The Caribbean Academy of Sciences was inaugurated in Trinidad in May 1988. It has five divisions covering the natural, agricultural, medical, engineering and social sciences. Current membership stands at 200 members, including scientists from the English-speaking Caribbean, Guadeloupe, Cuba, Guyana and Suriname. It is an independent, non-governmental body aiming to: provide a forum for interchange among scientists on important issues related to the application of science and technology to development; serve as a source of advice to regional, governmental and non-governmental organizations in scientific and technology matters; facilitate cooperation among scientists and promote the coordination and execution of scientific research in all its aspects; liaise with relevant research organizations and assist in facilitating their mutual interaction; recognize and reward outstanding performance and achievement within the region in the fields of science and technology; raise the level of scientific consciousness in the region and increase the public understanding and appreciation of the importance and potential of science and technology in human progress; establish and maintain high standards and ethics in all scientific endeavour.

KIST was created by the Government of Rwanda in Nov. 1997 as the country's first technological institute of higher learning. Its establishment was one of the Government's strategies to find a lasting solution to the daunting task of human resource capacity building. From small beginnings, today KIST has grown to over 400 staff & around 3,000 full- & part time students. KIST comprises two campuses, namely KIYOVU (main campus) and REMERA. The main campus is located in the heart of Kigali within the vicinity of embassies & diplomatic missions. Initially, the premises served as a Military Academy before the Government transformed it into the present institute to cater for the training of technical personnel which are critical to the country's development. The Remera campus is situated on the outskirts of Kigali, about 20' drive from the main campus. It also has old buildings that once served as a Vocational Training Institute under the Ministry of Public Service & Labour before it was handed down to the new institute. KIST's curricula has been designed within the overall context of the Rwandan Higher Education System and takes care of mature age entry arrangement for the disadvantaged categories who may not have had the opportunity to go through the mainstream education system. It also endeavours to address community needs through students' community and field attachment.

Makerere University is Uganda's premier institution of higher learning founded in 1922. It has 11 faculties, 6 institutes and 5 schools to a student body of about 36,000 at undergraduate, Masters and PhD Level. Makerere University Faculty of Computing and Information Technology (CIT) (www.cit.ac.ug) is the main computing and ICT training, research and consultancy centre in the region. Its academic programmes range from certificates to Doctorate level in computing and ICT related fields namely; Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, Data Communications, ICT Policy and Regulation, and Computer Networks. It has a student body of 4049 undergraduate and 276 postgraduate of which 65 are on PhD. These numbers exclude those on short courses. CIT is involved in a wide rage of projects, partnerships and collaborations with the public and private sector (at both national and international levels). Such include: training and capacity building, scientific research, community outreach, and policy advice on a wide range of computing and ICT issues.

The Meraka Institute/CSIR (African Advanced Institute for Information and Communication Technology) is a national intervention by the South African Government, based on an original proposal for such an intervention by the South African President Thabo Mbeki in 2002. It is aimed at bringing critical mass and focus to research in ICT, to enable innovation in ICT contributing to national socio economic objectives and to facilitate strategic human capital development in ICT as reflected in its mission: “The Meraka institute undertakes and facilitates world-class, needs-based research and innovation in ICT, thereby developing intellectual and human capital for the benefit of the economy and the quality of life of the people of South Africa and the African continent.” Meraka was established as a National Research Centre operating within the CSIR with its own strategic advisory board, combining existing and new ICT research related institutions in South Africa. The CSIR is the largest scientific and technological research, development and implementation organisation in Africa and has been operating for more than 50 years. The CSIR's mandate is as stipulated in the Scientific Research Council Act: “The objectives of the CSIR are, through directed and multi-disciplinary research and technological innovation, to foster, in the national interest and in fields which in its opinion should receive preference, industrial & scientific development, either by itself or in cooperation with principals from the private and public sectors, and thereby to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the people of the Republic”. CSIR is structured around 5 operating units (Built Environment, Biosciences, Defence, Peace Safety & Security, Natural Resources & the Environment, Materials Science & Manufacturing) and 4 National Research Centres. CSIR has worked in FPs since FP4 and was the most successful African research organisation in FP6.

