Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise “G. Caporale” (IZSAM) and the Italian Ministry of Health, with the support of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Pretoria(UP), organised the Second ERFAN workshop in the SADC Region. The meeting, titled “Strengthening Networking and Building Relationships to develop the scientific and research capacity in the SADC Region”, will be attented by the representatives of National Veterinary Laboratories and Faculty of Veterinary Science from 8 SADC Region countries. The workshop took place at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria. The workshop was an opportunity to make know the OIE financing of ERFAN project and to introduce the others four Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali (IZS) participating in the ERFA Network. The Italian partners will describe their strengths in terms of activities and experiences.
African representatives of scientific institutions from 8 different African countries discussed the strengthening of research through Enhancing Research for Africa Network – ERFAN: the scientific network established in Teramo in March 2017 during the first international meeting organized by IZSAM, which was attended by 17 institutions from 13 African countries.
The meeting focused on the action plans and emphasized the network structure, composed by a Secretariat, a Scientific Committee, a Steering Committee and seven Working Groups.
The specific session was dedicated to financial sources, from the International Organizations, as OIE, FAO, EU and IAEA.
The objectives of the workshop was to strengthen networking between African and Italian partners of ERFAN, to enhance the support to OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborative Centres in the SADC Region, to discuss on the research activities and the project proposals with the participants; to identify funding (public and private) sources for implementation of regional projects; to identify the membership of regional working groups; to establish the bodies of ERFAN Organization: the Scientific Committee, The Steering Committee, The Advisory Members and the Project Proposals Reviewers and to identify the road map until the next general and regional meetings scheduled for 2019.
