Foundation Gma Dakar-Senegal

Research and development programmes aimed at West African countries frequently lead to insufficient permanent impact. On the one hand it happens because local needs are not considered a priority during the set-up stage of the programmes. On the other hand there is a lack of infrastructure that is required to serve as a basis for permanent implementation of results. Foundation GMA wants to do something about it by means of setting up an organisation in Senegal which ensures that input of local experts is taken into consideration at the initiating stage of programmes, their realisation and their implementation. Besides the Foundation GMA aims to contribute to permanent implementation of results by creating local frameworks as well as by clear definition of conditions and requirements. GMA deals with interconnected problem areas in a interdisciplinary way and works on the basis of local networks.

Context
>(Bilateral) cooperation with developing countries in the form of research and development projects either at governmental level or in a form of private initiative often does not lead to the expected results. The reasons are multi-fold: a project does not meet the local needs (lack of relevance), the set up of the project is inappropriate (lack to quality), problems in the implementation (feasibility) or such aspects as embedding and monitoring of the results are overlooked (too little attention to implementation). In order to guarantee the output of investments in development cooperation, projects and programmes must be reviewed at an early stage on aspects of relevance, quality, feasibility and implementation in the local situation. In this case concept definitions and their interpretations might differ depending on the situation. Therefore the criteria for projects might also differ per case. In general it can be stated that contribution from local experts is barely being taken into account in defining and applying of criteria. Knowledge and experience which have been gained in local situations are not sufficiently exploited in the set-up of programmes. As a result thereof the implementation of the projects and their outputs are endangered. >Moreover, projects in developing countries ("low-income countries") do not always lead to the desired results because the knowledge and experience in the set-up and implementation of activities still leaves much to be desired. Synchronising research and development projects with policy objectives, reviewing projects on relevance, quality and feasibility, effective management during the implementation stage, useful evaluation techniques and the application of implementation strategies are fields to be worked on. This development on the basis of bilateral cooperation can be stimulated with assistance from the Western countries and organisations. The goal thereby is supporting local infrastructures for research, development and implementation in several fields of social life (sustainable economic growth, health care, animal well-being, education, environment) in order to reinforce local development process. >Large groups of immigrants from developing countries live currently in the Netherlands and in the rest of Europe. They deal with health problems which sometimes differ from those of the local population. The way they handle health, sickness, prevention and curing is frequently also different. There is still little knowledge available in the West about genetics and culture specific issues concerning the life of immigrants. As a result, these groups do not make optimal use of local systems for care and prevention, therefore their general medical condition is weaker than average and their life expectancy lags behind. Knowledge and insight from the country of origin can contribute to the definition and the solution of those problems. It is in this context that the Foundation GMA wants play a role.
GMA Organigram

Laste Update
12/04/ 2011

The press

Laste Update 12/04/ 2011

The press

Laste Update
12/04/ 2011