Strengthening Gender Equality & Social Inclusion in Africa’s Research and Innovation Ecosystems

This GESI study examines how the Research and Innovation Systems for Africa (RISA) Fund has supported gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) across research and innovation ecosystems in six African countries from 2021-2026. The study was conducted to understand the extent of RISA’s influence, identify successful strategies used by awardees, and generate lessons and recommendations to strengthen future GESI integration.
The review draws on a desk study of RISA documents, monitoring data, and ten key informant interviews with awardees and country teams. The analysis explored ecosystem level outcomes, institutional practices, and inclusive participation across the programme.

The findings show that RISA helped increase awareness and action on GESI across universities, accelerators, innovation hubs, and policy actors. Awardees contributed to policy reforms, such as Ghana’s disability inclusion blueprint, and helped embed GESI practices within institutions through guidelines, budget allocations, and more inclusive leadership structures. Direct support to women, youth, and persons with disabilities-through mentorship, funding, training, and visibility platforms-also strengthened participation in research and innovation spaces.

Early shifts in norms were observed, especially around disability inclusion and women’s leadership. However, progress was uneven. Short funding cycles made it difficult to achieve or measure long-term change, and many stakeholders still equated GESI mainly with gender, limiting deeper intersectional work. Limited data, sociocultural norms, and inconsistencies in reporting frameworks also reduced the visibility of GESI outcomes.

The study concludes that RISA has laid strong foundations for more inclusive research and innovation ecosystems. To sustain momentum, longer funding cycles, clearer GESI guidance, stronger measurement frameworks, and deeper ecosystem level interventions are needed. Future programming should support inclusive institutional reforms, expand intersectional approaches, strengthen national level partnerships, and invest in capacity building for both innovators and the institutions that serve them.