Sigma Orionis is a private company founded in 1984 and established in Sophia Antipolis, close to Nice (France). It is specialised in the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) area with a focus on Science and Technology (S&T) aspects both being considered today as key drivers in achieving sustainable development, prosperity and economic growth. Orionis is working with leading companies, research laboratories, institutions and authorities active in the ICT area worldwide and is developing a wide range of services: business intelligence and search for partners, technology assessment and market research, organisations of business and cooperation events, project definition, management, development and evaluation, back office of groupings, alliances, and associations.

Established in 1913, the Association of Commonwealth Universities is the oldest inter-university network in the world. Today's ACU combines the expertise and reputation of over ninety years' experience with new and innovative programmes designed to meet the needs of universities in the 21st century. Higher education is more international than ever before. The market for students and staff is a global one. Research funds are increasingly allocated on an international, collaborative basis. Academic reputations are based on global connections. Innovation and good practice do not stop at national borders. Its five hundred members are spread across five continents, representing a diverse range of institutions. ACU provides forums for universities in Australasia, Canada and the UK to benchmark their research contract/grant activity, and for those in Africa and South Asia to compare their extension work programmes. At a time when tertiary education has never been higher on the development agenda, ACU's experience in fostering collaboration between developed and developing country universities has never been more relevant or important.

TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, represents the best of science in the developing world. Its principal aim is to promote scientific capacity and excellence for sustainable development in the South. TWAS is an autonomous international organization, founded in Trieste, Italy in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the South under the leadership of the late Nobel laureate Abdus Salam of Pakistan. Originally named the "Third World Academy of Sciences", it was officially launched by the then secretary-general of the United Nations, Javier Perez de Cuellar, in 1985. Since its inception, TWAS's operational expenses have largely been covered by generous contributions of the Italian government. The Academy's more than 800 Fellows and Associate Fellows are elected from among the world's most distinguished scientists. Fellows are citizens of the South; Associate Fellows are citizens of the North who either were born in the South or have made significant contributions to the advancement of science in the South. About 80 percent of TWAS's membership are Fellows representing more than 70 countries in the South. A Council, elected by members every three years, is responsible for supervising all Academy affairs. A small secretariat headed by an Executive Director assists the Council in the administration and coordination of the programmes (contact us). The secretariat is located on the premises of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. TWAS's main objectives include: To recognize, support and promote excellence in scientific research in the South; To provide promising scientists in the South with research facilities necessary for the advancement of their work; To facilitate contacts between individual scientists and institutions in the South; To encourage South-North cooperation between individuals and centres of scholarship; To encourage scientific research on major developing-world problems. To achieve these goals, TWAS runs a variety of programmes, including the provision of research grants to scientists in developing countries and the world's largest South-South training and research fellowships scheme. Since 1986, TWAS has supported scientific research in more than 100 countries in the South.

The Panos Institute West Africa has been founded as an international NGO in 2000 (as an output of a West African programme initiated in 1988) with a mission to “build a democratic communication space in Africa for change and social justice”. Based in Dakar, Senegal, PIWA is developing its activities in West & Central Africa and beyond, through an extensive network of contacts/offices. PIWA's overall objectives are: To develop an all-inclusive political, legal & professional environment conducive to the establishment of communication & social change a focus on democracy & poverty reduction; To produce, disseminates & makes accessible an information favourable to social change; To build communication capacities of actors of social change. PIWA has 5 different ways of working: Organise debates; Produce media content & disseminating material for journalists at national & regional levels; Enhance capacity building & training; Produce publications; Provide resources & services (PIWA has progressively developed activities that position it as a resource centre with technical/material/organisational facilities). These include technical & material resources on radio/ICT & organisational resources provided basically through activities aimed at networking organisations. PIWA's ICT programme includes activities that are of longer time & cross-cutting: the Center for ICT international policies for Central & West Africa (CIPACO) set up in 2004 (with the aim to strengthen stakeholders capacity for a better participation in international decision process regarding ICT policies); the Haayo-Mediatic project on "Media and ICT issues in West Africa" supported by OSIWA (bilingual news portal dedicated to ICT and media issues and to the innovative use of ICTs by communities, call for aticles, regional workshop on media and ICT issues, etc.).