Profile

Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio) is one of the four regional networks in Africa. It has been established with the regional Hub being hosted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in the Republic of South Africa.

The network covers 12 countries in the sub-region which includes: Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Seychelles, Republic of South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

At the regional workshop on NEPAD S&T flagship programme held in Johannesburg in November 2004, nominations were received for members that should serve on the steering committee for the network. The workshop also resolved that the network activities will be involved in human health, animal health/production, industrial and mining bio-processing, environmental remediation and plant/crop biotechnology. The network was officially launched on 5th August 2005.

Vision

SANBio's vision is to utilise biosciences for social economic development, particularly contributing to improved health, food security and sustainable livelihoods of the people of Southern Africa.

Mission

The mission of SANBio is to build and strengthen capacity in biosciences through networking, promotion of scientific excellence and harnessing of the indigenous knowledge for sustainable utilization of natural resources and wealth generation of the people of Southern African.

Goal

The overall goals of SANBio are:

• to enable Southern Africa to harness and apply science, technology and related innovations to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development
• to build capacity in the region to ensure that Southern Africa contributes to the global pool of scientific knowledge and technological innovations
• To bring new innovative bioscience related products in the market by capitalizing on the expertise in the region.

Objectives

The strategic objectives of SANBio are to:

• Address Southern African problems in agriculture, health, and environment through the application of bioscience technologies
• Use new developments in biosciences to protect the environment and conserve biodiversity in Southern Africa
• Build and strengthen human capacity in biosciences in Southern Africa
• Promote access to affordable, world-class research facilities within Southern Africa
• Harness indigenous knowledge and technology of the Southern African people for sustainable utilization of natural resources and wealth generation

Outputs

• Knowledge generation in the form of effective validated skills.
• Well trained researchers in the field of biosciences.
• New products and services that will result from research projects.
• New partnerships that will develop from consortium based research.
• Capacity building in the area of biosciences.
• Intellectual Property and publications that will result from projects.
• Techno parks that will be developed as a result of partnerships with the private sector.
• A reduction in the loss of expertise by providing a conducive environment and good incentives for African and international scientists to work in Africa.