June 3, 2019 – COAR and WACREN are pleased to announce a new collaboration agreement to advance open access and open science in Africa.

 

Greater access to the results of research will contribute to improving the visibility and value of research outcomes. However, Africa is a large and very diverse continent and for open science to be adopted widely, services must reflect the variety of national and local priorities and needs in the region.

Through this agreement, COAR and WACREN have committed to working together to strengthen local, national and regional capacity and services for open science and open access. The agreement builds on the previous year’s work of the LIBSENSE project. This project, led by WACREN, with support from EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) and COAR, convened the high-speed networks (NRENs) and library communities in Africa in a series of workshops that helped to identify collaborative activities related to open science.

 

“African countries need to determine their own paths towards sustainable open access and open science”, says Boubakar Barry, Chief Executive Officer,  WACREN.

“We appreciate the expertise and input from COAR as we define our ‘made in Africa’ solutions”.

 

This agreement will see WACREN and COAR continue to collaborate through the LIBSENSE initiative. COAR will contribute knowledge about global trends and technologies, provide expertise related to repositories and other open science services, and ensure WACREN is engaged at the international level. WACREN will provide its African perspectives to the international discussions convened by COAR.

 

“I very much look forward to building on the already productive relationship with WACREN”, says Kathleen Shearer, COAR Executive Director, “and to contributing to a strong African presence as open science progresses around the world.”

 

For more information, please contact:

 

Kathleen Shearer, Executive Director, COAR, kathleen.shearer@coar-repositories.org (www.coar-repositories.org)

 

Omo Oaiya, Chief Strategy Officer, WACREN, omo.oaiya@wacren.net

(www.wacren.net)

 

COAR (Confederation of Open Access Repositories) is an international association with over 140 members and partners from around the world representing libraries, universities, research institutions, government funders and others. COAR brings together the repository community and major repository networks in order to build capacity, align policies and practices, and act as a global voice for the repository community.

WACREN (West and Central African Research and Education Network) is a non-profit organisation registered in Ghana, with a mission to build and operate world-class network infrastructure, develop state of the art services, promote collaboration among national, regional, international research and education communities and build the capacity of the REN community.

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