**5. Addressing sustainability planning in research project proposals: an exemplar**

In this section, sustainability planning in research project proposal development in higher education research is exemplified. This is done to drive home forcefully the thesis of the chapter that ensuring project sustainability requires more than addressing financial sustainability alone, and that donors look at critically, scrutinize and fund proposals on the basis of how they address financial sustainability vis-à-vis other different but equally important aspects of sustainability to ensure that these projects continue to exist to deliver required impacts even after primary funding from donors recede or dry out completely. To be able to do this, excerpts from a research project proposal submitted recently in responds to an Open Call for project proposals for funding from a renowned multilateral funding agency is drawn upon for purposes of exemplification. For purposes of succinctness of presentation, the issues to be presented are dealt with under three sub-headings, namely: information about the Open Call for proposals; addressing the development challenge and impact of the proposed African Centre of Excellence for

Educational Leadership and Teacher Training (ACE-ELTT); and outlining the sustainability plan for the proposed ACE-ELTT project.3

#### **5.1 Information about the open call for proposals**

The Africa Centres of Excellence for Development Impact (ACE Impact) project is an initiative of the World Bank which is being implemented through/by the Association of African Universities (AAU) to, among other things, improve the quality, quantity and development impact of postgraduate education (defined to include Master's and PhD degrees, and short term professional level courses and training) in selected universities in Africa through regional specialization and collaboration [26]. Each ACE Impact Centre proposed for funding is expected to identify an aspect of a developmental challenge (i.e. relative its host institution and country) that can be addressed with an integrated programme of work that is achievable over the period of four and half years project duration.

The ACE Impact project consists of three components, namely: establishing new and scaling-up well-performing existing ACEs for development impact; fostering regional partnerships for emerging centres and regional scholarships; and enhancing regional project facilitation, and monitoring and evaluation. This Call for Proposals, to which our research project team responded with a project proposal, is focused on the first of three components (i.e. establishing new and scaling-up well-performing existing ACEs for development impact).

As indicated in the Guidance Notes for the Open Call for proposals [26], Component 1 aims to build and strengthen the capacity of competitively selected ACE centres based in higher education institutions across West and Central Africa. To this end, each ACE centre is expected to address a regional development challenge through: higher quality postgraduate education addressing the skills gap and tackling priority applied research questions; leading regional education networks; and delivering short-term courses. In consultation with stakeholders, the centre are to update and/or launch new postgraduate degree programmes that are accredited to meet international high-quality standards. The centres are also expected to offer curricula that ensure that their students have the demanded competences upon graduating from their degree programmes, including analytical, digital, and entrepreneurial competencies.

According to the Guidance Notes for writing up proposals attached to the Open Call [26], partnerships with national, regional and global sectoral stakeholders (i.e. private enterprise, including but not limited to, multinational, regional, national or local enterprises; Ministries and other public authorities; chambers of commerce,; trade groups and professional associations; hospitals; policymakers; and other appropriate stakeholders) and academic institutions will ensure that the ACEs focus their activities on the education and research needs to solve specific problems associated with the targeted development challenge. Centres are expected to disseminate their research findings to policymakers and companies, as well as through international peer reviewed journals. Further, each Centre, according to the guidance notes, will be required to have policies backed by specific interventions in place to: (a) increase the number of females within their student body, faculty and academic leadership; and (b) ensure the overall well-being of their student population. Under this project, the Guidance Note adds, greater emphasis will be placed

<sup>3</sup> The research proposal described in this chapter passed all the assessment evaluations for funding, and was particularly hailed by assessors for its sustainability strategies outlined. That notwithstanding, it is instructive to concede that the project was not funded eventually owing to infrastructural lapses on the part of UCC to house the ACE-ELTT to support project activities.

#### *Addressing Sustainability Planning in Higher Education Research DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.93589*

on ensuring ACE host institutions are incentivized to undertake several activities, including those which promote good governance; data collection and management; and regionalization of their institutions, that is, taking steps to make their institutions regionally (and ultimately globally) competitive [26].

Overall, the expected results of the proposed project include:


Thus briefly, it is against this background that the research proposal being described in the context of this chapter was developed and submitted in response to the Open Call for funding to establish ACE to address a pertinent developmental challenge facing Ghana, and by extension, West Africa and sub-Saharan Africa region as a whole.
