exactly the 419 scam, but by seeking support that they do not intended to invest according to agreements or interact in other ways.
It is generally agreed that the reasons behind the scamming are:
i) Some governments are percieved as corrupt and thus serve as a role-model for the population to get involved with scamming,
ii) there are not enough higher institutions for education leaving many illiterate, combined with lack of infrastructure leading to that also educated people are jobless
iii) some of those with high positions in the society, already rich, well-educated, with good senior employment positions, wants more,
iv) the wage gap between the rich and the poor is increasing,
v) lack of rule of law; the risk of being caught is limited, and if it happens the scammer will most likely will share a portion of the profit, as bribes, and will then be released,
vi) many believe that further developed countries made African countries the way they are today as a result of colonalization and slavary. Scammers rationalize their criminal behaviour because they believe they are trying to recover what has previously been stolen from them.
The important issue is thus to not attract scammers, and if we do, make sure we explain our mission. The bottom-line is that the programme and scammers actually have the same ultimate goal, fair and equal opportunites for all. HR&S claims that a sustainable development can only be achieved through a transparent and accountable equal partnership collaboration between countries and continents.