Abstract:
Benin’s contribution to RSIF: Benin attended the 5th PASET Forum in Kigali, Rwanda
in May 2019 and the RSIF-RCU organized a national
workshop on RSIF in Cotonou in December 2019. Benin
joined PASET in 2021, contributing US$2 million to RSIF
through its ACE Impact project. The Minister of Higher
Education and Scientific Research represents Benin in
the PASET Governing Council and the Director sits in the
PASET Executive Board.
80% of Benin’s contribution directly supports training of
Beninese scholars and is currently partially committed
to enrolled students in the RSIF PhD scholarship
programme. The plan is to recruit around 12 more
Beninese students in Cohort 4. The potential of Benin’s
innovative expansion due to this investment is multiplied
when leveraged by the funds through matching support
from various donors, including the Government of Korea,
international partner institutions and others.
By being part of RSIF, Benin benefits from joint resource
mobilization with other countries and capacity building
for PhDs and research and innovation far into the
future. PASET aims to mobilise over USD 500 million
into the RSIF endowment fund, with an estimated 20%
to be allocated to research and innovation projects for
the benefit of citizens and institutions of participating
countries. Many African countries are interested to be
part of this.
