By MANGOA MOSOTA

A funding organisation will support research in East Africa to the tune of Sh1.4 billion.The funding will cover researches along the Lake Basin in the next three years.

The Lake Victoria Research Initiative (VicRes) will fund 30 research projects starting January, next year.

"We will increase our annual funding per project from $50,000 (more than 3.5 million) to $200,000 (about Sh15 million)," said Sylvance Okoth, VicRes’ deputy regional co-ordinator.

Fish on sale in Kisumu. Scientists have embarked on research to improve lives of people in the lake basin. [PHOTO: WINSLEY MASESE/STANDARD]

The programmes usually take three years. Dr Okoth said so far, they have funded 96 projects, but the number would be scaled down to 30.

"The reduced number will have more impact on the beneficiaries. Besides, it will be easier to manage them across the region," he added.

Okoth said the move was aimed at uplifting the livelihood of the more than 100 million people, living on the Lake Victoria Basin, which covers Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.

He said they have been allocating each project $150,000 in three years, but with the new plan, it will increase to $600,000. This represents a 75 per cent increase.

Concurrent projects

Okoth said there are 460 researchers involved in the programmes in the five states, which run concurrently.

"They are reputable researchers drawn from universities and research institutions," he said.

The official was speaking yesterday at Dunga Beach, Kisumu, during the launch of a Sh1 million boat tour.

The boat will support an eco-tourism project initiated three years ago aimed at making tourism an alternative to fishing for more than 300 youth.

In 2001, the EAC States signed an agreement with the Department for Research Co-operation of the Swedish International Development Agency to establish a research fund.

A year later, VicRes was formed as a research programme implemented by the Inter-University Council for East Africa.

The programme’s core activity is to fund research in the East African region as part of the Lake Victoria Development Programme, which focuses on environmental restoration and improvement of the livelihoods of people in the basin.

Since then, staff of universities, research institutions and firms involved in research have been supported to undertake multi-disciplinary and regional researches.

The researches are aimed at enhancing scientific understanding of the poverty-environment and to disseminate information and technological innovations.